usc gamecock news and notes

[smazza]

Gamecocks signee Capers arrested on robbery charge

By JOSEPH PERSON

Staff Writer

South Carolina football signee Dorian Capers remains in a Georgia jail after an armed robbery arrest last weekend in Savannah.

Capers, a highly recruited defensive lineman from Thomas Heyward Academy, will appear Monday before Chatham County Judge Lawrence Dillon, who will decide whether enough evidence exists for a trial.

Capers, 18, has been held at the Chatham County Detention Center without bond this week after police allege he robbed two men at knifepoint early Sunday morning at a convenience store near the South Carolina-Georgia border. According to Chatham County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Tommy Tillman, individuals arrested for violent felonies are typically held without bond in Georgia.

If convicted, Capers faces a minimum of 10 years in prison, Tillman said. Walter Capers, 19, a cousin of Dorian Capers, and Travis Fields, 22, were charged with being a party to an armed robbery, but were released on bond, Tillman said.

Capers signed with the Gamecocks in February, but did not qualify academically. USC coaches planned to place Capers at Georgia Military College, a two-year school where several previous USC recruits have attended while working on their grades.

Attempts to reach USC coach Lou Holtz on Friday were unsuccessful. USC sports information director Kerry Tharp said no decision had been made regarding Capers’ future.

“We will wait for the legal process to run its course before we make any determination regarding Dorian’s future status with the South Carolina program,†Tharp said.

According to the police report, Capers, his cousin and Fields approached Douglas Hildebrand, 21, of Greer, and David Edwards, 24, of Hinesville, Ga., around 3:45 a.m. Sunday at the walk-up window of a convenience store. Capers allegedly pulled a knife and took $50 from Hildebrand.

According to Savannah police spokesman Bucky Burnsed and the arrest report, officers on patrol observed the three men backing out of the parking lot at a high rate of speed in a gold Buick. The vehicle did not have its lights on. Police stopped the car on a bridge spanning the Savannah River. During the stop, Hildebrand and Edwards identified the three men as the alleged assailants.

Inez Capers, Dorian’s mother, said her son told her an altercation ensued when Hildebrand and Edwards approached Walter Capers. That led to an exchange between Dorian Capers and Hildebrand, she said.

“Dorian said (Hildebrand) flashed (the money) up in his face and he grabbed at the guy’s hand,†Inez Capers said. “Dorian didn’t have no knife. The little knife was on Travis’ key ring in Travis’ car and the car was still running.â€Â

Dorian Capers, a 6-foot-6, 275-pounder from Beaufort, was ranked among the top 20 defensive tackles nationally by rivals.com after finishing his only season at Thomas Heyward with 127 tackles, four sacks and two fumble recoveries.

Thomas Heyward headmaster John Rogers said Capers left school last month at his recommendation.

“We recommended to the parents that he take the GED and move on,†said Rogers, adding the decision was not discipline related. “When he was here, he didn’t have any disciplinary problems.â€Â

Capers transferred to the private school from Battery Creek High, where he faced disciplinary measures as the result of his involvement in an altercation at the school. Attempts to reach Battery Creek football coach Andy Smyth were unsuccessful.

[smazza]

Contracts favor assistants

By JOSEPH PERSON

Staff Writer

USC coach Lou Holtz has one of the more unique contracts in college football. With no buyout clause in Holtz’s five-year, rollover deal, the 67-year-old Holtz or the school can terminate the contract without any financial repercussions with five days’ written notice.

But it will be much more expensive if school officials decide to get rid of Holtz’s assistants.

Thanks to an unprecedented number of multiyear deals extended to the Gamecocks’ remade coaching staff, the school would owe the assistants $1.33 million if Holtz were to retire after the 2004 season and his staff was not retained. The State obtained copies of the contracts Friday under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

During Holtz’s first five seasons at USC, only his son, former offensive coordinator Skip Holtz, had a multiyear deal. Now more than half of the staff is working with the security of multiyear contracts.

Skip Holtz has a five-year rollover deal, new receivers coach Rick Stockstill has a three-year deal, and first-year defensive coordinator Rick Minter, new secondary coach Ron Cooper and running backs coach Dave Roberts all have two-year contracts.

