“Cautiously optimistic” is a very useful phrase within Gamecock Nation. It has been applied so many times before. When?
Whenever.
Any sport.
It also fits precisely this month, with fans taking stock of South Carolina’s new football coach Shane Beamer as they look to a brighter future than most of the past five seasons under Will Muschamp.
Preston Thorne is cautiously optimistic about assembling Beamer’s team so far. But the former Gamecocks defensive striker strongly believes that there is a great opportunity to build lasting success with more hires from alumni – within the technical team, support team, group of analysts, anywhere in the football program.
In other words: try to be more like Clemson.
“As much as I hate it as a Gamecock, they do a good job of cultivating the culture there,” said Thorne, a 38-year-old graduate from Summerville High School who played for South Carolina from 2001-04 when Lou Holtz was head coach. .
Clemson’s head coach Dabo Swinney, who looks forward to his seventh consecutive appearance at the College Football Playoff and third national championship next season, has a team full of ex-Tigers.
Field coaches include Tony Elliott, Brandon Streeter, Tyler Grisham and CJ Spiller.
The support staff and roster of graduate assistants includes Danny Pearman, Miguel Chavis, Deandre McDaniel and Bill Spiers, as well as other former Tigers who play a variety of football-related roles.
“Those former Clemson players who work for Clemson become evangelists for the program,” said Thorne this week.
Not accidentally.
The business of leadership development is a process that Thorne knows well. He is an outreach coordinator and student success coach at the USC’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Thorne, married (Karimah) to a 1-year-old daughter (Simone Ali), also trains public school teachers in Richland School District Two.
Former South Carolina and Summerville striker Preston Thorne and his wife Karimah have a 1-year-old daughter, Simone Ali. Thorne is the student’s outreach coordinator and successful coach at the USC’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Photo provided
In South Carolina, Beamer, a 43-year-old former Gamecock assistant coach hired on December 5, hired former South Carolina defender Erik Kimrey to coach tight teams. But he did not retain the linebacker’s trainer, Rod Wilson, a former Gamecock and NFL Cross player.
‘Good start’
Former Gamecock player and NFL defensive line player Byron Jerideau (2008 Colleton County High School class) joined the fitness and strength team, leaving a similar job in Tennessee. The team’s former quarterback, Connor Shaw, will have an off-field role yet to be determined.
Former linebacker Shaq Wilson, a five-year support team veteran, is a defensive analyst.
Beamer will likely add more previous Gamecocks; he seems committed to a team of analysts larger than the two full-time employees and four graduate assistants hired by Muschamp, who believed that “more is not always better” (Clemson last season had nine salaried analysts and six analysts graduated assistants).
Summerville native and former South Carolina striker Preston Thorne played for the Gamecocks from 2001 to 2004, when Lou Holtz was the head coach. University of South Carolina athletics photo
“Shane is the closest thing we have to someone who wants to be here,” said Thorne. “We started well with Kimrey, Shaq, Byron and Connor.
“But a really important part will be some of those analyst positions.”
These entry-level jobs lead to full-time jobs elsewhere and then to a group of qualified former Gamecocks, able to return to Columbia as assistant coaches.
Upper fixator, good bones
“You cannot quantify goodwill,” said Thorne. “But take Byron; Bryon is from Colleton County. Now much of Colleton County is interested in the university because we just hired one of its best representatives. “
Children in Colleton County have a Green Pond native to admire, just as children in South Carolina admire Thorne and Langston Moore of James Island. Gamecock’s former teammates made the rounds talking about their three children’s books, starting with #JustaChicken in 2015. There are 26 pages (illustrated by South Carolina graduate Kev Roche) about a bird called Cocky struggling to adjust to a diversified chicken coop.
The pleasant story of a Beamer term will ideally include many ex-Gamecocks, probably including some of the Steve Spurrier Era players who still play in the NFL or who have recently retired.
Thorne likens this project to a “fixer” blessed with “good bones” – facilities, fans, an SEC address – that needs an investment in the neighborhood that requires “human capital”.
“This could be the start of something,” said Thorne, “a kind of change in the way we do things in South Carolina. It can be a model for how things are done across the country. “
Please, director of the university, listen to one of you.
The investment and development of Gamecocks graduates can be a key path to the SEC’s success for a struggling bird that is still adjusting to an ultra-competitive SEC cooperative.
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff.
