South Carolina was USC before Southern Cal. Just because the West Coast version is better known nationally doesn’t mean South Carolina should just roll over and quit using it.
From 2010 – 2013 USC was ranked 22, 9, 8, 4 in final AP poll while clemson was ranked NR, 22, 11, 8. Simultaneous success is possible. SC HS talent is cyclical, but both schools recruit heavily in NC, GA, and FL, so neither is reliant on SC HS talent to be successful (during the two team’s recent runs of success the bulk of clemson’s best players have been out-of-state guys while USC lived more off of in-state talent).
South Carolina is a better job than Houston by most accounts (salary, facilities, fan base, conference, TV exposure, etc.). Personally I prefer Smart to Herman, but would be fine with either. With Herman only being one-year into the program my guess is he’ll stay there if they back up their promises of a raise and facility improvements and a push to get into Big 12. Have no clue as to what Smart will do and am only guessing on Herman (I’m no “insider”). For what it’s worth the “talk” here in Columbia has been focused primarily around Herman the past week. After that lots of theories/guesses, with Smart being heavily in the mix.
For my money they’ll be hard pressed to do better than Smart if they can lure him away from what is arguably the best coordinator job in the nation.