If the school terminates any of the multiyear deals, it would owe the coaches the remainder of their contracts. The flipside is that three of the five assistants with multiyear deals  Roberts, Minter and Stockstill  would owe the school if they left early for anything other than a Division I-A head-coaching position, or in the cases of Minter and Roberts, a job in the NFL.

The buyout for Roberts and Minter is $25,000; Stockstill would pay USC $100,000 if he left with more than one year remaining on his deal and $50,000 otherwise.

Roberts, part of Holtz’s original USC staff, was the only holdover from the 2003 staff to get a longer deal. Roberts received a $10,000 raise, bumping his base salary to $120,000, shortly after interviewing at Nebraska.

Lou Holtz, Skip Holtz, tight ends coach Paul Lounsberry and defensive line coach Jappy Oliver all remained at their 2003 salary levels after the Gamecocks’ second consecutive 5-7 finish.

USC is paying its assistants a total of $1.05 million this year, compared to $1.02 million in 2003.

USC athletics director Mike McGee said the decision to offer some assistants longer contracts continues a developing trend within the Southeastern Conference, where both of LSU’s coordinators and Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis have multiyear deals.

“Additionally,†McGee said, “most of the new coaches we hired were already operating on multiyear contracts.â€Â

Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, said a couple of Big 12 Conference schools, including Texas, began offering its assistant coaches multiyear deals about four years ago.

Among USC’s other head coaches, track and field coach Curtis Frye and baseball coach Ray Tanner received the largest raises at $20,000 each.

Frye’s base salary jumped from $105,000 to $125,000, while Tanner’s base increased from $125,000 to $145,000 after he guided the Gamecocks to the College World Series for the second consecutive year.

[smazza]

Arkansas fired Holtz for neglect of fans

Official says coach made them low priority, a criticism he faces now atUSC

From Staff and Wire Reports

LITTLE ROCK  Lou Holtz was fired as football coach at Arkansas because “he was losing the fan base,†Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles said Friday during testimony in the trial involving former Razorbacks basketball coach Nolan Richardson.

Under questioning Friday by University of Arkansas lawyer Phil Kaplan, Broyles said that when he doesn’t believe a coach is performing to the best of his or her ability, he alone determines whether to recommend dismissal.

Broyles said that as an example of how he handles coaches, he fired Holtz, then Arkansas’ head football coach, despite his 60-21-2 record that included six consecutive bowl appearances.

“I felt like he was losing the fan base with things he said and did,†Broyles said. Among perceived slights was Holtz’s missing a homecoming game pep rally so he could make a speech in St. Louis, Broyles said.

Coming off consecutive 5-7 records and a 63-17 loss to Clemson in his fifth season at South Carolina, Holtz has been criticized this week by some USC fans for not spending more time signing autographs at Gamecock Club spring meetings.

Gamecock Club director Jeff Barber said earlier this week that Holtz still signs items that fans bring to meetings, but that Holtz preferred not to set aside a block of time to do so.

Barber said attendance at three of the four club meetings at which Holtz has spoken is down from 2003.

“The enthusiasm is absolutely gone, which is all the reason Holtz should have been more accessible,†Larry Simmons, the vice president of the Charleston County Gamecock Club, said earlier this week.

Barber said fund raising by the Gamecock Club is ahead of the pace from last year, when the booster group raised a record $11.8 million.

Holtz could not be reached for comment.

The trial in which Broyles testified concerns Richardson’s lawsuit, in which he claims he was fired by the Arkansas because he is black and outspoken. The university maintains Richardson was let go because Broyles believed Richardson had lost faith in the Razorbacks’ program by asking to be bought out.

[smazza]

Fans’ patience wearing thin

Lou Holtz tells Gamecock Club members he still is right man for the job

By JOSEPH PERSON

Staff Writer

Lou Holtz still cracked jokes about his golf game and his Catholic faith. But Holtz’s tone Wednesday at the Lexington County Gamecock Club meeting, his fourth stop on a spring speaking tour, was more serious than past years.

