The picture, a fog-bound Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina. It’s a good showing of higher education in South Carolina, at least for the last couple decades. Before we graduated from high school, we heard from more than one Carolina student — and this was prior to June 1999 — that USC was way, way more expensive for in-staters than North Carolina or Virginia. Granted, we’re not going to bust our asses to see what the average tuition was for USC, UNC and UVa were for fall 1999, but we’ve got this. So, let’s bring on the AP.
An education group says South Carolina’s public colleges charge the highest tuition among 16 Southern states.
The Post & Courier of Charleston reported Sunday that median tuition at South Carolina four-year public schools was $8,400 for the 2008-09 school year. That compares with $4,174 in North Carolina and $4,032 in Georgia.
The figures were reported by the Southern Regional Education Board. The board says part of the reason for the high tuition is because state lawmakers do not fund South Carolina public colleges at the same level as North Carolina and Georgia.
State funding at South Carolina colleges was about $4,800 a student in 2008-09. That compared with more than $11,500 per student in North Carolina and about $7,800 per student in Georgia.
Oh, really? South Carolina lawmakers are not spending on public education to the same level of other Southern states? Jesus, man, you’re blowing our minds right here. Goddamn — we guess that we missed that entire situation while spending 2.5 years in K-12 and three years in higher ed in the Palmetto State. That whole issue missed us entirely.
It doesn’t take a graduate from a college way the hell off the Interstate to tell you that South Carolina doesn’t do dick for its higher education students of a lower income (among other things) compared to North Carolina, Georgia, or especially Virginia, where we transferred from. No kidding — if UVa had as good of a public relations program as Carolina did in 2001-2002, we would be the bastards making Va. Atty. Gen. Ken Cuccinelli‘s life a living hell. But, unfortunately for Mussolini, er, Cuccinelli, we’re here, trying to help people out.
The fact is, though the rotten core would like to dispute it, Sen. Hugh Leatherman‘s idea of capping state college tuition hikes at 7.3 percent is the least anyone can do, but it’s taking one of the most powerful members of the General Assembly to do just that. Even The Post & Courier, whose editorial board must get Christmas cards from both Mark and Jenny Sanford, says that Leatherman is making a needed move.
Many students at our colleges graduate deeply in debt. And that was before the state’s institutions of higher learning upped tuition by as much as 14.8 percent.
There is no question that colleges, like every state agency and almost every business and family, are in a financial pinch. And there is no question that South Carolina would suffer if its colleges were unable to attract and educate people to take on challenging careers in a state actively courting new industry and business.
State colleges have seen state allocations decline over the years as a percentage of their budgets, and that’s occurred more precipitately with the current drop in state revenue. As a result, colleges are more likely to increase tuition to counter the shortfall. College officials should resist the urge, recognizing that students are dealing with the tough economy, too.
Even if students are able to manage higher costs through government loans, it only delays the pain.
This year, the College of Charleston has approved a whopping 14.8 percent hike; The Citadel, a hefty 13 percent jump; and Clemson, 7.5 percent.
Perhaps Sen. Leatherman has overstepped his authority by threatening to deal with state’s colleges and universities in the next budget go-round. But who else has been willing to take up the cause of struggling students and their families?
Just like the P&C, to take a shot at Leatherman to please the Sanford moneymen (and moneywomen). Here’s an idea — help people without a shit-ton of money, but good grades, get into college. You know, merit. Don’t give people who have the benefit of name and money initial admission. South Carolina is good on academic scholarships, so we should try getting need-based grants and loans in line with other Southern states. Because, and this is just a minor idea, South Carolina could lose its best and brightest to other states, while keeping its rich and asinine in-state.
We’ve given a damn about the Heisman and the Maxwell trophies for a very few seasons — 1994 (Alabama WR/KR/RB/QB David Palmer), 1999 (Alabama RB Shaun Alexander) and 2009 (Alabama RB Mark Ingram). Only last season was a Tide player able to get to the foulest of the foul who decide which very young man is considered the best of major amateur football athletics. We’d say that Alexander should have won both, while Ingram should have been left off until this season, but that’s not here or there.
What matters is that Monday, the organization that gives out the Maxwell Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award — the Maxwell Football Club — just about admits that the top athlete will be an offensive player, restricting the Bednarik Award to only defensive players. Those in the college football blogosphere know that the keepers of the Heisman are right bastards when it comes to use of the name, so they discuss the Maxwell Award in its place.
In the last season, though, the Maxwell winner was Colt McCoy, the senior quarterback for Texas who got knocked out of the game by Huffman High School product Marcell Dareus. The Bednarik Award went to a guy who simply played on a team that — sniff, sniff — just wasn’t good enough, Ndamukong Suh.
