When a coach believes that his athletic program should set admissions standards for a university, he either does not belong at the institution or the institution has no academic credibility.

An embarrassed and angry Steve Spurrier blasted South Carolina's admissions process Sunday, apologizing to two recruits who signed with the Gamecocks last winter and were denied academic entry this summer.

"In my opinion, I still believe we made a mistake in doing this," Spurrier said Sunday.

Spurrier had spoken with university president Andrew Sorensen and the two agreed, the coach said, that things needed to change.

Spurrier was angered that receiver Michael Bowman of Wadesboro, N.C., and Arkee Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., were cleared by the NCAA to enroll, yet were turned down by the university. The rest of the Gamecocks football team officially reported Friday for preseason camp.

"Hopefully, I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen, because I can't operate like that," Spurrier said. "I can't operate misleading young men."

Spurrier signed a contract extension, which included a raise of nearly a half-million dollars, that ties him to South Carolina through 2012. However, he said if things didn't change on admissions "then I have to go somewhere else, because I can't tell the young man that he's coming to school here," then not have him admitted.

University spokesman Russ McKinney said Spurrier has been involved in talks with Sorensen and other administrators about refining the process of athletic admissions.

"I think the university administration understands his frustration," McKinney said.

McKinney said the goal would be to let all South Carolina coaches know as early as possible whether a prospect would meet the university's admission standards.

The problem is not th school's standards. the problem is that Spurrier is recruiting academically sub-par athletes for his teams. He does both the University of South Carolina and the young men no favors with that practice, for the students will ultimately be unable to perform academically and leave the school without a degree. In the mean time, South Carolina will have degraded its standards, for meeting Spurrier's requirements will ultimately lead to the degradation of admission requirements for all students.

Spurrier was a failure as an NFL coach. It seems to me that he is a failure as an educator as well -- after all, a college coach is, first and foremost, a teacher. Indeed, his arrogant effort to blackmail the administration leads me to conclude that he is a failure as a man. He needs to go.

Posted by: Greg at 06:09 AM | Comments (26) | Add Comment
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