Attention ESPN

He knows the guy with the bandages around his ass is goin' nowhere. He's goin' fuckin' nowhere. Where you goin'? Nowhere!

Spurrier, who last December agreed to a contract extension through the 2012
season that pushed his annual guaranteed compensation to $1.75 million,
reiterated on Monday that he has no intentions of leaving USC. "It's very easy
for me not to think about that stuff (coaching rumors)," Spurrier said. "They
don't know we had a real good recruiting class last year. Times are going to get
better here."

Spurrier has said on a few occasions, including last Thursday's weekly
call-in show, he promised the recruits in last February's heralded signing class
that he'd remain at USC until the end of their careers in Columbia, and he
intends to keep that pledge."We had a good class last year," Spurrier said.
"Some are redshirting, some are playing. I think we're going to have another
good recruiting class. We believe we're going to be a lot better team in the
future than we are right now. That's our belief. Hopefully, that will come
true."
http://southcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=741720

Asked Monday about his statement to members of last year’s top-5 recruiting
class that he planned to coach them throughout their time at USC, Spurrier said:
“I certainly hope so. If we keep going like this, I may get fired before their
career is over.”

Spurrier received overtures from Alabama last year before agreeing to a
revised contract that runs through 2012 and is worth $1.75 million a year.
Spurrier’s buyout would be $2.5 million if he left after this season. While the
62-year-old Spurrier said such speculation is a compliment, he has no plans to
entertain offers from other schools.
http://www.thestate.com/sports/story/234854.html

You might recall that the previous USC coach began pursuing an NFL coaching
position following the first sign of success here. Perhaps he realized his program — built as a quick fix — would never surpass winning back-to-back Outback Bowls and could never contend for SEC championships.

A year ago, Spurrier put to rest any speculation that he would consider
jumping USC’s ship. Miami and Alabama made overtures to Spurrier. Alabama reportedly was willing to offer Spurrier $3 million annually and ended up giving an additional $1 million per year to Nick Saban. Money has never been an issue for Spurrier, and he repeated a year ago that a perennial power program has little appeal to him. It never should be forgotten that Spurrier hand-picked USC primarily because of its history of mediocrity.

Realizing it needed to get Spurrier’s salary in line with other head coaches in the conference, USC bumped his contract by $500,000 in July to $1.75 million annually through 2012. To show his commitment to USC, Spurrier has pledged a total of $250,000 by 2011 to USC’s $100 million capital campaign for athletics. “I’ve cast my lot with South Carolina,” Spurrier said this week, “and we’re going to try our best to get to the top some way, somehow or another, the right way.”

Few will believe Spurrier because of coaches such as Saban, who time and
again denied interest in the Alabama position before leaving the Miami Dolphins
to coach the Crimson Tide. It generally is what coaches do when the rumor mill
churns. They lie. Not Spurrier.
http://www.thestate.com/gamecocks/story/241964.html

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy

Anniversary!

For Release After 11 p.m. (EST)
November 22, 1982
Contact: David E. Cawood

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY PLACED ON NCAA PROBATION

MISSION, KANSAS -- Clemson University has been placed on probation for a two-year period by the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Committee on In-fractions as a result of violations occurring in the conduct of the institution's intercollegiate football program. The penalty includes sanctions that will prohibit the university's football team from participating in any postseason football bowl game following the 1982 and 1983 seasons or from appearing on any live football telecast during the 1983 and 1984 seasons.

In addition, the Committee on Infractions limited the university to 20 initial grants-in-aid for new football recruits (rather than the normal limit of 30) during the 1983-84 and 1984-85 academic years. Further, as a result of his involvement in the case, the university placed one assistant football coach on probation for a three-year period and will prohibit him from participating in off-campus recruiting activities, accepting off-campus speaking engagements, participating in the university's summer football camps and from receiving salary increases during that period.

In addition, the university placed a second assistant football coach on probation for two years and will prohibit him from participating in off-campus recruiting activities, participating in the university's summer football camp and from receiving a salary increase for one year. Also, the university will prohibit four representatives of its athletic interests from participating in recruiting activities on behalf of the institution for at least a two-year period.

"Due to the large number and serious nature of the violations in this case," said Charles Alan Wright, chair, NCAA Committee on Infractions, "the committee believed that institutional sanctions related to appearances on television and in postseason football bowl games were appropriate. In addition, because the violations indicated a pattern of improper recruiting activities, the committee determined that a two-year limitation on financial aid to new recruits should be imposed to offset any recruiting advantage that was gained improperly by the university.

"Also," noted Wright, "based on the involvement of two of the university's present assistant football coaches and four outside athletic representatives in this case, the university took meaningful disciplinary and corrective action against those individuals. "Accordingly, the committee believes that the actions taken in this case against the university, its coaches and representatives are fully justified and that the overall penalty supports the interest of all NCAA members in maintaining compliance with NCAA legislation."

