Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks. It's the last road series for baseball. The rumor mill is swirling and a Gamecock running back. Lawyers up. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:57] Welcome to episode three, 319 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep Every episode from 1801 to 2001. Happy Friday, Gamecocks.
[00:01:12] Hope y' all enjoyed the week. Felt productive and I'm ready to kick back and relax. Nothing like a good break after the weekend. Yeah, still just rolling along here. A lot of sports going on in it is sort of, you know, coming into focus here where you have the collegiate sports that are in action starting their postseason. Baseball, we're still a little bit off the way there. I'll get into that in a second. But you're locked in on the professional playoffs and baseball is rolling professional, that is mlb. So you're kind of seeing that horizon where everything is kind of peaking for a couple of those sports. But then you. After that, it's sort of those dog days of summer there. But let's not wish the time away. Just hope y' all got some fun plans for this lovely weekend ahead of us. Don't got a ton to go over with y' all this episode, it is sort of that in between period as well, where, you know, a lot of those sports have stopped, where we're talking about the, you know, covering the tennis's of the world and things like that. We do have a few notes to go over, but it really is just baseball right now. But before I jump into that, in what may be a little bit of a quicker episode for y' all here, let's look at my Gamecock calendar here where it is a piece of trivia for y' all. So let's see how you do here.
[00:02:40] In 2023, the South Carolina men's tennis team achieved its highest national rank in program history.
[00:02:50] What was the team's ranking in 2023?
[00:02:55] I'm gonna say fifth.
[00:02:57] Number two. Oh, I underestimated our boys.
[00:03:02] Shout out to tennis team number two.
[00:03:05] Oh, man, that guy's name is gonna.
[00:03:08] Paul.
[00:03:10] Paul. Something that I'm gonna be mad at myself.
[00:03:14] I'm going to think of that as soon as I wrap up with you all here, man. Yeah, but there are. We have had a couple of really strong tennis players come through our program in recent years, and I had even made a little bit of noise out up in the pros, so. So that's pretty cool. And the women's tennis team, they Had a pretty good year this year. So, yeah, shout out Gamecock tennis. But, yeah, let's jump into a week in review here. Got a couple of things to go over with y' all. On Wednesday, the women's golf team, they won their Charlottesville regional, and they are headed to the NCAA Championship tournament for the fifth straight time. So shout out to the women's golf team. Talked about a big finish, strong finish at the end of the year. They rode that momentum right through their regional, and now they're in the big dance.
[00:04:07] So pretty cool.
[00:04:08] You know, if memory serves, I think last year they. They ended on a similar note with a lot of momentum, got to the big tournament, and then kind of fizzled out. So hopefully this year, which I do think, overall, they have been performing better.
[00:04:24] Get to that big dance, and who knows?
[00:04:27] You know, you're in the tournament, you're in the field, you have a good chance as any, and you dominated. If you go back and you look like our ladies really performed well in that regional. So shout out to the women's golf team and then softball team. So I'm recording this earlier than I normally do, so I wish I had more to report on, but softball started their SEC tournament, so hopefully, as you're listening to this, things are going all right for our ladies. But, yeah, it's a pretty strict tournament bracket.
[00:05:05] Gamecock's played Alabama in the opening round, so hopefully that went well. And, yeah, hopefully, by the time you're listening this, things have gone pretty good for the ladies. So that is exciting to see. But I do got to believe that because of how well our team did in the regular season, that this tournament is sort of a formality as far as where they're going to be going in the regionals. And obviously, you want to stay closer to home, Chance to have some fans, less travel, all of that, but find your way to a good regional, find your way to a pretty good seed, and then make something happen. And this team is good, as we know. So if we can be one of the top two seeds in our regional, even if that top seed is from a different conference, I like our odds in that, because it really had been the top seeds in the SEC that have, for the most part, given us fits. We've really been able to handle our own when it comes to going against some of the good teams in the other conferences. Doesn't mean we necessarily won all of those matchups, but we've been able to handle our business.
[00:06:13] So very interesting there. And let's go. Very exciting postseason for the ladies in multiple programs. Absolutely love to see it. But then I did want to touch on an interesting development that has developed over the last few days here. Talking about Raizul Faison, transfer running back, who came to South Carolina with big expectations.
[00:06:38] And it's been a bit of an interesting situation. So if you paid close enough attention, and I've talked about it in past episodes, Faison came to South Carolina with a bit of an interesting eligibility situation.
[00:06:54] So he's past his, you know, student requirements. I believe he's technically looking for that seventh year of eligibility, but he's only played four seasons, so he's. And, and, and one of them was a medical situation.
[00:07:16] I probably just butchered that. But the point is he is in line to receive another year of eligibility, of which many other players have been granted that. So Carolina recruited him out of the portal.
[00:07:32] He committed to us, all of which, like this was out in the open, that he was applying for an extra year of eligibility.
[00:07:41] I believe there were even two years where he didn't even see the field. So, you know, he's hasn't really played four years of football, you know, and that's something that has been sort of in flux with the ncaa, with the Pavia ruling that. And then this also maybe them changing their stance. But getting a fifth year really is becoming more and more commonplace. Like when we're. And it's. We're talking about a fifth year of him playing. You know, you've seen situations where guys are getting seven years, six years, but they've been playing a lot.