The Maxwell Award has been presented to the outstanding collegiate football player in America since 1937 and is named in honor of sportswriter Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell. The Chuck Bednarik Award has been presented to the nation’s top defensive player since 1995. Mr. Bednarik is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame 69′ and the NFL Hall of Fame 67′.
Colt McCoy of the University of Texas was the recipient of the 73rd Maxwell Award and Ndamukong Suh from the University of Nebraska was awarded the 15th Chuck Bednarik Award for their outstanding performances during the 2008 season. The two men were selected by the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions respectively in this April’s NFL Draft.
So, yeah.
Anyway, this year, the SEC/Clemson watch list looks thusly:
MAXWELL
Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
Julio Jones, WR, Alabama
Greg McElroy, QB, Alabama
Stephen Garcia, QB, South Carolina
Kyle Parker, QB, Clemson
John Brantley, QB, Florida
Jeff Demps, RB, Florida
Randall Cobb, WR, Kentucky
Washaun Ealey, RB, Georgia
A.J. Green, WR, Georgia
Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas
BEDNARIK
Marcell Dareus, DE, Alabama
Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama
Mark Barron, S, Alabama
Stephon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina
DeAndre McDaniel, S, Clemson
Ahmad Black, S, Florida
Josh Byrnes, LB, Auburn
Justin Houston, LB, Georgia
Pernell McPhee, DE, Mississippi State
Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU
Kelvin Sheppard, LB, LSU
Jerrell Powe, DT, Ole Miss
Big Ten schools made a try, but they just couldn’t stop the SEC as Georgia claimed the top spot in the Princeton Review‘s annual list of party schools. Traditional powers Florida and Ole Miss found places in the top 10 (seventh and fifth, respectively) while Alabama showed up at 13. Interestingly, a lot of Midwestern schools made the list, along with couch-burners West Virginia and Penn State. It seems that there’s some sort of booze train running from Morgantown along the Ohio River and down to Austin.
South Carolina schools once again failed to make it — you’re slacking off, kids. Students start reporting to campus in a couple weeks, so time to put on your A-game. Then again, it boggles the mind that Bob Jones got shut out of the non-partying types. Maybe students in the Palmetto State are doing something else beside filling out surveys.
For 12 years, the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament has been held at what we grew up calling the Hoover Met — Regions Park outside of Birmingham. But there’s only one year left on the contract between the stadium and the SEC, so the process has been opened up to see where the conference champion will be crowned in 2012. If you want to follow Carolina to the tourney in a couple years, it may be an even further drive than the five hours to Alabama.
Seven towns, including Hoover, are making a move, with the other six literally wanting the SEC to make the move. If the tourney leaves Hoover, the best venue may be Memphis. Yes, the only teams west of it are Arkansas and LSU. According to Google Maps, a drive from Columbia would take more than 10 hours and you’d still have to go through Birmingham. But the home stadium of the Memphis Redbirds (AAA, St. Louis Cardinals) has seating capacity of 14,320 and was called the best minor league park of 2009 by Baseball America. One of the standards the SEC is applying is that stadiums must, or must be able to, provide seating for at least 10,000. Regions Park holds 10,800.
The best situation as far as South Carolinians go is if the Atlanta suburb of Duluth lands the bid. It would be at Coolray Field (Gwinnett Braves, AAA, Atlanta Braves), which comes in right under the wire at 10,000 seats. But according to The Birmingham News, the SEC is having reservations about batting practice areas and hotel availability close to the venue. Considering that the SEC has all but up and moved its headquarters from Birmingham to Atlanta, Duluth is right there in the mix with Hoover and Memphis.
The other two sites are lacking and behind, to say the least. One is Montgomery, which would play host to the tournament at the home of the Montgomery Biscuits (AA, Tampa Bay Rays). The immediate problem is that Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium comes up 3,000 seats short, though the organization says it can bring in enough seating to make it work. Other places — Jackson, Miss. and Little Rock, face similar issues.
The only other place with a legitimate shot is Jacksonville, the eastern geographical problem counterpart to Memphis. Jacksonville had the ACC baseball tournament from 2005 to 2008 at the Baseball Grounds (Jacksonville Suns, AA, Florida Marlins), so it can play up the experience factor to compete with Hoover.
What’s noticeable is that not one South Carolina stadium was in the mix. Whether it’s the continuing NAACP boycott — which has only seemed to screw over college athletes and the people who want to watch the games — or something else, we seem to have missed out again. Sports can be, and usually is, an economic engine. Our business and political leaders need to get on the hump and do something about this.
