The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 28, 1988, Page 3, Image 3
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Dixon
USC hires cheerleader to lead
troubled athletic department
Albert King Dixon was hired as USC's new athletic director,
but that's no surprise. Ever since he was appointed interim
A D university officials have said Kinff was the leading eon
tender, The State newspaper liked him and it seemed almost
everyone thought a home-grown A.D. would be the best thing to
put the department back in line.
We're not sure. Dixon is first and foremost one of USC's biggest
cheerleaders, especially considering his background as a
former football player and student.
We don't need a cheerleader right now. We need leadership. It
is time for hard choices to be made.
Dixon said in an interview in The State earlier this week that
he is "sick and tired" of the constant stream of allegations that
come out of USC, especially the athletic department.
He's not the only one.
He said he thinks there is a lack of proper discipline at the
department.
He's right.
Yes, it is indeed a time for tough choices, and having the heart
of a cheerleader will be too detrimental to the decisions that
have to be made.
If there is a lack of discipline, it is time for discipline to be enforced,
especially around coaches who have had as much say in
the run of the denartment as the nrevious athletic directors The
coaches need to be put in their places ? if the department won't
tolerate a lack of discipline, the coaches need to start enforcing
the proper discipline or get out and let someone else come in
who will.
The steroid issue is a perfect example of what needs to be
done. Assistant coach Jim Washburn said he did not know the
signs of steroid abuse, so he couldn't do anything to stop it or
even notice it. USC President James Holderman said it wasn't
the coaches' job to look for steroid abuse.
That's a cop-out and a dodge.
If it is team policy that steroids not be used, it is the job of the
coaches to learn all the signs and look for them, and also to
teach about the dangers of the banned substance. To say it is the
team doctor's primary responsibility is acceptable, but to say the
coaches have no part in watching for substance abuse is to deny
the doctor a reasonable backup. It's like a surgeon with nothing
to do, when asked to take care of another patient saying,
"That's not my table."
"PI i 1 1 11 rri _ _ _1 1 _ s A 1
i nars duii. i ne coacnes were ana are in a position to see ana
almost rule every single aspect of the player's lives. They can't
just say "it's not my job, not my responsibility." They are their
players' keepers.
So into USC's troubled athletics comes a new King. It is time
for him to take charge and forget being a cheerleader until he
can straighten things out. Then, with the department and the
coaches under his leadership, he can hoot and holler for the
Gamecocks all he wants.
But if he doesn't make strict policy, make enforcement equally
strict, all the yelling about how wonderful his selection is will
be useless. If he doesn't get his staff and his coaches in line, his
selection will be useless. It'll take a world of luck to pull it off.
Good luck.
VifCVy. isr*
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Atmrf* CorWnUTiON
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" IT'S SUPPOSE!
A word to thi
At 12:15 today, the USC football team will be
leaving to go to Raleigh to play N.C. State
Saturday night.
The only word to define this particular game for
the Gamecocks is pressure. The Gamecocks have a
whole bunch of pressure to overcome.
First and foremost, the allegations made by
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lumici puiyci lummy v^iiaiA.111 uiai ut anu a
number of other players used steroids during the
'87 season will be on their minds.
As much as the coaches and high-profile players
can say, this will have an effect on the team ? a
nagging doubt at the back of some of their minds
in the very least.
Also, before the story on steroids came out,
there was the problem of USC's loss to Georgia
Tech. It was a totally incomprehensible loss.
Georgia Tech hadn't beaten a Division I-A team in
a year, and the team went on to lose to North
Carolina, a team that was winless all season, and
who were manhandled by the Gamecocks at the
beginning of the season.
They've got a lot to make up for. But they are
also facing a team that USC drubbed soundly last
year at Williams-Brice 48-0. The Wolfpack had
only 36 yards of offense in last year's game, and I
don't recall if they got a first down or not.
And State is coming off a big win over USC's
perennial nemesis, Clemson. We're coming off a
big loss.
They almost broke into the Top 20 this week.
Letters the
Football loss
m . observatio:
not surprising
the Georgi
To the editor: as no sur]
So is anyone really surprised by the was an acc
outcome of the ballgame with game to hi
Georgia Tech? I certainly was not.
