Happy New Year’s Eve, dear readers! I hope you’ve all been having a holly jolly holiday season and are getting excited about the Outback Bowl (p.s. IT’S TOMORROW!!!).  In honor of today being the last day of 2012, let’s take a look back at five of the biggest stories from Gamecock Nation this year:

1. Football team keeps making history: The Gamecocks reached a new milestone when they won the 2012 Capital One Bowl to lock up an 11-win season for the first time in school history. This year, behind QBs Connor Shaw and Dylan Thompson, they have the chance to secure a second straight 11-win season by beating Michigan in the Outback Bowl. Though they lost Marcus Lattimore in the middle of the season again – and he’s since decided to go pro – the Cocks have strong leaders on both sides of the ball, a potential future Heisman hopeful in Jadeveon Clowney, and a coaching staff who is more than capable of taking us to the top.

2. Yardcocks reach CWS finals for third year in a row: They were expected to be a good team, but very few people had the USC baseball team not only making it back to Omaha, but all the way back to the championship series. Though they fell to Arizona in the title games, they made us all proud to cheer for the garnet and black. Though studs like Michael Roth, Matt Price, Christian Walker, and Adam Matthews have all moved on to the pros, there looks to be a bright season ahead for some of the younger guys who made their mark in 2012, including L.B. Dantzler, Grayson Greiner, and Jordan Montgomery.

» Continue reading “Gamecocks In 2012: A Year In Review”

Hey kids, I’m back from vacation, we’re less than a month away from the start of another season of Carolina football, and the Gamecocks are back on the practice fields.

The biggest news to come out of tonight’s session is that Tanner McEvoy, who was arrested and charged with speeding and underage drinking on July 29, has been fully reinstated. He practiced tonight and will nto miss any games.

Other highlights from practice:

• Marcus Lattimore was back in action (with a knee brace)
• Drew Owens will be out 3-4 weeks recovering from an injury sustained during the spring
• Senior long snapper Walker Inabinet has been placed on scholarship

The Gamecocks practice again Saturday night at 7:30 and the public is welcome to attend.

In non-practice news, USC is ranked No. 9 in the USA Today preseason coaches poll, the highest they’ve ever been; Ace Sanders was placed on the Paul Hornung Award Watch List (the award goes to the most versatile player in college football); Clemson finally announced that Sammy Watkins has been suspended for the first two games of the season.

In non-football news, Ray Tanner shocked us all and joined twitter yesterday and will hold a Q&A session (use #TanneronTwitter) on Monday. Also, Chad Holbrook’s contract was finally taken care of  (five years and $400,000 annually, plus incentives).

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”

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!

Au revoir, Mr. Hyman.

As we all know, Eric Hyman officially resigned as the Athletic Director at South Carolina today and will take the same position at our new conference rival, Texas A&M. Hyman was just shy of his seventh anniversary as a member of Gamecock Nation.

While I have to admit the move is a little surprising to me, Hyman has family in Texas, so it makes sense in that regard. He also has previous experience in the area and is one of the top AD’s in the country.

He did so much at USC, and I’m sure the Aggies are hoping he can do as well there as he did here. Thanks for everything, sir, and like university president Dr. Pastides said today, we look forward to beating your new school at every possible opportunity.

So with Hyman out, who could the next AD be? Pastides has put together a five-person advisory committee that includes Dawn Staley and Tommy Suggs, and an interim athletic director appointment should happen in about a week.

One name that’s been thrown into the mix is current baseball coach Ray Tanner. He’s supposedly really, really interested in the position, and  he’s obviously very familiar with USC athletics. He also served as the associate AD at NC State before coming to Carolina, so it’s not like he’d be totally lost.

That being said, he’s done an excellent job with the baseball team, so a) would he actually want to be done coaching and b) would that be good for the baseball team? Assistant coach Chad Holbrook has long been seen as the coach-in-waiting, and I have no doubt that he could take over the program and run it very, very well. If Ray is truly ready to swap his coaching hat for an administrative one, then he should be strongly considered.

» Continue reading “Now That Hyman’s Out, Who Could Be In?”

Good news: South Carolina got back in the win column tonight with an 8-5 victory over Furman. This was an extra special victory, too, as it was the 1,100th career win for Ray Tanner.

The Gamecocks bounced back from this weekend’s sweep at Kentucky by generating solid offense and defense. Joey Pankake went 5-for-6 at the plate with two RBI and Evan Marzilli was 4-for-5, including a three-run homer, the first time he’d gone yard this year. Marzilli has reached base in all 20 games this season. Pitcher Michael Roth served as the DH tonight and went 0-for-3, but was walked once. Seven Gamecocks tallied at least one hit.

Not a bad night indeed, Mr. Pankake.

Freshman Jordan Montgomery started on the mound for Carolina and gave up five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He allowed only two runs, walked one batter, and struck out eight. Reliever Hunter Privette took the win, his first of the year, and closer Evan Beal earned his fourth save. The five relievers used tonight (Privette, TYler Webb, Joel Seddon, Forrest Koumas, and Beal) combined for seven K’s.

USC still struggled with leaving men on base; there were 12 tonight. Luckily that didn’t hurt the Cocks, who took an early lead and never trailed.

The next game for the Yardcocks will be at home Wednesday against Wofford. The game is scheduled to start at 7 ET and will be televised on Fox SportSouth/FoxSports Carolinas. Women’s hoops coach Dawn Staley will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.