Man in the Hat media

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney has made the news after the most recent early signing period, but not for the class of prospects he and his staff signed. During his signing day press conference, Swinney remarked on the current state of Division I football, the transfer portal and name, image, likeness (NIL) deals. "It's chaos right now. Tampering galore," he said. "Adults manipulating young men. Education is like the last thing now." And, he is right.  Division I college football, and the NCAA as a whole, have put a priority on business and making money for its college athletics over education. So you will be happy to hear that Swinney has bucked the trend of college coaches and had his contract filled with incentives tied to his teams academic performances. On top of his $8.3 million salary for 2021, which will increase to $10 million per year in 2027 and 2028, he will get addition money for graduation rates, team GPA and retention. And it also puts a

Two years ago the South Carolina football team was in search of an offensive coordinator. Last year, they were in search of an offensive coordinator. This year, the Gamecocks are potentially in the search for an offensive coordinator. Marcus Satterfield wrapped his first year in Columbia leading one of the worst offenses in the country, ranking 116th out of 130 teams.  That equals out to 319.6 yards per game and just 27 touchdowns on the year.  Granted, the drop wasn't much from the previous year under Mike Bobo, which finished 72nd overall, but that unit was able to field a 1,000-yard rusher in Kevin Harris. This year's team, under new head coach Shane Beamer, did not have a 1,000-yard rusher, but the overall yardage was comparable to last year, and was spread across four backs. The top passer Luke Doty didn't eclipse 1,000 yards, but battled injury and missed the latter half of the season. Top receiver Josh Vann, had 679 yards but the rest of the corps was inconsistent to

The South Carolina football team wrapped up its first regular season under first-year coach Shane Beamer, and all signs point to a positive direction moving forward.  There is still a bowl game likely to be announced, but I don't really count bowl games into how a season goes, unless you are in the college football playoff, which at 6-6, is not happening for Carolina. LINK: Grading the 2021 Gamecocks After going 2-8 last season, Beamer and staff worked Carolina to a 6-6 mark and also snapped a two-year bowl dryspell. It is the best debut in six decades and arguably best all-time. Over the last 60 years, first year coaches have seen mixed debuts at Carolina.  • 1961: Marvin Bass took over a three-win team and went 4-6. He did not have a winning season in his five-year stint. (+1 game swing) • 1966: Paul Dietzel took over a five-win team and stuck up the joint going 1-9. He went on the have just three winning seasons and one bowl appearnce in nine seasons. (-4) • 1975: Jim Carlen

The 2021 football season is mostly wrapped up for South Carolina.  While there is a bowl game left, I don't put much stock into how bowl games go. So, let's pull our best Montessori school impersonation and arbitrarily grade this season. LINK: Beamer's first year cause for optimism Special Teams The most overlooked phase of the game was about as good as one could as for. Kai Kroeger averaged 43 yards per punt, pinned nearly 40 percent inside the 20 and boomed 13 50 yards or more. Mitch Jeter booted half of his kickoffs for touchbacks while Parker White capped his career going 13-of-14 on field goals and was perfect on extra points.  The return game didn't yield points, but it was actively destructive to the cause either.  Fans should feel confident heading into next year with both Kroeger and Jeter set to return. Jeter is the early heir to kick field goals with graduation of White.  Give this side of the ball an B for the year. Nothing damaging, but there is room to imp

Texas is back in the news. It seems the state can't get out of the news actually. This time, it is about books in schools. State representative Matt Krause, a Republican from Fort Worth and chair of the General Investigating Committee, is at the center of controversy after announcing the committe will investigate school library book collections. The focus on books that feature human sexuality and systemic racism.  LINK: Texas looks into 850 books In an October 25 letter, Krause, penned, “the committee may initiate inquiries concerning any ‘matter the committee considers necessary for the information of the legislature or for the welfare and protection of state citizens." On first reading, this edict gives a wide range of power to this panel, and comes off as unchecked with an air of "we know what is best for you," a sentiment that seems to fly in the face of conservative ideology, which has long stated individuals know what is best for them.  Not to mention the hypoc

The Big 12 is back at the center of college football news.  Before I move on, :cough: sorry, choked on a feather there from my heaping helping of crow when I wrote that Texas and Oklahoma weren't going to the SEC, and were just using it as a business ploy to gain more influence. If you want a laugh, read this frosty cold take from yours truly. LINK: Boy was I wrong about Texas, Oklahoma and the SEC But dreams of the Big 12 going the way of the dodo were over exaggerated.  In a release this morning (September 10) the league extended invitations to Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston. The four schools submitted applications roughly a week ago. Assuming no other schools leave, this gets the league back to its namesake of 12 teams after sitting at an annoying 10 teams the past few years. Now if we can just get the Big 10 to rename itself the Big 14 all will be right with the world. But I digress. College athletics transactional, so who are the winners and losers in

  The Southeastern Conference is set to become the first super conference in the NCAA, if a recent report from the Houston Chronicle   is to be believed. Brent Zwernaman   penned the exclusive report about the potential move of Big 12 heavyweights Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC. As expected with such reporting,  Oklahoma, Texas and the SEC peddled the usual public relations, political "we can neither confirm nor deny your report" line. Reports claim both schools are set to inform the Big 12 of intent to leave. This move would be a landmark move in NCAA football, but it leaves a multitude of questions. From a brand standpoint, it gives the SEC two more historical blue bloods, further expands the TV market into Texas and Oklahoma and adds two of the more profitable properties.  For the two schools, it is a smart business move for them to get in on the SEC profit sharing.  For the purists, this also reignites the Texas vs. Texas A&M rivarly.  But, this begs the question what

