The Culture of a College Football Program

Random thoughts that I wanted to share with some of you. After pondering South Carolina and the season I believe they are about to have, I began to think about the difficulty of changing the culture of a football program. South Carolina has never experienced any kind of glory on the football field. Their one ACC championship came in 1969 in a year when they lost 4 games including routs against Georgia and Florida State(who wasnt in the ACC yet), and closer but not so close losses to Tennessee and West Virginia. Their 6-0 record against the ACC was superficial, because they did not beat a single ranked team all year.

While there have been glimpses of success ( occasional victories over rivals clemson or georgia, george rogers winning the heisman in 1980, and bowl victories over ohio state twice...) ultimately the gamecock fans have constantly been left with only heartbreak. They simply always lost. Even when things looked the brightest, the gamecocks just always seemed to let it slip away. The magic Lou Holtz brought to the program lasted but a short while, and ended in a shameful way in Death Valley.

That is one of the reasons Steve Spurrier chose to go to South Carolina. While I personally respect and like the man a lot, I must admit there are few with bigger egos. And it would have been a major stroke to his ego to win at South Carolina.

The introduction of Spurrier was met with thunderous applause. After having beaten the Cocks mercilessly in his 11 year tenure at Florida, the gamecocks once again had a glimmer of hope. But even the evil genius Spurrier struggled to change the culture of the South Carolina program. His first year brought wins over Tennessee and Florida. The next Clemson. And finally he got over the hump and beat Georgia. These were all benchmarks Steve had to achieve in order to begin his transformation. It didn't matter if he won 8 or 9 games every year... if he continued to let South Carolina be the whipping boy for the big 3 of the east and their in-state rival, then he never would have gotten any momentum going.

And it wasn't easy for the Ol' Ball Coach to get this train going. After leading the gamecocks to a top 10 ranking and a 6-1 start, the gamecocks would lose to Vanderbilt at home, and eventually end up at 7-5. There were many games that the gamecocks still should have won, and simply let it slip away.... (A 6'6" pot smoking defensive end comes to mind)

But now Spurrier has multiple wins against each of the big 3 and Clemson. He is consistently recruiting the best talent in the country, having in just the last two years signed two five star recruits. It did not happen right away. It took time. And I think Steve would probably even admit that it was harder than he thought it would be. Thats because it is so hard to change the culture of a program. When your team has done nothing consistently except lose, why would you expect different?

That is why I am proud of what GSU is building. To have a winning season in your first year is not meaningless. To have multiple guys on your FCS football team that could have played at the next level of college football but chose instead to be a part of what we are building is not meaningless. To have 6 commits in July is not meaningless. These few years are critical not because of dollars or what conference we might eventually go to. Its all about creating a culture of winning. Expect greatness from the start, and demand nothing less.

Does this mean we should be cocky and arrogant? Flaunting our winning season and recruiting accomplishments across the CAA and the state of Georgia? No. But there is a difference between expecting our team to earn greatness and expecting our team to simply have it given to us because we have a high profile coach, or play in an NFL stadium, or have a school in a big market...

Respect Everyone... Fear No One.