The Verdict: Conference expansion will help establish the Carolina Identity

In South Carolina, the verdict is published by the Clerk of Court. In other words, when a jury has reached a verdict, the Clerk of Court, not a member of the jury, announces the verdict to the courtroom.

But in every jury trial – whether criminal or civil – there is no mistaking that the jury, and only the jury, is the finder of all facts.

Starting in August and running throughout the season, I will be writing a weekly column called The Verdict - presented by the Goings Law Firm. And much like a jury, I will try to base my findings and opinions on facts. But unlike a jury, I want to hear from the gallery, both what I got right and what I got wrong.

Gamecock Nation, my first Verdict is that conference expansion will help establish the Carolina Identity under new Head Coach Shane Beamer.

Here’s why.

Until 1992, when Carolina joined the Southeastern Conference, the Gamecocks struggled to establish an identity.

We were lost in the shuffle in a bloated Southern Conference. We were the black sheep of the Atlantic Coast Conference, eventually getting bullied out by Tobacco Road. And after we left the ACC, we were one of only two long-time Southern Independents, the other being Florida State.

For a century, Carolina either didn’t feel at home or didn’t have a home. There were moments of hope and glimpses of prosperity, but for the most part, Carolina was known for losing football games and not having a championship banner.

That changed in 1992, when Carolina joined the Southeastern Conference.

The Gamecocks finally had an identity. In fact, it felt like validation, like being invited to the cool kid lunch table. And as a result, our identity was the lunch table. When Alabama won, Carolina could point to something and stick its chest out and say, “Someone at our lunch table did something great.”

And while that distinction might mean something to those not sitting at the lunch table, it means nothing to the other people at the lunch table. Alabama and Florida don’t care about South Carolina. They don’t view South Carolina as one of them. In many ways, while Carolina clings to the SEC for national bragging rights, Carolina does not have an identity within the SEC.

Sure, the first thing a casual Oregon fan probably thinks when South Carolina is mentioned is “Oh, they are in the SEC.” And I am not saying that isn’t significant. But who cares about what Oregon fans think when fans in our very own conference have little to no respect for our football program?

When the news broke that Oklahoma and Texas wanted to join the SEC, I was instantly against the idea, for two main reasons.

First, it was yet another step in the landscape that is College Football, a sport I love and cherish, into something I barely recognize. And second, I hated it for specifically how it would impact Carolina football.

The people truly wanting this expansion, outside of SEC high officials, were the national media. They tried to position this as a move that regular fans like you and me should accept with open arms. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

An Ole Miss fan is not going to be beating his chest when Oklahoma gets into the College Football Playoff. There won’t be tweets or chants from Ole Miss fans celebrating Oklahoma’s successes as one of the many successes of the SEC. Instead, they are going to be sitting there stewing over the fact that their College Football lives just got even harder in their pursuit of winning an SEC Title or making the College Football Playoff.

The national media may deeply care about Oklahoma-Alabama matchups and Texas’ trips to The Swamp, but true fans of the SEC are going to resent the fact that their hopes and dreams don’t matter, because a bored college football journalist in New York thinks the only thing that matters are national matchups.

This regional and personal sport is being perverted by the media overlords and conference executives into something terrifying: a sport that embraces the haves and disregards the have-nots. Which brings me back to the question of Carolina’s identity.

In an email I sent President Pastides recommending he vote against the admission of Oklahoma and Texas, I wrote, “I do not dispute that the additions of both Oklahoma and Texas will likely financially benefit Carolina on paper. Even so, there is a far harsher reality… Nothing would stymie [Coach Beamer’s] progress more than having to face Oklahoma or possibly Alabama and Auburn, depending on division realignment, in his third or fourth season. As already seen from the end of the Muschamp era, lost hope, disgust, and disinterest in the football program far outweigh any boons from additional conference money.”

President Pastides was nice enough to respond with his thoughts and some questions that I will keep private, but the writing was on the wall. Oklahoma and Texas were joining the SEC.

While I stand by many of those thoughts I sent President Pastides, save a tweak or two based on rumors that a pod system would result in the league swelling to 16 schools, I also started rethinking the idea of Carolina’s identity.

With the SEC becoming less cohesive, now is the time for Carolina to emerge with a new, stronger, and unique identity. Coach Beamer has already changed the mindset within the locker room, specifically that Carolina is special because of and not in spite of itself.

He has assembled a hard-working and fun staff with energetic and infectious personalities. But they are also gritty, even if many are unproven in the SEC.

This is the time for Carolina to establish itself as not just a member of the SEC, but as the renegade of the SEC. Carolina doesn’t have the tradition or the influence of many other SEC institutions. But it does have amazing facilities, a huge stadium, an underrated recruiting footprint, and a major university located in a little gem of a capital city that is within an easy drive of big cities and beautiful beaches.

This program’s successes won’t look like Alabama or Georgia. There isn’t the tradition or the history to build on. But recent trends have shown that history and tradition aren’t as important as they used to be.

The traditional powers have to adapt to a changing SEC, where their vote and voice aren’t as powerful as they once were.

Carolina isn’t having to adapt. Which means it can start to establish.

Chris Paschal is a trial attorney at the Goings Law Firm in Columbia, South Carolina. He also is the Co-Founder of Front Porch Football and creator of the Paschal Gamecock Podcast. Follow Chris on Twitter @FPFPaschal.

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