The term "landmark decision" has been overused to the point it has lost all meaning in regard to Supreme Court decisions.  Granted, every decision the court makes could be considered landmark because it sets precedent for future legal discussions. On June 21, SCOTUS announced a major decision that will likely effect the relationship between the NCAA and the athletes competing under the banner. In a unanimous decision of NCAA v. Alston , the court ruled student-athletes could receive education-related payment.  LINK: SCOTUS rules against NCAA In short, the justices rejected the NCAA’s argument that its players’ amateur status would be impossible to maintain if they could receive pay, even for education-related expenses. The courst also cited anti-trust law, or more eloquently put by Justice Neil Gursuch, who wrote the majority opinion. “Put simply, this suit involves admitted horizontal price fixing in a market where the defendants exercise monopoly control." He added, “t

If you are a politician in Florida, get ready to be able to post whatever you want on social media and face nearly zero consequences. According The Sun-Sentinel, the Florida legislative body, controlled by the Republican party, passed a bill that would make it illegal for social media companies to ban politicians, with threat of hefty fines. LINK: Florida passes bill to limit social media companies I The Hill Companies would still be able to suspend accounts for two weeks, according to the legislation. The bill is pending the signature of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign.  Everyone should fully expect this law to be challenged in court, and opponents have many avenues to go. I could argue the hypocrisy of the party that has long-touted itself against regulations now looking to impose regulations on a private business. You could also question how and if the state of Florida can enforce a regulation on companies based in California, namely Facebook and Twitter. O

  The cancel culture has reached its apex of lunacy. Organizations are now canceling themselves. Major League Baseball has canceled...Major League Baseball. Recently, MLB pulled its annual All-Star game from Atlanta in protest of an election law passed by the state of Georgia's general assembly and signed by its governor, Brian Kemp.  The 95-page bill in question does, among other things, gives state officials authority to remove county and local level election officials with a non-partisan, state legislature appointed board, limits drop box locations, drastically effects absentee voting among other things you can read about. LINK: What is in the bill LINK: Georgia SB 202 Quite possibly the biggest change is the food and drink restrictions. Simply put, food and drink cannot be provided by anyone within a certain distance of a polling place. People will have to lug their own coolers or have Bitesquad on the ready when they stand in a long line because a polling place is crowded in m

Frank Martin is coming back for his 10th year as South Carolina men's basketball head coach. The news comes after two weeks of conflicting reports. LINK: Beamer hire has more questions LINK: Gamecock coaching staff young, unproven Martin is coming off the worst season under his leadership, going 6-15 and marred by arguably the worst defense of the era.  The bad year can be attributed to COVID 19, which Martin contracted twice, and the start-stop-start protocoals in place. Martin has earned one more year. Historically, Martin is one of the best coaches to march the sidelines. He is third in all-time wins with 153 (behind Frank Johnson and all-time wins leader Frank McGuire). He was also the third longest tenured coach in school history, again behind Johnson and McGuire.  Under Martin, this has been one of the best eras for Gamecock basketball. You could argue the Eddie Fogler era, with a pair of NCAA tournament appearances and a regular season conference title, or the Dave Odom era,

It is no secret college athletics is a big business. By their own numbers, the industry had a revenue of nearly $19 billion . That line between amateurism and professionalism got a bit blurrier on March 11, when Michigan State announced its basketball team signed a five-year partnership with national lending company Rocket Mortgage. The agreement makes the Detroit-based company a "presenting partner" of the basketball team, and includes sponsorship tie-ins across the athletic department.  Sponsorship deals are nothing new in college athletics: uniforms, signage around stadiums, drink and beverage vendors and stadium naming rights have become common place. This is the first timeI can recall a team name being effected. According to the release, the men's basketball team will be called the MSU Spartans presented by Rocket Morgtage.  "Michigan State Athletics couldn't compete at the highest levels without the support of our corporate partners like Rocket Mortgage,&qu

The start of March featured the next big shot across the bow in America's long-running culture war when it was announced six books by Dr. Seuss would no longer be published for "racist imagery." The six titles are: -And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street -If I Ran the Zoo -McElligot's Pool -On Beyond Zebra! -Scrambled Eggs Super! -The Cat's Quizzer “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” the company released in a statement. “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." As expected, online backlash was quick, labeling Dr. Seuss Enterprises a victim of cancel culture and the continued trampling of the First Amendment.  The logic behind that being once you ban books, it is a slippery slope to what is decent, and further reinforced a world view that "Big Brother is coming." It is a sentiment I can

Shane Beamer has put the final touches on his inagural coaching staff at South Carolina. Assuming Auburn hasn't hired away any more holdovers from the Will Muschamp era between now and hitting the publish button, the new group of coaches are a departure from Carolina's usual model from the last 20 years. Or nearly 60 years.  LINK: Bobo, Friend head to Auburn LINK: Rocker to Auburn There is not a proven head coach, and when I say proven, I mean a proven track record of what you are likely to expect. With Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier, you got two men that elevated a program, before holding on for one year too long and setting things back. With Muschamp, you got a guy who could do well with other coach's talent before the program bottoming out two years later when he had to worry about more than just the defense and punching white boards.   Now, the head coach has no proven track record as a head coach. All that is known about Beamer is his ability to recruit. The overall staf