Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A Letter To ' Dear USC Administration and Board of Trustees, With Richard Bell at the football head coaching spot, Bill Foster leading the men's basketball team and Terry Kelly cnaohinP thp uinmpn In no Roinoc mmnrtinn u u?n ..? , ?> ?. muiiagiiig mc uciacudii team and Bob Marcum in charge of the entire athletic department with help from Ron Dickerson, the University of South Carolina can boast about having one of the most respectable coaching staffs in the country while the whole athletic department is run as smoothly and competently as any other schools. No more will controversy surround the USC athletic scene. More important, however, is the fact that the Columbia sports press will no longer be handed a story from the drama "As the USC Sportsworld Turns." Instead of just picking out one of the many stories that USC usually spewed out, we now have to work. All the fun is gone. How could you do this to us? How could you fire Jim Carlen and hire Richard Bell? There's no comparison. This decision took away a lot of easy work for us. Although n 1 _i - - ? . - - marten aiways compiamea aoout us, we weren't alone in criticizing him. You booed when he ran on first and 10, second and eight, passed on third and five and punted on fourth and five. We weren't the only ones. The fun part, though, was talking with Carlen after he'd read what we wrote about how you felt. He always had a zinger waiting for us at the Monday press conference or after the game. It was worth it. The sage following the 31-13 USC win over UNC was the best. He gave us a week's worth of stories on that one. But those days, sob, are over. Now we have Richard Bell. How are we supposed to function with somebody like Bell at head coach? He's so different from Carlen. He's a nice, a super coach and a sincere person. It'll take us at least one season to adjust. Break out the Pepto Bismol. What's even worse is that he'll probably win. And he'll be graceful and classy doing it. He won't rip anybody, he'll be uitc emu ciiiswer evei yuuuy s question, now are we supposed to work in a pleasant atmosphere like that? Two years ago, you pushed out USC's only consistent 'winner. The first 10 years of Frank McGuire's career at USC ^EWGRADUATK/^ I SUNDAY April 18 1-5 YOU CAN VISIT US Lexington County He in West Columbia to nur farilitv and talk u I"V VI J V?l BVfl W \ our Clinical Directors about: ? nursing opportu ? salary benefits ? internship progr ? enternship progi I? scholarships Call us collect at 791-21 I! fr< discuss these various opportuniti - - * * The Ad minis tratio, were somewhat quiet. Except for the ACC departure, things were somewhat smooth. Frank won and you kept out. Until Sol Blatt didn't see his name in the paper. Than imi. xr 1 l- ?* ? Aiiv.il jwti uiu me i i^iu uuug. i uu muveu 10 gei ivic^xiiire out. The guy was winning. Why should he stay HERE? But the controversy surrounding! your insecurities and McGuire were great. We could write about the team MIKE LOUGH threatening to quit if McGuire was fired or how ticked off and shocked Dean Smith at UNC was about how McGuire was treated. A new story every day. Yeah, those were the good old days. Then you went and brought in Bill Foster. Young, clean cut, honest, talkative, always time for the press (God bless him). Foster isn't a guy who's going to go out and hand a prospect a couple grand under the table or plad and bribe a professor to slip an A as a grade instead of a D. He doesn't fight with those he works with, mainly because the fighters are gone (finally). Of course, he didn't have Carlen or Paul Dietzel to work with. bo wnat do we write now? The man is too perfect. Perfection has no place in college athletics. Foster's counterpart in the women's program is Terry Kelly. We want Pam back. If there wasn't a nice rumor to confront Parsons with, we could always write something bad and get a few stories as she sethed. She always had a bad word for somebody and that made good copy. We suspected a lot of things about her, not many were comol imentarv. We could 00 on and on ahnnt Parsnns Ii 1 ip iheae nities I 1 ^ ^ ^ es available to I I i liM-nn n And Board But you had her dead to rights and pushed her to resign. Ma... 1 I r 1*1 _ ml A . /.i. i>uw uiaiKepius ousy iorawnne. inai was iun stun. ' Terry Kelly then took over. The guy wouldn't even continue player payments for the rest of the season. No rumors, no stories to tell, no gossip. The dude is sickeningly fair. Like Howard Cosell, he tells it like it is. Kelly doesn't play favorites, doesn't pay favorites, doesn't do anything Parsons did except win. Collegiate sports has no place for people like Kelly and Foster. Perfection and fairness? Uck. And for the past six years, there's been June Raines looking over the baseball team. We are not happy with Raines. He is too friendly to coach at USC. He's even nice after a LOSS.* Jim Carlen take note of this). I almost found myself shocked to find out that he was ejected from a game recently. But it's a start. He apologizes to umpires after the game if he happens to arpllp Wp want Rlarl Woawrl Annlnrtiiinrf '<" 0 ? T. M?V (TVUTVI . flJ^rVAV/^lCilIlg VV/ dli lilll^/ll U id sacreligious, it's, well, too nice. Finally, you simply did us in with the appointments of Bob Marcum and Ron Dickerson. The bickering, the fighting with the administration, arguing over the importance of women's sports, it's GONE. Instead of Carlen fighting McGuire and Holderman, we have Marcum and Dickerson cooperating with everybody. It's a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere now in the Roundhouse. What a bummer. You go down the list of USC coaches: Bobby Foster, Ron Smarr, Jeff Kefalos, Charlie Strong, Terry Drake, Mark Berson, Steve Collins. They're all good people, consistent winners and team players. I expect Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to being applying at USC. Sure, we'll try to give everybody fair coverage. We have to now. All the newsmakers are gone. Everybody's equal now. We have nothing bad to write anymore because there's nothing bad to write about. It's going to be tough to make the adjustment and I hope we're up to it. As Carlen put it, the "Columbia Rumor Mill" has been put out of business. Boy, that's a change. Writing good stuff. Don't change a thing. Sincerely, Mike Lough ? mm ii " fl| B B **.^^B-"'Vj'^h cisNoTT I ARTY _ ^ | 'I2UAH1C.H9 716 Saluda Ave. j|| l-ive Points Next Door to Saluda Avenue Wine & Liquor ? Tw-wmi |