Rarely, does a coach leave a team better off than he found it!

[Burninlove]

I’ve been neutral with Coach Muscamp, however I started thinking about what he inherited and his persistence and his commitment to build a Top Tier Program.
When Saban to over Alabama he was just 7-5 his first year. He left LSU better than he had found it. Harbough took a struggling Stanford team and left it way better than he found it. Spurrier took florida and Duke changed it and left it at is pinnacle. I thinks Stoops did the same at Oklahoma. With all this being said Spurrier took a Holts team that was decimated and it took 6 years to get to 9-5 then 11-3 in triplicate. But left it in horrific shape. I’m seein a guy (muschamp) that bet on us and we bet on him to build an immaculate program. He had no where to go because he was already down. He’s made me interested in the program again and even read this site. I believe we are at the beginning of something great.

 

[ExpatCarolinian]

One correction. It was 11-2 in triplicate. Don’t give us an extra loss!

 

[viennacocks]

One correction. It was 11-2 in triplicate. Don’t give us an extra loss!

It was also Holtz. Not Holts.

 

[winloseortie]

Holtz left this program in much better shape than he found it. Thank you bad brad
Spurrier did leave us in disarray but he left more talent on the roster than when he got here and a legacy that said it could be done here.

 

[Triton20x]

Holtz left this program in much better shape than he found it. Thank you bad brad
Spurrier did leave us in disarray but he left more talent on the roster than when he got here and a legacy that said it could be done here.

That is correct! Spurrier may not have left it in same shape as he had built during 11-2 seasons but it was definitely in better shape than he found it. Plus he showed other coaches that you could build a winning program. But to say the program was in horrific shape when he left is an overstatement. Look at the class rankings his last 4 seasons before he left and you can easily see there was talent. Unfortunately there were some holes in those classes that were not filled which hurt those others with great talent.

 

[uscg1984]

It may have taken Spurrier 6 years to get to 9 wins and an SEC East title, but he gave us a down payment on future success in his first season here. By beating UT in Knoxville and beating the Gators for the first time in almost forever, he showed us that things didn't have to be like it'd always been. And even though he left a team in disarray, he improved the program to the extent that he had completely changed our expectations about what our program could be. We have become a program that is not satisfied with bowl games in Shreveport and Memphis. We _expect_ New Year's day bowls and we consider a 9-win season as a "season that could have been." That is the "change in culture" our other coaches had talked about for decades.

 

[willmac99]

Pretty sure there was 30 or 31 four stars on the roster when SOS left.

 

[CliffordII]

Holtz left this program in much better shape than he found it. Thank you bad brad
Spurrier did leave us in disarray but he left more talent on the roster than when he got here and a legacy that said it could be done here.

Thanks for recognizing Lou Holtz's contributions. He took a team in such sorry morale, they were destined to win Zero games in his first year. I don't know of many future HOF coaches who would take a sure 12 losses on his coaching legacy for the first year at Carolina in aim to build up the Gamecocks for the future.

And just like he did at F I V E other football programs, Holtz had us in a bowl game in year TWO. (WE also WON 2 bowl games consecutively ! )
Before Holtz, Carolina was lucky to GET into a bowl game. 100 years of mostly sub-500 football teams.

So, While I am grateful for Spurrier and the 11-2 seasons, I believe one has to label LOU HOLTZ as the man who started to turn around the football program here.

 

[FORKCOCK]

Is our athletic department better or worse than when Ray became AD?