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GAME SCHEDULE Pao-e 1 5 MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. App. State, 7 p.m. J WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Clemson, 7 p.m. Friday Wednesday, December 1, 2004 MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Clemson, 7:30 p.m. Saturday Spurrier begins offseason overhaul a By JONATHAN HILLYARD SPORTS EDITOR New USC head football coach Steve Spurrier has had a busy first week as a Gamecock. He has retained coaches from the previous coaching staff, hired new coaches, courted a few of the nation’s top recruits and told the Gamecock football team to ease up on the fried chicken. Last Wednesday, just one day after being officially named head coach, Spurrier said he would retain USC coaches Rick Stockstill, Ron Cooper and David Reaves. Stockstill, known around the region for his effective recruiting skills, will remain the school’s recruiting coordinator. Other duties for Stockstill are undetermined, but he was the Gamecocks’ wide receivers coach in 2004. Cooper served as the team’s secondary coach this season, but his duties in 2005 are yet to be determined. Spurrier said Reaves would most likely be an assistant quarterbacks coach. “I’m sort of the quarterbacks coach, I guess you’d say,” Spurrier said with a smile. “I guess you’d say his title would be assistant offensive coach and quarterbacks coach.” Spurrier also announced the hiring of new coaches, including his son, Steve Spurrier Jr. He also said Mark Smith of the New Orleans Saints would be USC’s new strength coach. Smith was with Florida as an assistant and made stops as the head strength coach at Kansas University and the Washington Redskins. “He’s one of the best. He’s an excellent strength coach. He’s tough, he’s fair,” Spurrier said. “He believes like I do that speed goes with strength. Strength is only about 50 percent of the game and speed is the other 50 percent, as far as conditioning. We’re going to try to get this team in tip-top shape conditioning-wise.” As far as the young ball coach goes, papa Spurrier said his son would coach the receivers and would be in Columbia as early as Tuesday. “He was a GA at Florida for four years with me. We won three SECs and a National,” Spurrier said. “Then he went with Bobby Stoops for three years. He goes out there and they win the National Championship in 2000. So he’s got two National Championship rings.” Spurrier said he had been in touch with about 20 candidates for the defensive coordinator wH position. He confirmed that, Vflj among others, Jim Collins from V Marshall and Jon Hoke, the defensive backs coach with the Houston Texans and former defensive coordinator under Spurrier at Florida, had been considered for the job. “rU' probably try hire the defensive coordinator first and then let him ♦ Please see SPURRIER, page 16 KATIE KIRKLAND /THE GAMECOCK USC head 1 coach Steve I Spurrier Get over the brawl and stop being embarrassed ■ Shut up and be proud of your USC heritage I’m a fairly happy guy. Usually my columns are more than a little unserious, with a few stupid jokes thrown in for good measure. That is how this one was going to be. I was going to write about my admiration for Steve Spurrier and how my goal in life was to play golf with him. I want to be his version of P. Diddy’s butler, Farnsworth Bentley (I will wear white gloves 24/7 and hold his umbrella when it rains. I’d even BROOM be willing to change my SECOND-YEAR __ POLITICAL name “ SCIENCE something STUDENT more butler esque, like, say, Sir jakeson McBroomworth). It was going to be all fun and games. It was going to be great. Then I saw Monday’s letters to the editor. We’ll start with the first letter, from a guy named Roger. For those of you who had the good fortune of not reading this letter, I’ll give you a quick summary. Basically, old Rog had some advice for our administration, since | apparently he has years of experience running large, state-supported universities. He puts two ground breaking suggestions on the table to bring USC “in line with the priorities of a quality university”: We should pay the head football coach no more than a full professor, and the football team should be made up entirely of walk-on players. No athletic scholarships. Great plan. Our head coach brings in thousands of dollars to this university year after year with sponsorship contracts, television contracts, radio contracts, ere. Those offers wouldn’t be on the table if we lost every game — and that is what would happen if we competed with a team full of non scholarship players. When Nike sponsors my chemistry prolessor and they start televising his class on ESPN, then mavbe we can talk As for as bringing USC “in line with the priorities of a quality, university,” why don’t you ask Duke how much head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski gets paid? How about former Stanford head football coach Buddy Teevens? Harvard head football coach Tim Murphy? Duke gave Krzyzewski a lifetime contract that is worth so much he won’t even tell anybody. He refers to himself as “well compensated.” Somebody tell Duke students to transfer — Roger says they aren’t attending a “quality university.” Another letter came from a guy named Alan, who graduated in 1989 and now lives in California. He goes off about how dumb the whole Carolina/Clemson brawl situation was, and 1 totally agree with that. Even I will admit it wasn’t exacdy a high point in the history of our university. Everything was going fine with Alan until he decided to end his letter with this gem: “Thanks Carolina. You’ve managed to take my level of embarrassment ro new heights ” Whoa. Alan. Buddy. I’d be willing to bet you weren’t too embarrassed on the morning of your graduation. I’d bet you weren’t that embarrassed when you applied for your first job. I’d bet you weren’t even that embarrassed when we won back-to-back Outback Bowls. But, hey, Alan, if we are ruining your day that much, why don’t you wipe the tears with your old cap and gown and FedEx t.4at diploma back to Columbia? I’ll give it