mazza's scouting report of Gcocks

[bulls96go]

hey smazza did you give one of your new interns the project to keep

this scouting report going

good job!

[smazza]

i would never give such an important project to an intern.

they are doing my law work

i do know how to delegate

[E.T.]

That's priorities !

Great job Steve !!

Go BULLS !!!

[smazza]

had a nice email conversation with writer that covers usc for the local paper in SC

his name is j. person. he is   afine writer and a good fellow.Let us see if he stops by our site

[E.T.]

had a nice email conversation with writer that covers usc for the local paper in SC

his name is j. person. he is   afine writer and a good fellow.Let us see if he stops by our site

Send me his email ... I'll put him on my list of BULL updates I send out.

Thanx and ...

Go BULLS !!!

[smazza]

coming now

[smazza]

Coach Holtz Takes One For The Team

March 29, 2004

Columbia, SC -

Lou Holtz, head football coach at the University of South Carolina, took one for the team at last Saturday's spring practice.

Towards the end of the Gamecock workout, when the team was working on its goal line offense, running back Cory Boyd inadvertently collided into Coach Holtz, who was crouched over in a coaching stance parallel to the backfield while observing the action. Coach Holtz jumped up and practice continued without missing a beat.

Come to find out, Coach Holtz suffered a hairline fracture in his left fibula as a result of the collision. It is a non-weight bearing bone, however, and Coach was back at practice Sunday afternoon. While he said the leg was a bit sore, his main concern during a team meeting Sunday was to "make sure Cory Boyd was okay."

The Gamecocks return to the practice field Tuesday afternoon. The first 30 minutes of individual are open to the media (4 p.m.). Assistant head coach Skip Holtz will be available to the media following practice outside the team entrance at approximately 6:30 p.

[smazza]

By RON MORRIS

Sports Columnist

In case you missed it over the weekend, there is news out of the South Carolina football camp that New Lou is directing the Goodship Gamecock.

New Lou is making moves to “change the culture of football” at USC. He now will pocket his pipe and step off his spiffy golf cart to stroll through the players’ locker room following practices. He formed a 15-player unity council to better facilitate communication between the team and the coaching staff. He has relaxed rules concerning facial hair, hair length and player attire.

Without going into the obvious question about why it has taken Holtz more than five years to get to this point, the changes have to be welcomed by the USC football team. His new style must feel like a blast of fresh air blowing through a team that has been playing beneath a cloud of negativity and discontent through consecutive 5-7 seasons.

New Lou now has the opportunity to go one step further. It’s time for New Lou to stop perpetuating USC’s losing culture with his never-ending “the world is against us” mantra.

Holtz’s tired refrain about every opponent being a potential national champion no longer works as a motivational tactic for his teams. All he does when he consistently talks about how everyone from the media to game officials is working against USC is reinforce a persecution complex that has haunted the football program and permeated its legion of fans for more than a century.

Then there’s Holtz’s attempts at humor while again painting a hopeless picture for his team. Recently, Holtz said USC’s offense is so bad it might not get a first down until the fifth game of the upcoming season. It might have been funny five seasons ago. Nobody laughed when he said it a few weeks ago.

Bottom line, Holtz needs to practice what he preaches.

New Lou now leads a class every Monday that stresses life lessons to his players. When asked what he got out of the initial classes, offensive lineman Jonathan Alston said New Lou preached that a positive attitude must be carried into every class, every practice, every day.

Holtz earns big bucks for his many motivational speeches around the country. There aren’t many better at pushing the power of positive thinking to the public. But then he gets behind a microphone or in front of a group of reporters and turns negative. He falls back on a practice that worked well for him through his first three decades of coaching.

Unfortunately for Holtz, the practice doesn’t work anymore. College football players today are too smart to be buffaloed by a coach who tells them, “Don’t believe anything I tell the media.”

Besides, what kind of message is being sent when a coach admits that he doesn’t speak truthfully to the media, and in turn to his fan base? College football players have access to the Internet and loads of other information outlets, so they know when their coach is blowing smoke about an opponent.

