Published Wednesday, April 09, 2008 10:38 AM
Updated Wednesday, April 09, 2008 10:42 AM

 

Frankly Speaking 04/10/08

Can Horn do it?


New University of South Carolina basketball coach Darrin Horn is saying all of the right things. He's going to build a fence around the state, and keep the best basketball recruits at home. He's going to play a fan-friendly – and player-friendly – brand of basketball, a brand that includes full court pressure and a fast-paced offense. He's going to outwork his coaching colleagues.

In short, he's going to do everything in his power to bring back the glory days, when South Carolina stood atop the college basketball universe. Those magical years were the late 1960's and early 1970's. Frank McGuire put South Carolina on the basketball map and proved to the nation, and to Tobacco Road and the ACC, that it could be done in Columbia. In his introductory press conference last week, Horn made a point to acknowledge that storied past. Time will tell, but USC Athletic Director Eric Hyman may have just made the perfect choice for a basketball program that has lost its way. Forty years ago, after struggling for two decades in the ACC, Carolina made a hire of monumental proportions, when McGuire was brought to Columbia. At the time, no one believed that South Carolina could compete in the ACC. There were many arguments for why, arguments that sound similar to the ones being used today.

Much to the horror of North Carolina and Duke, McGuire proved the critics wrong. Now, in 2008 – without a conference actively working against him – Horn can do the same. And why not?  The Gamecocks again play in a great basketball conference, a conference that has produced two of the past four national champions. Carolina has a still-new, 18,000 seat arena that is among the best in the nation. The school has a rabid fan base ... a fan base that is hungry to support a basketball program that has been accepting mediocrity for too long. Twenty years ago, USC Coach George Felton recruited Jamie Watson away from several ACC schools to play for the Gamecocks. And that was when USC was in the Metro Conference.

A decade later, Eddie Fogler, with a line-up filled with the state's best basketball talent, including Melvin Watson and BJ McKie, notched a 15-1 regular season record in the SEC and won the first conference championship since the 1971 ACC title. Felton and Fogler proved that post-McGuire success is attainable. And today, Horn could be the man to prove that not only can it be attained, but sustained as well.  Horn's challenge will not be easy. A few years back, South Carolina lost a recruiting battle for an instate player to Tennessee – a school that doesn't even have the most important basketball program on its own campus. This must change, and Horn knows it. Will a change in attitude mean the Gamecocks suddenly begin winning every recruiting war with Kentucky and North Carolina? Maybe not. But it's past time for USC to again enter the battle. It's a battle that has been won before, and can be won again. And make no mistake: Horn is ready for battle. He is an energetic, smart, young, hard-working basketball coach who understands what a special opportunity he has been given. Can he return the Gamecocks to glory?  Yes he can.