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I was going to stop after Morrison, but I need to give my favorite SC coach ever, George Raveling, and my favorite player ever, Harold Miner, their due, even though this does bring up the darkest movement in my sports viewing life, but we'll get through it.
As noted before, Mike McGee became USC's fourth ever AD in 1984, and did a house clean. Ted Tollner was removed as football coach, and replaced with Larry Smith, and Stan Morrison, after two NCAA first round exits and a record of 103-95, 62-64 in conference, was forced out as well. McGee now set out to find the coach who could elevate SC to national prominence, and George Raveling was the choice.
Raveling is one of the all-time great people, regardless of his success as a basketball coach. Born in DC in 1937, Raveling's father died when he was 9 and his mother was institutionalized when he was 13. He went to an orphanage/boarding school in Pennsylvania, where he started to play basketball in the 9th grade. A rebounding machine, he went on to play at Villanova, ten years before SC had their first meaningful African American player. He then went into coaching, and was the first black coach in the ACC as an assistant to Lefty Driesell. Raveling was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as security when MLK gave the Dream speech. As the speech wrapped up Raveling asked Dr. King if he could have the type written pages, and Dr King handed them to him. Raveling is still the official owner of those pages, and they are on loan at the National Museum of African American history in DC.
Raveling wanted to be a head coach, but HC opportunities for African Americans in the early 70's were pretty rare. This led him to Pullman Washington, and Washington State. Marv Harshman, the longtime coach there, had moved to UW, and Pullman was a less than desirable job, so to some degree it was a match made in heaven. Raveling would make light of being one of the very few black people in Pullman, but his treatment there, as you would expect, was awful. He persevered, however, and after three tough years got WSU to respectability, with players like James Donaldson and Craig Ehlo.
When Lute Olson took the Arizona job, Raveling took over at Iowa. After a tough first year he had two 20+ win seasons, and two NCAA appearances. He was so well respected in coaching circles that he was asked by Bobby Knight to serve as an assistant, along with Coach K, on the MJ led 1984 US Olympic basketball team, and was key in helping Knight run the tryouts and pick the final Olympic roster.
The SC coaching search of 1986 was a rare occasion for the school where their first choice wanted the job. McGee saw Raveling as someone who could help SC basketball take off, and Raveling felt the same way. He set the tone at his introductory press conference, where after a few one liners he laid down the law…. Players were given a deadline to let him know if they were going to return, or he would pull their scholarships. It was previously reported that the team's star Freshman; Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, Tom Lewis and Rich Grande, would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff. This was asked at the Press Conference, and Raveling did not shy away from it. "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit." Grande responded by the deadline, but the other three didn't, and their scholarships were pulled.
Considering what LMU did with Kimble and Gathers, Raveling got a lot of heat for this move. A rumor circulated that he had gotten the two mixed up when he first met them, and they were out the door regardless. My take at the time was he was going to coach the team under his terms, and it was up to the players to accept that, or leave.
Raveling expected to be able to recruit big time at SC, but he soon found out that he was at a distinct disadvantage. All any other coach had to do was show a player a picture of the locker room in the PE building, and that was it. It was so bad that Raveling had to convince McGee to build a proper locker room in the basement of Heritage Hall so the team could dress there, then go practice at North Gym.
Recruiting therefore got off to a rough start. The one player of note in his first class from C Chris Monk. The following year he brought in Ronnie Colman, an undersized forward who released his shot while still going up, and Duane Cooper.
Raveling basically skipped the 89 recruiting class because he had his eye on a local transformational player, who everyone expected to go to North Carolina, in the class of 1990, and would build the program around him.
Next time- Harold Miner
As noted before, Mike McGee became USC's fourth ever AD in 1984, and did a house clean. Ted Tollner was removed as football coach, and replaced with Larry Smith, and Stan Morrison, after two NCAA first round exits and a record of 103-95, 62-64 in conference, was forced out as well. McGee now set out to find the coach who could elevate SC to national prominence, and George Raveling was the choice.
Raveling is one of the all-time great people, regardless of his success as a basketball coach. Born in DC in 1937, Raveling's father died when he was 9 and his mother was institutionalized when he was 13. He went to an orphanage/boarding school in Pennsylvania, where he started to play basketball in the 9th grade. A rebounding machine, he went on to play at Villanova, ten years before SC had their first meaningful African American player. He then went into coaching, and was the first black coach in the ACC as an assistant to Lefty Driesell. Raveling was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as security when MLK gave the Dream speech. As the speech wrapped up Raveling asked Dr. King if he could have the type written pages, and Dr King handed them to him. Raveling is still the official owner of those pages, and they are on loan at the National Museum of African American history in DC.
Raveling wanted to be a head coach, but HC opportunities for African Americans in the early 70's were pretty rare. This led him to Pullman Washington, and Washington State. Marv Harshman, the longtime coach there, had moved to UW, and Pullman was a less than desirable job, so to some degree it was a match made in heaven. Raveling would make light of being one of the very few black people in Pullman, but his treatment there, as you would expect, was awful. He persevered, however, and after three tough years got WSU to respectability, with players like James Donaldson and Craig Ehlo.
When Lute Olson took the Arizona job, Raveling took over at Iowa. After a tough first year he had two 20+ win seasons, and two NCAA appearances. He was so well respected in coaching circles that he was asked by Bobby Knight to serve as an assistant, along with Coach K, on the MJ led 1984 US Olympic basketball team, and was key in helping Knight run the tryouts and pick the final Olympic roster.
The SC coaching search of 1986 was a rare occasion for the school where their first choice wanted the job. McGee saw Raveling as someone who could help SC basketball take off, and Raveling felt the same way. He set the tone at his introductory press conference, where after a few one liners he laid down the law…. Players were given a deadline to let him know if they were going to return, or he would pull their scholarships. It was previously reported that the team's star Freshman; Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, Tom Lewis and Rich Grande, would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff. This was asked at the Press Conference, and Raveling did not shy away from it. "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit." Grande responded by the deadline, but the other three didn't, and their scholarships were pulled.
Considering what LMU did with Kimble and Gathers, Raveling got a lot of heat for this move. A rumor circulated that he had gotten the two mixed up when he first met them, and they were out the door regardless. My take at the time was he was going to coach the team under his terms, and it was up to the players to accept that, or leave.
Raveling expected to be able to recruit big time at SC, but he soon found out that he was at a distinct disadvantage. All any other coach had to do was show a player a picture of the locker room in the PE building, and that was it. It was so bad that Raveling had to convince McGee to build a proper locker room in the basement of Heritage Hall so the team could dress there, then go practice at North Gym.
Recruiting therefore got off to a rough start. The one player of note in his first class from C Chris Monk. The following year he brought in Ronnie Colman, an undersized forward who released his shot while still going up, and Duane Cooper.
Raveling basically skipped the 89 recruiting class because he had his eye on a local transformational player, who everyone expected to go to North Carolina, in the class of 1990, and would build the program around him.
Next time- Harold Miner