In considering the case, the Committee on Infractions found violations of NCAA legislation related to recruiting, extra benefits to student-athletes, ethical conduct and certification of compliance with NCAA legislation.

The "I Turned Danny In!" Document

Timeout

From Walter Edgar's eulogy of Gov. Robert Evander McNair:

As governor of our state, Bob McNair stood at the crossroads of history. He had a choice; he could have taken the well-worn road that looked to the past--and followed the voices of division and hate. But he didn’t. He chose to follow the road less traveled – the road of moderation and justice-- the road of the future, a road that all South Carolinians could use. And that, in shaping the future of our state, made all the difference.

What a legacy! Instead of bricks and mortar of iron and steel: man-made structures that crumble and rust, he bequeathed to our state a spirit of nobility; of tolerance; of fair-play—the road less-traveled, but a road down which ALL Carolinians could walk.

After six years in the governor's chair, he retired to private life, but was never far away when his successors called upon him for advice and counsel. He was above petty partisanship and factional bickering. For, he was that truly rare person in today's world, A STATESMAN.

Yet, despite all his accomplishments and stature, he was a modest—almost shy—man. Someone who could move in corporate boardrooms with complete ease, but who relished the quiet of his farm in Berkeley County and the folks with whom he grew up.

Read it all here. And for video, here.

Really Hate Clemson Week: Monday Edition

Of course I have to be fair and acknowledge my complete lack of posts the last few weeks had very little to do with a difficult school and work schedule and everything to do with our football team's skid toward the toilet bowl. But, that aside, we have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us. The Cleminals took a shot to the gut (buckshot) courtesy of Matt Ryan's heroics (which Bob Davie pointed out during the broadcast with the subtlety of Al Qaeda on 9/11), Aaron Kelly's butterfingers (payback for The Pushoff?) and the Clemsuck's QB coaches apparent inability to teach their boys that when you're trying to set up a game-saving field goal attempt you can not take a sack that pushes your overworked (and likely undersexed) kicker to a 54-yard try. And if you've ever skinned a deer (hasn't everyone?) you know what buckshot to the gut looks and smells like. It's not pretty.

But here comes the best part. Despite (or maybe thanks to) a 6-5 record, we can really pull the hearts out of the Cleminal faithful (all 19 of them) and cook it up with a nice chianti. But let's keep with the honesty here: We need this game. We need a warm fuzzy to end this season which has gone downhill faster than Darren McFadden can hoof it 80 yards into our endzone (11 seconds, if you're curious). We need a bowl bid, not for the prestige of a trip to Nashville or Memphis or whatever God-forsaken town we wind up in with a 7-5 record, but because if you don't get a bowl bid you don't get the extra practice. And it's a long time between now and the Spring (despite today's 75-degree weather). Most importantly, we want to start a streak against the Cleminals. A winning streak.

And if this season can be remembered for anything other than our tumble from grace, I want it to be remembered as the second game in the University of South Carolina's future "Longest Streak Against An Opponent In The History of Organized Sport."

Every week is Hate Clemson week, but this week is just special. And to start things off right, I offer a toast and tribute to the Boston College Eagles.

For A Good Time In Knoxville, Call...

Tennessee football center Josh McNeil.

This is a great story, courtesy of The Wizard of Odds. Here are the highlights...

Several hours after the University of Tennessee football team thumped Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday, McNeil was quizzed by police about a broken window at his apartment and the three intoxicated women in his bed...

...the incident this weekend began at 1:36 a.m. when a resident of Woodmeade South Apartments in South Knoxville called E-911 to report a possible burglary. The resident said he heard the sound of glass breaking at a nearby apartment...

...The first officer to arrive found a smashed rear window at 268 Highwood Court, where McNeil resides. Blood was visible around the frame of the broken window, DeBusk said...DeBusk said the officers opted to enter the apartment through the broken window. Once inside, they found several rifles, shotguns and a handgun, but no one greeted them...

...DeBusk said officers handcuffed McNeil and began questioning him and his three female friends..."Everybody was uncooperative and everybody denied any knowledge of the broken window or of any arguing," DeBusk said...

...Police noted the 6-foot-4, 280-pound McNeil had bleeding cuts on his arm, but the Vol denied anything to do with the broken window... DeBusk identified the three women cited on charges of underage consumption as Alexis Cohen, 19, who attends Virginia Tech; Allison Parker, 18, of Alexandria, Va., who also attends Virginia Tech; and Sarah Brown, 19, of Knoxville, who attends UT....

McNeil said he had forgotten his keys and did use a flower pot to break the window... Fulmer said that McNeil is an avid hunter, explaining why the guns were in the apartment...

And the clincher: Citing that McNeil was not arrested, Tiffany Carpenter, UT athletic department public relations director, said UT is not planning any disciplinary measures against McNeil.

UT's McNeil says incident a 'misunderstanding'; 3 charged