to someone who isn’t ashamed. Pair of sophomore sensations can’t lead Carolina to victory Gamecocks fall to 49ers despite Simms, Johnson career highs NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Sophomore guard Lauren Simms shoots over a Charlotte defender in the Gamecocks’ 78-72 loss to the 49ers on Tuesday. Simms had a career-high 29 points in the loss that dropped USC to 1-3. By MIQUEL JACOBS THE GAMECOCK The last time the USC women’s basketball team faced Charlotte, they ended the 49ers’ 20-game home winning streak with a convincing win last season. After falling behind by double digits, Carolina failed to recreate the magic Tuesday night, losing a thriller at home against Charlotte, 72 78. The loss drops Carolina’s record to 1 3 while Charlotte remains unbeaten at 5-0, ending a string of eight consecutive losses to the Gamecocks. The first half was marred by sloppy basketball and numerous fouls. Despite having a significant height advantage, Carolina was out-rebounded 19-23. The Gamecocks’ main drawback came in turnovers, where Carolina committed 11 to Charlotte’s five. The teams also combined for 21 first-half fouls. In what started as a low-scoring affair with the first points scored three minutes into the game, Charlotte showed why it came into the game undefeated. With five players averaging double figures and a stingy defense, the 49ers stuck to what they knew best: a fast-paced, high-scoring attack. Spreading the points among the team, the 49ers held onto a 10 point lead to take a 37-47 score into the half. Charlotte returned to form to start the second half but ran into two unexpected problems in the form of foul trouble and the duo of USC’s Melanie Johnson and Lauren Simms. Normally operating on an eight-player rotation, Charlotte’s top three performers were all in foul trouble with well over 12 minutes to play. The conservative play that followed, coupled with career highs in points for Johnson and Simms, allowed the Gamecocks to post a 19-10 run and pull within four points. In the minutes that followed, both teams committed what would be 46 fouls for the game as Carolina tried desperately to break the four-point margin. Despite shooting better than Charlotte at 46 percent and Johnson posting her first career double-double, the Gamecocks were not able to pull the comeback victory. “I’m proud of the team,” Simms said following the loss. “We fought and didn’t give up. We learned to play together and play until the end.” USC head coach Susan Walvius also was able to pull positives out of the defeat, pointing to the inspired play by Johnson and Simms. “I’m proud of the team. I’m proud of the fight and the emotion that they showed tonight,” Walvius said. “I’m excited about Melanie. She’s going to be a really great ball player. I’m also real pleased with Lauren defensively and offensively.” Simms, the team captain and lone player averaging in double figures, posted team highs in points with 29 and in steals with three. The points total surpasses her previous career high of 22 set last season against Tennessee. With Simms averaging 14.3 points per game, Walvius hopes that another player will also contribute offensively, as the second highest producer previous to the Charlotte game was Johnson at 7.3 points per game. “We’re still looking for someone to “We’re still looking for someone to step up and do more things consistently like Lauren does. I’ve got confidence in all of our players. Stacy Booker’s capable of being a big time scorer for us.” SUSAN WALVIUS use HEAD COACH step up and do more things consistently like Lauren does,” Walvius said. “I’ve got confidence in all of our players. Stacy Booker’s capable of being a big time scorer for us.” Iva Sliskovic, the leading scorer returning from last season, and Olga Gritsaeva have not yet produced the numbers that Walvius expects from them. With Carolina using its third different starting lineup in as many games, the team is looking for a rotation that’s comfortable and allows players to play to theit potential. Carolina returns to action Friday night at home against the Clemson Tigers. All non-student tickets will be sold at $ 1 in an attempt to entice a huge crowd, an effort that brought an excess of 17,000 fans to the Colonial Center in the 2002 match-up. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Swim teams to compete in Auburn Invitational By BRIAN DAVIS THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s and women’s swimming teams, at 1-3 and 2-2 respectively, will travel to Alabama on Thursday for the Auburn Invitational at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The meet will run from Thursday to Sunday and will feature the host Auburn Tigers along with their bitter rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tigers are coming off a win in a dual meet against Alabama last weekend that preceded the team’s match-up in football that solidified Auburn’s undefeated record heading into the SEC Championship game. The No. 1 Auburn men handily defeated the Tide, 153-99, while the No. 2 women’s team^defeated the once-unbeatable Tide, 140-105. ) Early this month, the Tigers took on the Georgia Bulldogs who then held the No. 16 men’s team and the No. 1 women’s team. The Tiger men ousted die Bulldogs, 145-96, but the women could not oust the nation’s best, 138-105. While the Tigers clearly had the upper hand last week, Alabama has a formidable, storied program, as it has produced 17 individual national championships as well as an astounding 56 Olympians during its existence. The Alabama women’s team is headed by Honorable Mention All-Americans Kathryn Hailquist, a junior freestyler; Anna Grant; and Arlene Semeco, a senior freestyler who competed in the 2004 Olympics for her native Venezuela. “Arlene (Semeco) has one of the best second 25s in the country and she showed that tonight,” Alabama coach Eric t ♦ Please see SWIM, page 16 CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK A female (JSC swimmer dfes the butterfly in a meet earlier this 1 season against Clemson. Carolina will travel to Auburn on Thursday.