Sure, most people have their team’s schedule written down, posted up and all that, you you need to keep up with what the competition’s doing, as well. Here’s your 2010 SEC football helmet schedule, which is always a fine thing to have on hand.
See you at the Tide-Gamecocks game at Williams-Brice. It’ll be the first time Alabama’s been in Columbia since the blowout in 2005. For a larger version of the sked, click below.
Before Auburn kicked off the third and final day of SEC Media Days, the media got together and voted for the preseason SEC standings and who they thought would win it all. Predictability, FTW.
SEC Champion
Alabama
SEC East Champion
Florida
SEC West Champion
Alabama
SEC East
1. Florida, 1030 (153)
2. Georgia, 791 (15)
3. South Carolina, 790 (8)
4. Kentucky, 462
5. Tennessee, 450
6. Vanderbilt, 194 (1)
SEC West
1. Alabama, 1034 (157)
2. Arkansas, 726 (6)
3. Auburn, 691 (10)
4. LSU, 653 (1)
5. Mississippi State, 320
6. Ole Miss, 293 (3)
Hey, Carolina — the sportswriters think y’all just might be second in the East. That could mean a halfway decent bowl game to get beat in. Sure beats losing to Connecticut at Legion Field. Maybe the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Short trip. In other news, it looks bad for LSU and Ole Miss, particularly for Tiger head coach Les Miles. It took Phil Fulmer about 10 years to go from hero to goat. Miles is going to make the journey from raising the crystal football to being canned in record time if what’s listed above really happens. As far as the Right Reverend goes, Ole Miss fans can be a little more tolerant, though being the dark horse one preseason to bottom-dweller the next isn’t what they’d call progress.
It would have been nice to get this up last night, but, you know, Internet problems. We really could have used Vanderbilt interim head coach Robbie Caldwell, who seems to be quite the renaissance man. For instance, his proficiency at turkey insemination from his time working on a turkey farm. This guy is from Pageland, so you get what you pay for.
But first to the podium on Thursday was Arkansas. The men who know such things say the Hogs should be a much-improved team this year, behind the arm of quarterback Ryan Mallett and an improved defense. Of course, the defense has only up to go, considering how bad it was last season.
| Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino |
| Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett |
Following up the Razorbacks was Georgia. The Bulldogs have been one of, if not the most consistent team in the SEC since Mark Richt took over. That’s good for NASCAR, not so good for college football when none of those years have featured a national championship. A number of wags have been saying that Richt is on borrowed time right now, but that remains to be proven. After all, Phil Fulmer needed two absolutely horrible seasons before he wore out his welcome. This season, Georgia is switching to a 3-4 and starting a redshirt freshman at quarterback. So they brought a punter to Media Days.
| Georgia head coach Mark Richt |
| Georgia punter Drew Butler |
| Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green |
For the sixth time as head coach at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier got up and did his light beer schtick that we’ve become accustomed to, different than the high-octane, Everclear-grade product he used to throw to the gathered journos while heading up the program at Florida. When he runs something like, “We’ll just go out there and play hard and hopefully things will work out,” it’s not coachspeak. That’s for realz. The permanent over-under for the Gamecocks is seven wins, and that’s not changing this season. Also, neither is the chance for three people to start at quarterback.
| South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier |
| South Carolina fullback Patrick DiMarco |
| South Carolina defensive end Cliff Matthews |
| South Carolina linebacker Shaq Wilson |
Last on the program was Vanderbilt and Caldwell’s little ball of crazy and a man’s love of large poultry.
| Vanderbilt interim head coach Robbie Caldwell |
| Vanderbilt running back Warren Norman |
The South Beach pandemic rolls on. While the latest news has it that Alabama defensive end Marcell Dareus is getting to be on the good side of this scandal, it’s looking worse for North Carolina defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who seems to have been the point man to bring other players to Miami. There seem to be several weekends involved, not just the Memorial Day weekend.
And now Georgia is getting the investigative eye from the NCAA.
Several days ago, the Internet intelligentsia said that if you’re getting your yuks from a certain program being looked at, your school will be next. Bulldog fans probably saw Bama and Carolina and Florida potentially on the block and considered themselves lucky. Until now. There were rumors that star wide receiver A.J. Green went to the party, but he told a UGA compliance official that’s not the case. And, of course, no one’s talking yet, so it’ll be a day or two until we find out who the NCAA is talking to or to whom they wish to talk.
The NCAA, in the midst of a crackdown on improper dealings between college football players and agents, informed the University of Georgia late Wednesday afternoon that it will send investigators to campus to conduct an “inquiry.”
