Garnet and Black Attack Staff Changes

As you may have noticed, there have been a few changes here at Garnet and Black Attack. First of all, we've brought on a handful of new writers:

GCGamer (football recruiting coverage)

davislwilliams (basketball coverage)

GarnetArmyStrong (gameday coverage)

Cockaboose (What's Cooking at GABA)

Please welcome these folks to our community.

We're also pleased to announce that ChickenHoops will now be serving as co-manager at the site along with Gamecock Man. Hoops has long produced great content and shown great leadership at GABA, and we're excited about this increased role for him.

You've also probably noticed that Connor Tapp is no longer with us. Connor now works with 247Sports. Our parting was not acrimonious in any respect. Connor made a decision that was good for his career, and while we'll certainly miss him, we wish him all the best. In fact, some of us who have worked closely with him want to share our own personal reminiscences.

Gamecock Man: I asked Connor to join us here at GABA after listening to a few of his Half Cocked podcasts and admiring his work. It was one of the best decisions I've made as manager here. Connor immediately hit the ground running producing great content. When he took on a co-manager role, he succeed in developing a level of organization and direction that I had, frankly, been unable to institute myself. This community has grown substantially since then, and we have Connor largely to thank. While these material contributions to the site are a big part of Connor's legacy, though, I'll really remember him for introducing some insightful social commentary here on the blog. Some of the things he had to say weren't popular with all our readers or even all of the other writers, but they initiated interesting dialogues. I had a lot of fun taking part in those.

Jorge De Los Gallos: I first met Connor, unknowingly, in 2005 or so when we were both at Carolina and shared a small public speaking class together. During one speech he made fun of me, rightfully, but I'm still sour about it. To that end, good riddance. [is handed card from off camera] My agent says I'm contractually obligated to say something nice, so here goes.

Folks, Connor Tapp is a hot takesmith. GABA was his blast furnace. Clad in a heavy apron and steampunk goggles, he'd forge glowing red hot takes with his brainhammer, the icy clangs echoing skyward as he dutifully crafted his next masterpiece amidst a flurry of sparks and hater shrapnel while some disembodied baritone chorus sang Soviet war anthems...

Sorry that got weird. Let's refocus. Folks, I'll start the slow clap for a guy who parlayed a tireless commitment to this blog into an honest to God career. This place will miss his contributions and his finely Bic'ed scalp, but he left GABA so much better than he found it. I think Connor's most profound impact was in expanding GABA into a news source to complement Gamecock Man's sturdy commentary, and the community grew because of it. And that's not to take away from what was already the best dang Gamecocks blog community on the innanet, but Tapp's impact was akin to that of a star recruit or program changing coach. Maybe we should start calling him Jaconveon Clowntapp. Or not, I don't know. What I'm saying is we probably won't find another Connor, but the standard he helped establish will echo forward into eternity. Frankly, his rigorous dedication to GABA often made me feel insignificant. He's also a far stronger runner than me. So in conclusion, screw that guy and the overachieving horse he rode in on.

Anyway, text you later man!

'Hoops: First of all, I want to say that I am excited for GABA that they have replaced Connor Tapp with me.  It's not often you get a Cadillac at Kia prices, and yet, here we are (Connor will get - and hopefully appreciate - what just happened there; for the rest of you, I sort of hope for your sake that you don't).

Anyway, I got to know Connor when he started linking my blog at GABA, and ultimately he reached out to me about my thoughts on writing about Gamecock basketball.  Since the biggest reason I started writing about Carolina hoops was to have people to discuss my thoughts with, it was exciting for me to hear that someone thought those thoughts were worth sharing with a larger audience.  So if you're reading this, or anything I've written, and you enjoy it, you probably have Connor Tapp to thank.  And so do I.

We're not replacing Connor here, because trying to is futile.  But we're going to carry on without him, and we're going to miss the heck out of him, and we're going to hope he pops by in the comments from time to time, hopefully with hot music takes.  Good luck Connor, and we'll be on the lookout for you coming up with ways for us to finally break the Chesney Curse.  We'll also miss the hell out of you.

As for me stepping into a co-manager role, I look forward to continuing to contribute to the community, and hope that otherwise you don't notice a lick of difference on the site because of the change.  Thanks for hanging out with us here.  It's the community that makes this fun.