Carlen (left) and Rogers at the Heisman Trophy ceremony in 1980.

Jim Carlen, who both coached the Gamecocks from 1975-81 and served as the school’s AD during that same time period, died Sunday. He was 79.

Carlen amassed a 46-36-1 record while at the University of South Carolina, including two eight-win seasons.  He ranks third highest in school history for number of  victories.

In his first season in the garnet and black, Carlen got the Cocks to the Tangerine (now Capital One) Bowl. In his six seasons, South Carolina appeared in two other bowls, the Hall of Fame and the Gator Bowls.

Heisman winner George Rogers played for the Gamecocks during Carlen’s tenure. Carolina also beat then-No.3 UNC under Carlen’s watch. Rogers spoke to The State about Carlen’s influence in his life:

”If we didn’t have him, there probably wouldn’t have been a Heisman Trophy,” Rogers said.

In 1978, former governor James B. Edwards honored Carlen with the Order of the Palmetto, one of the highest awards that can be given to a resident of the state of South Carolina. In 2006, Carlen was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Cookeville High School Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National Football Foundation and College of Fame in 2008.

Carlen played his college ball at Georgia Tech, where he was a punter and linebacker. He served for four years in the Air Force prior to coaching. Before joining the Gamecocks, Carlen coached at West Virginia and Texas Tech. In 2008, Carlen was inducted into the Texas Tech Athletic Hall of Honor and received the Honorary West Virginian Award in 2009. Throughout his career, Carlen was honored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

A memorial service for Carlen will be held at 4:00 p.m. Friday, July 27, 2012, at Trenholm Road United Methodist Church in Columbia. Visitation will immediately follow in the church gym. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 8701 Leeds Road, Kansas City, MO 64129 or Trenholm Road United Methodist Church, 3401 Trenholm Road, Columbia, SC 29204.

Image via GamecocksOnline

In the least shocking news since Ray Tanner was named as the new AD on Friday, former assistant coach Chad Holbrook was announced as the new head baseball coach at South Carolina this morning.

Before I go any further, let me just say that this one of the best pressers I’ve ever seen. Holbrook’s personality is incredible, and I’m thrilled that he’s the guy who’s taking over.

Tanner began by lauding “the new coach’s” lengthy career and accolades, finally telling us what we already knew: Holbrook is our guy.

Holbrook spoke about his passion for recuritng (he’ll still be in charge of that), his dedication to following in Tanner’s footsteps, and what it means to him to be in this position.

“It’s an honor, it’s a thrill, it’s a dream come true,” he said. “I’m excited to be your baseball coach at the University of South Carolina.”

Holbrook got emotional a couple of times, speaking about his family, his past, and the championship years – and players – at USC. He also gave props to both the fans and the people who work behind the scenes for the team.

He has been on the Carolina staff for four years and was responsible for landing the Yardcocks a No. 1 recruiting class (according to Collegiate Baseball) last year. That group included Joey Pankake, Jordan Montgomery, Tanner English, and Grayson Greiner.  In 2011, Holbrook was named the 2011 ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year and the No. 10 best recruiter in all of college sports by ESPNU &ESPN The Magazine.

» Continue reading “Chad Holbrook Announced As New USC Baseball Coach”

Lots of good news for the Gamecocks today:

• Devin Taylor and Jadeveon Clowney have been named to the Nagurski Award Watch List. The award is given annually to the best defensive player in the nation, as chosen by the Football Writers Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

The winner is chosen from five finalists who are part of the FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, selects the 25-man team and eventually the finalists. Committee members then select the winner. The annual Bronko Nagurski Trophy Banquet will be December 3rd.

• T.J. Johnson has been named to the Rimington and Outland trophy watch lists. The Rimington Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding center in the country and is presented by the Boomer Esiason Foundation; the Outland Trophy is given to the best interior lineman, chosen by the FWAA.