Praising an opponent beyond belief worked as a motivational technique when Holtz coached at William & Mary and N.C. State, and somewhat when he was at Arkansas, Minnesota and Notre Dame . But bulletin board material doesn’t work any more. It certainly hasn’t worked at USC, and sometimes it even backfired.

When Holtz said last season that USC had as much chance of beating Virginia as “that stripper who is running for governor in California,” there were whispers among Gamecock players that they were tired of being put down by their coach. Steve Spurrier was much despised around the Southeastern Conference when he coached at Florida because he didn’t play Holtz’s and other coaches’ game of charades with the media or the public.

The problem was that Spurrier often spoke the truth. If he believed Florida should defeat an opponent, such as Louisiana-Lafayette, he would say so. In fact, he would say he had better athletes and his team should win by a healthy margin.

Holtz says he speaks “from his heart” when he addresses the media at early-week press conferences during the season.

Well, it’s probably long past time for him to begin speaking with his head.

You know that’s the case when Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson recently said about her team’s game against Texas Tech, “I guess we’ll just play the underdog role and just give the old Lou Holtz philosophy: ‘Poor, pitiful us.’ ”

By coming down from his ivory tower to help change the “culture of USC football” through a more positive approach by his team, New Lou has admitted that shedding its “poor, pitiful us” image starts with him. Now, USC and its fans can only hope that he heeds his advice to his players, practices what he preaches, and stops perpetuating a “world against us” mentality.

[smazza]

about gamecock football

 Q.

Joe, I haven't really heard anything about how Demetris Summers is doing this spring. Based upon last year, I would think that Summers is going to be the go to guy this year. I only wonder about how he will hold up under the work load. How has he looked so far this spring?  

Scott, Charleston 3/29/04  

A.

Scott, Hard to say. The media only gets to watch a half-hour of one spring practice each week. But from everything I've heard, Summers has looked good. However, both Lou and Skip Holtz have talked about getting the other tailbacks (Daccus Turman and Cory Boyd) involved, too.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

Joe I sent a question during football season about the players commenting how good team chemistry was versus the chemistry in the previuos season. I talked about how this came up every year with the previous year being bad and the current year being so good. Well, it has already surfaced about this year. Why does this happen every year? This is the part that is so frustrating as a loyal follower. Every year we hear the same thing. I believe this is the coaching staff's responsibility and clearly so far this element has failed. I believe this is a key reason for our mediocrity. What do you think?

Greg, St. Marys, GA 3/29/04  

A.

Greg, I think chemistry sometimes is used as a crutch. Obviously, a team that is winning is going to have more positive vibes than a losing team. That said, it sure did look like USC had packed it in last year before its 63-17 loss to Clemson -- an inexcusable margin of defeat given the opponent and the stakes involved (needing a win to become bowl eligible). So I do think some off-the-field changes were in order this season for the Gamecocks. And give Lou Holtz credit for being open to what his players had to say about the direction of and the environment within the program.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

Joe, if Pinkins or Mitchell wins the QB job, does Newton become a backup QB, or a starting WR?

wiseguy, Hopkins 3/28/04  

A.

Wiseguy, According to what he said after Sunday's practice, he would rather use his redshirt year -- and wait his turn behind Pinkins presumably -- than move back to receiver. That's quite a change from last fall, when he moved to receiver rather than redshirt. We'll see what happens.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

Joe, After losing daniel weaver to graduation, who do you look to do the place kicking this year?!?!has anyone looked good so far this spring?I played at Chapin High With Stephen Stellfox, hes got a strong and deadly leg, where does he stand on the kicking duties? thanks J.P.

Daniel Derrick, Chapin, SC 3/28/04  

A.

Daniel, Lou Holtz says that Josh Brown remains the team's best punter and place-kicker, although he would prefer not using him in both roles. Stellfox is behind Joey Bowers as far as kicking off and he's behind a couple people on place-kicks.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

Joe, do you think that the Gamecocks are going to be able to pull off a winning season with the new coaching changes and the non experienced secondary?

