Holtz, Bowden bring hope to starved state

Sporting News, The, August 16, 1999 by Mark Blaudschun

The state of South Carolina won't win a national championship this season. But don't tell college football fans in the state things won't get better. No one will believe you.

Not in Columbia-where South Carolina football is being revived by Lou Holtz.

And not 2 1/2 hours up the road in Clemson--where Tommy Bowden has taken over the reigns for the Tigers.

And don't tell either new coach the situation is hopeless after last year, when South Carolina was a woeful 1-10 and Clemson 3-8.

"We're going to win," said Holtz last week as he prepared for his first season as a coach in two years. "I'm not sure how quickly we can do that. But make no mistake, we will win."

You have to believe him. Holtz's teams always win--eventually. He even turned Minnesota into a winning team, a feat some college football experts predicted was impossible.

But what degree of winning are we talking about? Enough wins to get to a bowl game? Enough to win the SEC East? Enough to contend for the national championship?

The University of South Carolina is a strange place. It has state-of-the art facilities, as much fan support as any program in the country and a small but deep in-state talent pool; yet it has never won a national championship in any sport.

Go figure.

South Carolina Should be able to do what Georgia and Tennessee have done. And in given years, what Florida has done.

Holtz says he has shifted the emphasis on recruiting. He and his staff will continue to focus on keeping talent in state--and away from Clemson. "But we're going to hit New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Ohio hard, too," Holtz says. "We're going to concentrate on that part of the country."

Few think South Carolina can do much climbing this year. The Gamecocks play in what may be the toughest division in all of football, with Tennessee, Florida and Georgia all not-so-friendly neighbors.

Holtz knows the Gamecocks could have a decent team and still be no better than fourth in the SEC East.

He sees a schedule that begins September 4 at North Carolina State and concludes November 20 with the annual game against Clemson. He knows the improvement may be no better than a 4-7 record.

But Holtz is in a perfect position: underdog.

He goes around the state, meeting new fans and old ones. He tells his jokes and suggests better times are coming for the Gamecocks and their fans.

"Our minimum goal is a winning season," says Holtz, who resigned after the 1996 season at Notre Dame, where he won 100 games in 11 seasons.

"We call him Superman," says Gamecocks cornerback Arturo Freeman. "We figure he can do anything."

South Carolina will be better under Holtz, but does anyone think Tennessee, Florida and Georgia are going to slip a lot in the very near furore?

Bowden faces a similar task at Clemson but may have it a bit easier than Holtz.

Clemson has won a national championship. It plays in the ACC, not the SEC, where the chances of success--we're talking 10-1 type of success--seem better in a league in which only Florida State looks unbeatable every season.

"Maybe," concedes Bowden grudgingly. "But let me tell you something. There are some places in this country where a 7-4 record will get you a raise. This is not one of them."

Yet, expectations are down at Clemson. Marshall comes to Clemson for the season opener September 4 and may be favored.

"When that game was scheduled maybe 10 years ago, if you were a Clemson fan, you probably thought that was going to be an easy win for Clemson," says Bowden, who left Tulane for a job in a higher-profile league. "That Marshall could be favored shows just how far things have fallen around here."

But like at South Carolina, the fan support remains. Each week, the fans will show up, paint their faces and live and die with programs that remain larger than life.

We would say Clemson will win quicker than South Carolina. But with Holtz, anything is possible, which should make it even more fun to watch.

We can't wait to see how it turns out.

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