Man in the Hat media

The South Carolina baseball team is not looking good in 2022.  After a sweeping loss to rival Clemson, the Gamecocks were outplayed in a midweek loss to then-two-win Xavier, falling to 7-5 on the year. So how did things get here? For full context, the seeds for the inadequacy were planted a decade ago. After two national titles in three consecutive World Series appearances, Ray Tanner stepped aside to become the schools athletic director, and named assistant coach Chad Holbrook to the head gig. Over the next five years, Holbrook labored under what can now be called unrealistic expectations, going 199-105, while amassing a 91-67 conference record. The time included three trips to the post season, two super regional apperances and three 40-win seasons. But, no CWS appearances, no national titles.  After the 2017 season, Holbrook was gone and Tanner turned the program over to Kingston, who parlayed successful stints at Illinois State and South Florida, going a combined 273-180-1 ...

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 Ca...

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 ...

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 loser...