USC President proposes new 'Battle for Columbia' rivalry with Missouri
In USC President Harris Pastides’ office is a case of signed baseballs.
Naturally, one might confuse the signatures as those of baseball players, but that would be incorrect. Pastides has famous visitors sign a baseball when they come to the campus. He has one signed by country music singer Darius Rucker, President Barack Obama, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and most recently, ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen.
Why baseballs?
“Because we’re a baseball school,” Pastides explained.
Pastides acknowledged that collegiate athletics contribute to the identity of a university, though he said there’s a fine line between how athletics operates as an enterprise, yet is still a part of the university.
“It is a big enterprise that needs to be managed so that you don’t create a spin-off mentality --— that it’s some sort of subsidiary that doesn’t have much to do with the university, which we don’t have here, but it could happen,” Pastides said. “There’s a tendency to think athletics is larger than life or that there are different rules that apply to student-athletes than students. When it’s managed properly, I think athletics is a superb part of university life.”
Pastides understands what it’s like to be a fan, but he also serves as a university representative. He recalls being swept up in the emotions at the Capital One Bowl, where the Gamecocks sealed their first ever 11-win season. After the game, he led students in the “Game-cocks” cheer.
“It was something that was not premeditated,” Pastides said. “In fact, had I thought about it, I might not have done it because you think that as the president, you should be somewhat more reserved. That win was very emotional because I’ve been now to several successive bowl games that didn’t have a positive outcome. You see the thousands of fans, who traveled there and spent hard-earned money there. You want to have a record-breaking season.
field by the ESPN people for the trophy presentation. I think I told the coach, ‘Phenomenal win. The fourth quarter was unbelievable.’ He said something to me like, ‘This one means a lot — it’s one of my best wins.’ I think he meant ever. We were walking together and he said, ‘Let’s invite them down.’ And I asked, ‘Who?’ He said, ‘The fans — this is about the fans.’ I looked around because I knew the security people might not like that. I said, ‘Well, that’s an interesting idea, Coach. Let’s see if we can do it.’”
Pastides has some interesting ideas of his own regarding the athletics program.
The ‘Battle for Columbia’
With the addition of Missouri to the SEC East, Pastides placed a call to Missouri’s university president with one of his ideas.
“I proposed to him that we create a new kind of championship that can be called the Battle for Columbia,” Pastides said. “They’re in Columbia, Mo., and we’re in Columbia, S.C. He liked the idea. We’re going to talk about it with the commissioner and maybe start a new rivalry with Mizzou in that way.”
If the proposal is approved by the league, Pastides envisions a traveling trophy that both universities would pay for, with the victorious team holding the trophy each year.
“It’s what fans love to see,” Pastides said. “The rivalry with Clemson is storied — you don’t need to do anything to pump that one up. When I ask them, ‘OK, I know the Clemson game is very important; what’s your next most important rivalry?’ You’ll probably hear Georgia, but not uniformly and probably because it’s a short drive. It’d be fun to think of someday the Missouri Tigers and the Gamecocks having a ‘Battle for Columbia.’”
Four-year athletic scholarships
After some schools offered recruits four-year athletic scholarships, as opposed to the customary one-year scholarship, NCAA President Mark Emmert reached out to FBS university presidents with a proposal to allow schools to sign players to four-year scholarships. Pastides offered his support for the idea in an email.
“I think that when you offer a scholarship you should, in general, offer it for the long haul,” Pastides said. “As long as a student athlete fulfills their commitment to work hard, be a solid contributor and a solid student, the scholarship should hold. However, I also think that coaches need an outlet for those infrequent situations when a student-athlete loses her/his motivation and commitment to the team. Just like there are no free rides in life, an athletic scholarship is an important benefit that requires responsible behavior from the student.”
SEC football scheduling
When it comes to the new football schedule, Pastides emphasized taking the long-term view.
“In terms of Arkansas being the traditional Western opponent — I don’t know if that has to be that way forever,” Pastides said. “I think the presidents are going to talk about it at our retreat later this year. I’m open to something that might be better. Better doesn’t mean a team that we can beat more, because for two years Arkansas might be at the top and then in two years Mississippi State might be at the top, so you be careful who you choose, but I’m really more interested in the fans’ perspective.”
Pastides also said that he’s interested in hearing input from the fans and coaches about who the SEC West rival should be. Currently there are no concrete plans to make changes, but if there were, he said he would be open to them.
Pastides also said he is interested in looking into how the SEC divisional champions are determined, with regard to how much cross-divisional games should be weighted in that determination. For example, the Gamecocks finished 6-0 in the SEC East, but since they suffered two losses to SEC West teams, as compared to Georgia only losing once in the SEC to USC, Georgia won the SEC East.
“There’s some interest in declaring the divisional champ based on your record within the division, and that could be something that could be positive,” Pastides said. “There’s a long way to go, but I do think there’s some willingness on the part of the [athletics directors] and the coaches and the presidents about the possibility — haven’t talked about it with the league or the commissioner — that there could be some movement on that.”
Filling the arena
Pastides has a simple answer to why attendance has been down in the men’s basketball program.
“Winning, or lack of winning,” Pastides said. “We’re a university that has gotten used to some success. Fans expect it. They demand it. I’m with them and I truly believe that there’s a cycle between the record of the team and the attendance, in that I believe the greater attendance would be good for the team and would help them win, but it’s hard to get that attendance until they start winning. I think what you have is that cycle and it’s got to be broken somewhere.”
Pastides said he talked with Kentucky coach John Calipari before Saturday’s game and that Calipari praised USC’s basketball program and said that it takes time to build a winning tradition. Seeing all of the blue in the Gamecocks’ arena inspired Pastides.
“It made me feel like, ‘Wow. I want to get there someday,’” Pastides said. “I want to get to the point where USC is away and whatever the arena is, we have garnet and black fans in the stands. We travel well for football, we travel well for Omaha, so there’s no reason we wouldn’t travel well for basketball. We just don’t have that winning tradition yet.”
For all of the impassioned fans calling for USC coach Darrin Horn’s job, Pastides emphasized that he does not make decisions on hiring or firing coaches — that is the duty of the athletic director. He said he understands why fans are frustrated, but he still supports Horn.
“I’m not mad at the fans,” Pastides said. “In fact, I believe to break the cycle, I don’t think it’s the fans who are going to start pouring back in to help the team to win. I think it’s going to be the team having to knock off a strong opponent.”
‘Not going to give athletics all the credit’
Pastides is willing to give credit where credit is due, but he doesn’t like to blow things out of proportion either. With USC’s Capital Campaign in its first year, he does look to athletics as some of the reason for the campaign’s success.
“I think partly why donations are up is a great school spirit,” Pastides said. “I’m not going to give athletics all the credit. I’m not even going to give it the majority of credit, but I will give it credit for part of the success in that arena.”
Pastides maintains that mentality when looking at 15-percent application increase for the incoming freshman class. He said it might make the most difference for out-of-state students, who can experience Columbia through Saturday football games.
“I think it’s athletics coupled with academics coupled with the look of the campus coupled with the culture and the atmosphere that we have, so I don’t want to say it’s only that,” Pastides said.
Though he may be the USC president, Harris Pastides is also a Gamecock fan, sharing frustration over the fact that the basketball team takes a lot of 3-pointers and doesn’t take enough shots in the paint. As a university representative, he knows how much impact each shot has.