Maybe that's because the last time I
ventured to Atlanta to see a Carolina
team was in 1978, when another
favored Gamecock squad was shot llll m!
down 6-3.
Forget the psychology that when ?111*1 C
you are a nationally ranked team, the 11"?5
opposition comes "gunning" for
you. Let's face it, South Carolina is To the edii
not a great team, but rather one I would
which relies heavily on emotion just weakness
as they have done repeatedly in the republican:
past. Great teams do not need that Rhonda A
intangible to succeed, but do so with The Game
sheer talent and power ? two ingre- Dukakis 1
dients the Gamecocks have always perience b<
had limited supplies of. Washingto
Todd Ellis is a good (but not great) Reagan be
quarterback who had the misfortune (If Dukak
of landing a grant-in-aid to a school perience, \
which would place its entire program the 50 sta
on his shoulders, even to the point of most effec
changing offensive schemes not once, joke that tl
but twice in his three year career in pare Qua
order to bring out his talent. He has those of D
not had (no matter what the passing eight years
yardage numbers) much success here, eight yea
even to the point of obtaining the substance,
label of a "big game" choke, and his ing himseli
mobility has been compared to that anti-enviro
of Joe Namath. rassment t<
But Mr. Ellis should not take all The Oct
the credit for the recent loss to the "experienc
Yellow Jackets, as Carolina football Dole has si
should not live or die with the for- V.P., Bush
ward pass. If Ellis played for a It seems th<
UCLA, a Miami or even a Clemson, Bush has d
he might truly have a shot at the his running
Heisman. But in Columbia where There a
rushing yards come as frequently as good numl
winter snows, he hasn't got a chance. Dukakis. 1
Saturday reminded me of last year in accomplish
Jacksonville when LSU used up to such are
eight defenders against the pass. homeless, 1
Without a ground attack to keep the all citizens
defense honest, there is just no place welfare an<
to throw, and as we are beginning to to halt the1
see, the odds for interceptions in- and poor w
I
> TO PROTECT US FROM THE Rl
i boys on the b
Stephen fnT^
Guilfoyle
They were short by about 20 votes.
N.C. State is gunning for us, for revenge, for
esteem, for ranking. They've got nothing to lose;
we've got everything to lose.
And on top of all this pressure is the sudden
announcement that this game will be ESPN's
evening game, so they'll be sitting around all day
thinking about the pressure.
I went to the Georgia Tech game. It was a tough
game to watch, but I was encouraged by one thing.
Tech only scored a field goal in the second half.
The defense got into the game, and they didn't
move the ball all that well.
The defense has to be there from the first snap to
the last. State's defense is tough, and our offense
might want to be wary of their middle linebacker.
______________________________________________
editor
itly. past eight years. He has
the above facts with the # Latin America and unders
n that the entire team has region better than does Bu;
h no emotion and little in- poses the failed and
weeks, and the result of Reagan/Bush policy of w
a Tech eame should come the npnnlp of NiVaraoim C'
prise. Gamecock football the large deficit and large {
ident looking for an away of the budget which del
tppen. stitutes (some 35 percent),
more realistic than Bush,
Tim Bradshaw ports the unreliable, expe
chemistry grad (Strategic Defense Initia
^ claims he'll never raise taxe
;akis more read my lips ? you can't
Dukakis' one great w<
'tdtltivP that he has not been ef
UlitllII V responding to the shall
twisting, negative campaig
tor: which the Republicans are ?
like to address some of the If Americans would stop
es of the letter by ing "personality" anc
s D. Troy Mullinax and presence" and start looki
irant which appeared in issues, many more woulc
cock Oct. 21. They claim Dukakis is the more substi
lacks the necessary ex- honest candidate.
