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TDF - I broke a thousand hearts.
The Hire
Cocky Country: Welcome To The Frank Martin Era, Gamecocks.
Leftover Hotdog: Flounder posts an Open Letter to Frank Martin and It is Official and South Carolina is Lucky to Get Frank Martin. No doubt.
Dixie Fried Sports: Martin Mania Comes to Columbia. Matt Barber thinks this is the biggest hire at USC since Frank McGuire. I think Bill Foster and Eddie Fogler were probably each as big of a hire in their day, but things didn't work out for either; I have a suspicion that it'll be different in the Martin era. Read it all.
The Rubber Chickens: The Buck Sweep – Intense Stare Edition.
SI.com: K-State AD denies rift led to Martin's departure.
The Sporting News: South Carolina hires Martin for basketball coach. Says TSN - "And make no mistake, this job is a challenge."
Post & Courier: Martin brings his intense style to South Carolina by Darryl Slater.
Gene Sapakoff: A kinder, gentler new USC basketball coach Frank Martin scares Gamecock opponents.
Ron Morris: Martin is right choice for USC. Morris is so positive on Martin that I'm worried he may have a fever or something! "You can bet Martin will bring top-level talent to Columbia, and it will not matter to him that USC is geographically located in Atlantic Coast Conference territory or that instate players still grow up with the dream of playing at Kentucky or North Carolina. Martin recruited big-time players to Manhattan, Kan., for crying out loud." Amen, Brother Ron! Preach it!
Matt Connolly: South Carolina hits "grand slam" with hire.
Orangeburg Times & Democrat: Martin eager to take on USC challenge by Pete Iacobelli.
Bleacher Report: Gamecocks Getting Perfect Head Coach and Former K-State Coach Will Revitalize Gamecocks. An opposing voice speaks up here - Basketball Coach Will Regret Leaving for Money. Hey, genius! Newsflash - the move was not solely about the money.
Manhattan (KS) Mercury: Exhibit 1 - Martin and Currie issues ran deep; Exhibit 2 - After four NCAA tournaments, Martin takes South Carolina job. ""'I asked him if there's anything we could do?' Currie said Tuesday. 'He really felt that it was a time to make a change. He and his family needed to make a change and this was the appropriate time to do so.'" Of course a big raise didn't hurt, either.
Topeka Capital-Journal: Some not that upset by Martin's departure. We hardly knew ye. Sour-grapskis.
Alex Roberts: Steve Spurrier One of the Keys to Frank Martin's Hire?
Mr. SEC: Latest News USC’S Martin Makes 4 Ex-Big 12 Coaches In The SEC; Meet The Roster.
Palmetto Recruiting: Martin knows one of USC's hoop targets.
Gamecock Baseball
Post & Courier: South Carolina hammers Citadel in baseball.
Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Earn 7-3 Win Over The Citadel. Jordan Montgomery gets his first collegiate "W" - 'grats to him!
College Baseball Insider: USC falls in the CBI composite poll.
College Baseball Daily: 2012 NCBWA Top 30 Poll (March 26th).
Gamecock Football
Post & Courier: South Carolina’s Ellington returns to football. A.P. story by Pete Iacobelli. It looks like Bruce didn't talk to Coach Martin first; Martin, for his part, was philosophical about it. Plus he gets an extra scholly to play with, so he might not be all that upset.
Gamecock Anthem: Ellington returns to football. Great quote from Coach Spurrier about Frank Martin.
Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Work Out Tuesday - Practice Report Number 7.
The Daily Gamecock: Wide receivers begin life without Alshon Jeffery. And that's just the veterans - the three new guys arriving in August are going to make us only that much better and deeper.
Sportstalkgolive: Phil Kornblut posts Florida DE spends the day at USC, and other recruiting notes; Brian Rauf reports that Spurrier upset with offensive struggles in Tuesday’s practice (AUDIO).
Orangeburg Times & Democrat: Jeffery, Bulldogs’ stars could decide their fate today. Alshon really needs to run a sub-4.6/40 - preferably a low 4.5 - if he wants to worm his way back into first round consideration; hopefully he's gotten some good speed -and-agility coaching over the last two months. The barrage of criticism directed to A.J. has been fascinating, but he didn't help himself one bit at the Combine after the weigh-in.
CBS Sports: QB Garcia coming back for pro day. Good luck today, Stephen.
Bleacher Report: 2012 NFL Draft: The Mystery of Alshon Jeffery: and 2012 NFL Draft: South Carolina Defensive Tackle Travian Robertson.
Saturday Down South: 2012 SEC Schedule Rankings #4: South Carolina Gamecocks. "The stretch of Georgia, at LSU and at Florida is one of the toughest 3 game stretches in the SEC."
Loose Feed
AJC Recruiting: Dabo Swinney’s plan to revolutionize college football. Dabo came up with a plan? All by himself? What's the line from Vegas on whether it's really Chad Morris' plan, or TDP's idea?
AJC Recruiting:: Georgia DE exchanges commitment vows with Vanderbilt. For me, it's now become totally official - Franklin is the biggest hypocrite in the league, since he has zero compunction about trying to flip kids who've committed to other schools and has even less qualms about tampering with kids under scholarship at the University of Maryland. I am officially rooting against Vandy in football from here-on-out until he goes or I slip this mortal coil. (Ed. - even against UGA? Yes - even against them. *deep sigh*). The way I've been eating of late, it might be the latter.