The winner of the Rimington Trophy is selected by determining the consensus All-American center pick from four existing All-America Teams. More than a dozen All-America football teams are selected annually, but the trophy committee will use four prestigious teams to determine a winner: the FWAA, the American Football Coaches Association, the Walter Camp Foundation, and the Sporting News. The award will be presented on January 12th.

The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from three finalists who are part of the FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee selects the 25-man team and eventually the three Outland finalists to be named on Nov. 19. Committee members,the select the winner. That winner will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 6 on ESPN and the trophy will be presented at the Outland Trophy presentation banquet on January 10th.

• Eight USC players have earned spots on the 2012 Coaches Preseason All-SEC teams. Lattimore and Clowney are on the first team; Taylor, Johnson, DeVonte Holloman, and DJ Swearinger were named to the second team; and Akeem Auguste and Bruce Ellington were selected for the third team.

• South Carolina had the most student-athletes of any SEC school on the conference’s first-year academic honor roll. 97 Gamecocks had at least a 3.0 GPA in the 2011-12 school year. The women’s track and field team had the most student-athletes on the list, with 21. This is the fifth year in a row that Carolina has led the conference.

Congratulations all around!

South Carolina ADs past and (soon-to-be) present.

Big news out of Columbia: current head baseball coach Ray Tanner will be named the new athletic director of the University of South Carolina.

The university released a statement saying a press conference will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday. Current assistant coach Chad Holbrook will be promoted to head coach on Monday.

Tanner replaces Eric Hyman, who left for our new conference rival, Texas A&M, two weeks ago. Tanner’s name was one of the first brought up when Hyman announced he was leaving, and he has long been believed to want an eventual role in administration. Before he came to USC, Tanner was an assistant AD at NC State.

As the head coach of the Yardcocks, Tanner compiled a record of 738-316 in 16 seasons. He took the team to six College World Series and brought home back to back titles in 2010 and 2011.

He will now be charged with helping all teams succeed and maintain their success. One of his biggest tasks may be helping new coach Frank Martin bring the basketball team back from the doldrums.

While I’ll miss seeing Tanner in the dugout, this is an exciting new chapter for Carolina athletics. He’s earned infinite respect for his performance has a coach, and now we get to see what he can do off the field. Congrats, Coach/AD Tanner!

Lattimore, Taylor, and Clowney will likely be up for many awards this season.

It’s that time of the year again, everyone: preseason watch lists are out!

Marcus Lattimore earned a spot on the Maxwell Award Watch List, while Devin Taylor and Jadeveon Clowney were selected for the Bednarik Award Watch List.

Semifinalists for both awards will be named on October 29th, and the three finalists for each will be announced on November 19th. The winner of each award will be revealed on December 6th at the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show, but the formal presentation of the awards will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala on March 1st.

The Maxwell Award has been around since 1937 and is given annually to the nation’s best football player, as chosen by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and NCAA head coaches and the members of the Maxwell Football Club.

The Bednarik Award was first presented in 1995 and honors the country’s best defensive player. Andrew Luck of Stanford and Tyrann Mathieu of LSU were last year’s winners, respectively. No South Carolina player has ever won either award.

This looks kind of like the face I made when I learned about your injury, bro.

The good news for Stephen Garcia: he’s officially with the Montreal Alouettes.

The bad news for Stephen Garcia: he’s already hurt.

The worse news for Stephen Garcia: he injured fingers on his throwing hand while giving a peace sign getting off the team bus.

This is just…I don’t have words, really. I know athletes seem to have a propensity for getting injured doing things that really shouldn’t cause injury, but this one might just take the cake.

How one manages to injure their fingers – badly enough that you have to miss playing time – while throwing a peace sign, I cannot even begin to guess.

I get that accidents happen, of course, but what kind of accident could possibly happen while flashing two fingers in the air? Did someone drop their gear on him? Was he so enthralled by the hand gesture that he didn’t pay attention to where he was going and fell down, landing on his fingers? Is he cursed?

I just don’t understand.

As for the team, they likely won’t miss Garcia’s services too much while he’s sidelined…he is the fourth string QB, after all.