[...]
Former Georgia wide receiver Michael Moore, Green’s teammate the past two seasons, said Wednesday night on Twitter: “Hahaha. This talk about A.J. is hilarious. That country boy ain’t never been to Miami!!! You can put those rumors to rest.”
It is not clear whether the NCAA informed Georgia which player or players it plans to interview.
NCAA rules prohibit college players from signing contracts with, or accepting benefits from, agents. If a player is found to have done so, he could face loss of college eligibility. If the NCAA finds that the school knew, or should have known, about the matter, the institution also could be penalized.
Georgia, it’s your turn in the box. Wednesday at 11:54 p.m., UGA athletic director Damon Evans was pulled over for DUI in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. Bad news, for sure, but that’s shit you can usually roll with. As in, the usual rote statement of contrition that’s passed out to public figures when they screw up. But like most other scandals, this one started the drip-drip-drip of damning information that can’t be covered up with a news conference the day after the incident.
The first part is that we found out the married father of two was with a 28-year-old woman not his wife. He said she was a friend. Why he and Georgia couldn’t get ready for what was to follow seems to be a massive mistake, but that does seem to be the case with people who are trying to save their asses by any means necessary. Yeah — the spin control went straight down the drain when the police report came out.
The charges Evans was hit with, specifically, were one count of DUI and once count of failure to maintain lane. Then he did a pretty good job failing the field tests. The “follow the pen” one didn’t work out favorably. For the walk-and-turn, anything beyond nine steps was not going to work, and Evans had to steady himself on his car. The one-leg test became problematic, and he had the usual poor speech, boozy smell and bloodshot eyes.
But the real news, where it all came together, was in the narrative.
Certainly, everyone has ideas about what might have been going on in that car prior to being pulled over. Then the, “Do you know who I am,” the “Do you know who he is,” and the crying. Bulldog fans, who seemed to us to be protective of Evans when the news broke on Thursday, are beginning to have a different take on the matter. T. Kyle King, affectionately known as “The Mayor” around the college football blogosphere for the past five years, has called his shot.
Damon Evans is a native Georgian, a former Bulldog football player, a University of Georgia graduate, and a skilled athletic administrator who generally has served our alma mater well. From the first time I heard him speak at a Bulldog Club meeting, Evans was the candidate I preferred to succeed Vince Dooley as athletic director. It has been my hope throughout his tenure that he would do well in that job, and, by and large, he has done well in that job. However, it is now abundantly clear that Damon Evans can no longer continue to serve as the athletic director of the University of Georgia. He should demonstrate the sincerity of his regret and the genuineness of his devotion to the institution he serves by resigning. If his resignation is not on Michael Adams’s desk by the time the president returns from vacation, Damon Evans should be fired.
It only makes sense. SEC athletics are a large, expensive operation. Evans’ credibility is shot among the people with the big dollars that keep the wheels turning.
UPDATE: He’s out.
One of the under reported stories every year in major college football is the amount of free crap football players get when they go to a bowl game. Some is useless. For instance, we got a free watch from the SEC and a free pin for covering the 2004 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. Frankly, the catered Georgia Dome food, free bags of Golden Flake and Dr. Pepper out the wazzou was better than what the conference gave sportswriters.
The following is what SEC teams will be getting this year.
Music City Bowl
Kentucky: RCA high-def camcorder, Fossil watch, Majestic fleece pullover, New Era cap, Ogio Metro laptop pack
Independence Bowl
Georgia: Sony gift suite, Timely Watch Co. watch, New Era cap, football
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Tennessee: $250 Best Buy gift card, Fossil watch, Russell Athletic knit cap, Russell Athletic travel bag, football, Chick-fil-A gift card
Outback Bowl
Auburn: Best Buy gift card, Pro-Swiss watch, Jostens ring, hat, Outback Steakhouse gift card
Capital One Bowl
LSU: Party at Best Buy ($420 limit), Timely Watch Co. watch
Sugar Bowl
Florida: Sony, Apple, Trek, Garmin and Weber gift suite, Timely Watch Co. watch, New Era cap, Ogio Politan laptop pack, Lane recliner
Papajohns.com Bowl
South Carolina: RCA high-def mini-camcorder, Oakley Surf Pack backpack
Cotton Bowl
Ole Miss: Unknown
Liberty Bowl
Arkansas: Westinghouse 19-inch LCD HDTV/computer monitor, Fossil watch, Nike training shoes/sport sandals/sunglasses, football
BCS National Championship Game
Alabama: Sony gift suite with Trek and Garmin, Fossil watch, New Era 59Fifty cap, Ogio Politan laptop pack