DFathlete, Irmo, SC 3/27/04  

A.

Irmo, I don't know. I think the potential is there for a winning season. It will be interesting to see how the offense looks running more two-back sets and how the defense responds to Minter. I will say this: That Vanderbilt game to open the season is huge. Don't laugh. Bobby Johnson's team returns just about everyone, and Vandy has been able to move the ball against USC.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

hi joe. if there not going to expand the stadium now,then when.

gamecock richie, chester,s.c. 3/26/04  

A.

Richie, Mike McGee refused to elaborate on expansion plans for my story last week. He did say that officials are studying some other ideas in addition to bowling in the stadium at the north end. I think the weight room project and the baseball stadium are at the top of the priority list presently, with Williams-Brice expansion pushed to the backburner.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

Joe, I have two questions for you. First, you said that Lou tried to run conservative plays from the spread and that it wasn't the type of offence that lent itself to that style of play. Can you elaborate on that? Second, I'll confess ignorance here, what is a play action pass?

BobbyM, Nashville,TN 3/26/04  

A.

Bobby, They would spread the field with four receivers, normally a passing attack, yet try to run the ball consistently. A few quarterback or fullback draws in that scheme are good to keep a defense off-balance, but not to the extent USC would try to run out of the spread. A play-action pass is when the QB fakes a handoff to a RB (usually, could be a WR in motion), then looks to pass. It's especially effective when a team has established a running game and defense is looking to stop the running plays.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

JOE, I NOTICED THAT THERE IS A LINK ON THE www.uscsports.com WEBSITE SHOWING ARTIST RENDERINGS OF THE NEW NORTH END ZONE EXPANSION. HAS THERE BEEN ANY ARTICLES IN "THE STATE" ABOUT THIS PROJECT? DO YOU HAVE ANY INFO ON WHEN, WHAT OR HOW THIS PROJECT WILL PROCEDE? THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY!!!

gamecock_75, GAFFNEY, SC 3/21/04  

A.

Gamecock '75, Sorry I was so slow in getting back to you. That actually was a story I was working on last week. I don't know if you saw it. If not, basically work has started on the weight room project, a two-floor building behind the south end zone. Cost of the 34,000-square foot facility is $3 million, with work expected to be done by mid-October. New weight room with all the bells and whistles (including a 50-meter, indoor track) on the first floor, meeting rooms and a recruiting area on the second floor.  

Joe Person 3/29/04  

 Q.

Joe, Suppose Dondrial does win the starting QB job. What do you think the mindset will then be for Mitchell and Newton? Assuming Dondrial starts all year, that's one less year Mitchell or Newton will get to QB. Then next year they must contend with the new QB recruit(s). It seems like such good talent will go to waste. Thanks for any thoughts on this.  

QBCurious, Hartsville, SC 3/25/04  

A.

QB Curious, After back-to-back 5-7 seasons, Holtz wants to win now. And he's going to put the players out there -- at every position -- that he feels will make USC a consistent winner. What that means for the development of QBs is anyone's guess. You might see one of them transfer, you might see one change positions. Who knows? Heck, they haven't even had a scrimmage, yet. But it definitely will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.  

Joe Person 3/25/04  

 Q.

How many winning seasons has our women's basketball team had since Sue Walvius was hired and started all this foreign recruiting? Have we just given up on signing the top players in the state and the country, while the best state recruits (Latta, Atkinson etc.) keep going to UNC?

Stacey, Columbia 3/25/04  

A.

Stacey, Walvius has had two winning seasons in seven years -- '01-'02 and '02-'03. Her feeling when she took over was that USC's program was not enough of a household name to compete for the top talent in the Southeast. As a result, she went overseas for many players. Walvius does not want to abandon overseas recruiting, but she says she's also committed to signing the state's best players. There are several good ones out there this year.  

Joe Person 3/25/

[bulls96go]

wow smazza you should have been a reporter

this is high quality work solid e-mail