Picture Mount Rushmore, with the heads of four influential United States presidents sculpted into South Dakota granite. What if a similar sculpture existed for the all-time best South Carolina head coaches?
Which Gamecock coaches — of any sport — deserve to be a member of this elite group, immortalized on a USC Mount Rushmore?
The State is getting into the “GOAT” debate, and we only have enough room for four on our Mount Rushmore of South Carolina coaches. We’re gathering your picks in a poll at the bottom of the article.
Before casting your votes, let’s look back on what these coaches accomplished as they led their teams in Columbia.
Carved into the mountain
Dawn Staley (women’s basketball, 2008-present): Staley’s leadership put the Gamecocks women’s basketball program on the map. In 13 full seasons, she has led USC to the 2017 national championship, three NCAA Final Four appearances, six SEC Tournament championships and two top-ranked recruiting classes, including the most recent cycle. The Gamecocks head into 2021 with all of the pieces to make another deep NCAA tournament run.
Ray Tanner (baseball, 1997-2012; athletics director, 2012-present): Tanner led South Carolina baseball to its glory days throughout the 2000s. Under Tanner’s tutelage, the Gamecocks won three SEC regular season championships, appeared in the College World Series six times and won back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011. He became USC athletics director in 2012.
They have a strong argument
Steve Spurrier (football, 2005-15): Admittedly, Spurrier did not leave Columbia on the best terms, resigning in the middle of the 2015 season after the Gamecocks started out 2-4. But it’s tough to deny all he did for the program as its all-time winningest football coach. Spurrier led the Gamecocks to nine bowl appearances, three 11-win seasons and the program’s lone SEC championship game in 2010. He and his wife, Jerri, are the namesakes of South Carolina’s multi-million dollar indoor practice facility that opened in 2015.
Curtis Frye (men’s and women’s track and field, 1996-present): Frye brought home South Carolina’s first NCAA championship in any sport when the women’s track and field team won the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championship. Now in his 25th year at the helm, Frye has coached over 60 NCAA individual champions, 121 SEC champions and more than 500 NCAA All-American honors.
Frank McGuire (men’s basketball, 1964-80): McGuire put the Gamecocks in the national spotlight throughout the 1970s, leading them to four NCAA tournaments and the 1971 ACC Tournament crown. He also spearheaded the construction of Carolina Coliseum, where USC basketball played from 1968-2002. McGuire’s 283 wins at South Carolina are the most in school history.
Boo Major (equestrian, 1998-present): Major has headed one of the nation’s most successful equestrian programs, winning three National Collegiate Equestrian Association overall championships and two SEC championships. She was the first Gamecock head coach to win back-to-back SEC championships as well as the first to win three national championships.
You could make a case for…
Eddie Fogler (men’s basketball, 1993-2001): Fogler led the Gamecocks to two NCAA tournament berths in 1997 and 1998 and a top SEC regular-season finish in 1997.
Dave Odom (men’s basketball, 2001-08): Odom’s teams made three NIT appearances and took won NIT titles in 2005 and 2006.
Frank Martin (men’s basketball, 2012-present): Martin led the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Final Four appearance in 2017. He takes a 153-134 record into his 10th season at South Carolina.
Bill McDonald (men’s golf head coach, 2007-present): McDonald’s teams have won 24 tournaments, the most in South Carolina history. He coached the Gamecocks to their best finish in NCAA championship stroke play, earning seventh place in 2016.
Bobby Richardson (baseball, 1970-76): Richardson took South Carolina to its first College World Series tournament in 1974 and made it to the championship in 1975, losing to Texas.
June Raines (baseball, 1977-96): Raines is the Gamecocks’ all-time winningest baseball coach, finishing with a 763-380-2 record, 11 College World Series berths and nine 40-win seasons.
Kent DeMars (men’s tennis, 1985-2010): DeMars led South Carolina to 18 NCAA tournaments and six Metro Conference titles in his 26 seasons with the Gamecocks.
Paul Dietzel (football coach and athletics director, 1966-74): Dietzel led the Gamecocks to their only ACC championship and brought in South Carolina’s first “golden age” of facilities as athletics director.
Mark Berson (men’s soccer, 1978-2020): Berson was South Carolina’s first men’s soccer coach and oversaw 22 NCAA tournament seasons, four appearances in national quarterfinals and one national championship berth. He was the fourth coach in NCAA Division I men’s soccer history to hit the 500-win mark.
Kalen Anderson (women’s golf, 2008-present): Anderson has led South Carolina women’s golf to nine NCAA championship appearances and five NCAA regional honors since 2010.
Shelley Smith (women’s soccer, 2001-present): Smith’s teams have won five SEC championships and made 13 NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the quarterfinals four times.
Joe Morrison (football, 1983-88): Morrison headed up the “Black Magic” season of 1984, when the Gamecocks won 10 games and had a genuine shot at the national championship before being upset by Navy late in the season. Morrison was known for his all-black attire and was the first to use black jerseys as an alternate uniform.
Lou Holtz (football, 1999-2004): Holtz brought the Gamecocks out of a 10-year slump that included just one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes. During his time in Columbia, Holtz led the Gamecocks to two consecutive New Year’s Day bowls for the first time in school history.
Vote now: Who’s on the mountain for all-time USC coaches?
We’ll take votes through noon Thursday. Having trouble viewing our poll. Click here to play!