:cause he has never held a
n position. Neither did Mich
fore becoming president. geography gradua
is is so lacking in exvhy
did the governors of c\% 4
tes elect Dukakis as the J? 4vlij &11I
tive among them?) It is a _ - _
lis letter also tried to com- Q r|1*T1 All k
yle's qualifications with itUUI IIUII ?
ukakis. Quayle may have
senatorial experience, but To the editor:
irs totally lacking in Might we move beyoi
He spent eight years prov- screens and emotionalism
f to be anti-education and tion and touch on some
nment. He is an embar- and realities?
i his party. Issue 1: Conceptions du
. 21 letter describes all the incest or where the life of t
e" of Bush. Even Bob is immediately threatene<
:ated that in eight years as for less than one percent c
i has never done anything. abortions. Ninety-nine p<
s only thing of significance done for social, economic
lone is to select Quayle as of convenience.
I mate. Issue 2: 'Doesn't a wom
re many reasons why a right over her own bo<
her of Americans support popular comment. Realit
Dukakis has made major however, that not one but 1
iments in Massachusetts in are involved. There are t
as as education, the types, two heart beats am
health care availability for time the sex of the baby is
i and getting people off Hasn't AIDS powerfully
i into jobs. Dukakis wants us that responsible sexual
widening gulf between rich begins before the sex act,
'hich has occurred over the unwanted problems occur'
rive^lant w
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ASIANS/"
us to Raleigh
His name is Ray Frost and he's only a sophomore,
but he had 12 tackles last year against our offense.
And I talked to him after last year's game, which
he played with a stomach virus. He's tough, and he
was pretty depressed and mad after that game.
Like the rest of State's defense, I'm sure. They
pushed Clemson around last week probably better
than anyone else, including Florida State.
But I also talked to some of USC's defensive
players after last year's game. I asked one of them
? I think it was senior linebacker Matt McKernan,
but I can't remember for sure ? if beating N.C.
State 48-0 and limiting them to 36 yards and no
touchdowns meant USC had paid State back for its
victory two years ago in Raleigh. State won the
game on a bad call by the referees, I'd say.
And the player said, "It doesn't make up for
nothing. We have to pay them back on their home
turf."
So the only "advice" this armchair coach,
fledgling sportswriter, but definite Gamecock fan,
can offer the boys on the bus as they ride to the
game, if they get to pick up The Gamecock before
they go, is to remember that no matter what you
do. the real fans are behind you 100 percent, even
if we're not there. And we think you can beat State
the same way you beat them last year.
They're a team in need of a serious case of
"Black Death," don't you think?
worked in Issue 3: Some 30 percent of all contands
that ceptions now end in baby murder,
sh. He op- Thus, 30 percent of the time, proimmoral
choice means 'pro-death.' Hurting
ar against women factually testify that it is
onsidering much easier to scrape the baby from
jroportion the mother's womb than to scrape
ense con- the scars from the mind.
Dukakis is Issue 4: Question: Have you heard
who sup- any pro-choice advocates say they
nsive SDI wish their own mother had aborted
tive), yet them?
s. George, Issue 5: Deeper than the question
do both. of when life begins is the reality that
jakness is destroying the unborn says: "I know
fective at God is wanting to create something
ow, fact- here but I will not let Him do it."
ning game Thank you for your courteous
so good at. consideration,
emphasizi
"stage Fred Kerr
ng at the international student worker
1 see that
intivp nnH TTHn J 1*1 _
uorm uxe
aei v.d?r roach motel
te student
To the editor:
J y\ This letter relates to the emanating
11 problem of roaches in our dormitory
llS rooms (primarily on the 2nd floor of
Douglas). Due to this ongoing situation,
our progress as students has
been greatly impeded ? impeded to
id smoke the extent that we are uncomfortable ?
on abor- residing here,
hard facts Last year, we were given the common
courtesy of having an extere
to rape, minator. This year is an entirely difhe
mother ferent situation, as we have been
i account forced to live in conditions un
>f all U.S. suitable to the standards set forth by
jrcent are both our families and ourselves,
or reasons We would be greatly appreciative
of an infrequent but consistent exterian
have a mination. We pay a substantial
Jy?' is a amount of money each year to attend
y reveals, this institution and in return expect a
:wo bodies sufficient amount of upkeep within
wo blood the dormitories so that we all may
d half the further our educations without undifferent.
necessary distractions. Thank you
reminded for your time and attention.
I behavior
not after Monty Seth Warner
' ' journalism sophomore