Back-to-back 5-7 seasons and a 46-point loss to Clemson will do that to a person.

“When people need love and understanding and support the most is probably when they deserve it the least,†Holtz told a crowd of about 450. “And the individual standing before you certainly falls in that category.â€Â

Holtz admitted he let down USC fans in 2003, when the Gamecocks dropped their final four games to miss a bowl game for the second consecutive year. Holtz said he spent 10 days after the Clemson loss in prayer and reflection and determined that he was still the “right guy for the job.â€Â

“I looked at it and (asked), ‘Is there anyone more determined to turn this thing around than I am?’• †he said.

Holtz, who turned 67 this offseason, decided the answer was no.

A sampling of fans at Wednesday’s meeting at Seawell’s agreed that Holtz deserved another year. But it appears the patience of the Gamecocks’ famously loyal fan base is wearing thin.

“The whole country respects us because we stick with our team. But it gets old,†said Joel Moslet, a 1984 graduate of USC. “I think it’s reached a point where this year it’s time. And (Holtz) has to be thinking the same thing.â€Â

Gamecock Club director Jeff Barber said attendance at three of the four club meetings at which Holtz has spoken is down from 2003. The Charleston County club canceled its annual golf tournament last month due to lack of interest. A dinner that same night drew 170 fans, down from an average of 550-600 following USC’s two Outback Bowl seasons.

Larry Simmons, the vice president of the Charleston County Gamecock Club, said he was disappointed Holtz did not hold an autograph-signing session before the meeting this year. Barber said Holtz still signs items that fans bring to meetings, but Holtz preferred not to set aside a block of time to do so.

“The enthusiasm is absolutely gone, which is all the reason Holtz should have been more accessible,†said Simmons, who hopes to schedule a meeting with USC athletics director Mike McGee about Holtz’s appearance in Charleston.

“(Holtz) can do what he wants, obviously, and he does,†Simmons said. “I just don’t know why the university lets him do the things he does.â€Â

Holtz signed several items and agreed to have his picture taken with a handful of fans Wednesday.

He also talked about his decision to shake up his coaching staff. In addition to firing four assistants, Holtz took over the offense from his son Skip.

“I have to be me, not a board of directors, not a grandfather,†he said. “I have to be a hands-on guy or the football team doesn’t have my personality, and I don’t think we had (it).â€Â

Troy McNall, a half-scholarship donor from Chapin, said he hopes the coaching changes bring results.

“Sometimes you have to do those kinds of things,†McNall said. “If players see they’re willing to change up coaches, they can’t just kind of go on. They have to try to step to that next level.â€Â

After his opening remarks, Holtz addressed fans’ written questions, the first of which asked Holtz where he planned to be in 2005

“I’m planning on being here,†Holtz said. “I don’t want to ruin your night.â€Â

The crowd clapped and a few people laughed. But the jokes and laughter were a little scarcer this year.

• Former coach has cancer. Holtz said ex-quarterbacks coach Todd Fitch, one of the assistants let go during the offseason, was diagnosed with testicular cancer this week. Fitch, now the quarterbacks coach at Iowa State, plans to seek treatment at the Mayo Clinic, where Holtz’s wife was treated for cancer six years ago.

Two-quarterback system. Holtz indicated he might play two quarterbacks following a strong showing in the spring game by sophomore Syvelle Newton. Holtz called Newton exciting but is worried about his turnovers.

Quipped Holtz: “When he has the ball our motto and your philosophy should be, ‘Hold on to your hat, brother, one of us is fixing to score.’• â€Â

More on quarterbacks. Holtz said the “attack†on starting quarterback Dondrial Pinkins is unfair and praised the fifth-year senior for his off-the-field demeanor. ... Holtz said redshirt freshman Blake Mitchell “will be better than Phil Petty in time.â€Â

[The_Reaper]

They will really be ready to fire him after we beat their arsks!

[Ricky the Bull]

I would rather it be understandable to lose to us than THE reason a coach is fired.

[smazza]

well if we beat them

usc losing to us wouldn't be such a shock

[bulls96go]

we will beat them and he will be let go at the end of the season