[00:08:19] All of this to say a couple of weeks ago, more like months ago, Beamer seemed very optimistic. He said they were working with the ncaa. Like, they're really confident they're going to grant the extra year.
[00:08:33] All this jazz and it's just been radio silence.
[00:08:37] And you go through the winter workouts and you go through the spring workouts, and there's nothing.
[00:08:44] So Beamer was asked about this at one of his stops on the welcome Home tour that he does every year, and he was clearly frustrated by it.
[00:08:53] Talking about, you know, obviously the NCAA has a lot on its plate, but they've provided everything that they've asked in the timeframe that they have. They asked for more info. They sent it to them. They did not. Yada, yada, yada. And it's just the classic NCAA just can't get out of its own way.
[00:09:12] You know, like, they always pick and choose these spots to either slow down, or they pick and choose their spots to make a Stand. And it's the wrong ones.
[00:09:25] You know, if you want to go after something like go against tampering, go against shady practices, all that jazz, when there's a player who legitimately is not trying to find this weird loophole here, someone who their college experience was just a lot different than many others, bounced around for legitimate reasons, didn't see the field during this time, was injured, I think it's fine to move this process along. And it's also one of those deals where you know damn well if this was a different logo, maybe with an O on the side of the helmet or a G on the side of the helmet or a T on the side of the helmet, that this would have been situated by now. And it's not the first time that South Carolina has had to wait needlessly for transfer news. Y' all remember Jalen Brooks? That went on entirely too long for no good reason.
[00:10:24] So as a result, Faison has lawyered up.
[00:10:28] And whether it's from the network of Gamecock athletics or just by coincidence, he has lawyered up with the same lawyer who represented Miles Studi to get his medical hardship hardship clearance approved.
[00:10:49] So here you have this lawyer who recently won a case for a South Carolina athlete now representing a new one. So if nothing else, there is now someone whose sole purpose is going to be representing this player and getting an answer from the ncaa. That's what we're asking for.
[00:11:11] I think he has every right to play this upcoming season, but at least let's get some clarity and not be in this limbo, which if you know the ncaa, they don't give a crap. And the last thing you want, if you are Faison or if you're Shane Beamer or anybody, is for the end of July or, God forbid, August, to roll around where you're getting ready to play a football game and you don't know if you're eligible or not.
[00:11:41] So something to keep an eye out on.
[00:11:44] I think it's great on Faison to lawyer up and to do that.
[00:11:49] I would have liked to see the school maybe move this along in that capacity, because I think the MO Of South Carolina athletic department has been, we're going to be by the book, we're not going to rock the boat, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:12:03] And that's with hiring processes, that's with transfers, that's with scholarships, that's with recruiting.
[00:12:10] And, yeah, maybe it puts the microscope away from you in certain situations, but a lot of times you got to advocate for yourself. And in this day and age with college athletics and the ncaa, it seems like the only way to get their attention is to sue them.
[00:12:26] And so maybe this is a teaching moment for the athletic department, especially if this goes our way to say, you know what, you might have to rock the boat a little bit to get what you want until this landscape settles down. So all that to say we're gonna hopefully hear something in a more timely manner on Razul and.
[00:12:51] Yeah, hopefully, hopefully soon because we need him, you know, and all the reports are that he looks the part, he's put in the work, he'd be a big time contributor, he's on the fast track to even be RB1.
[00:13:04] And from the fan perspective, like not only do I think he should deservingly get that extra gear, we need him on the field. Like that running back room would be serviceable without him, but with him it can be a weapon.
[00:13:21] So hopefully this gets resolved in a timely fashion. And I mean, it's just dragged on like, you know, Beamer and company, they didn't look at any of the running backs in the spring portal because they believe that their case is incredibly strong to get this extra year granted. So hopefully it works out that way. But we shall see.
[00:13:44] But all right, moving on to the baseball team here, games that are set to be played. The rumor mill had certainly been swirling around this program. If y' all hadn't seen anything, it was an eventful few days earlier this week where it seemed like everybody and their mother on social media had a source that talked about the baseball team and you had basically you had a source off where you had some sources saying he's going to be fired, some he being Paul Monary. You had some sources saying that Monary was going to resign.
[00:14:21] You had some sources saying that players are getting ready to mass exodus if he sticks around. So it was just a pretty tumultuous few days on Gamecock social media and all of that led to nothing. It was a whole nothing burger. In fact, there was a report from a more reputable source that wasn't just Joe Schmo on Twitter that said that the athletic department is in no rush to make a decision on Paul Mineri and that they're really wouldn't be before the end of the year.
[00:14:55] So that's that. We'll see if that holds true. But the point being that no matter what the rumors were, Paul Monieri is still in charge of the baseball team and this team is focusing on the field as they have a series against Auburn on the road started on Thursday.
[00:15:14] Auburn going into this is in the middle of the SEC, sitting at 13:11 in conference and 33 and 15 overall. The pitching rotation that was announced Thursday, Brandon stone, Friday Jake McCoy and Saturday TBA. This series is actually the last regular season series on the road. So pretty interesting there. And look, I talked about it after the last series, which was a catastrophe, but right now, under the leadership of Paul Manari, it feels like we really are headed towards a crossroad with the program.
[00:15:58] He is under contract for next season.
[00:16:01] It's quite possible that Donati says, you know, we're going to honor that contract.
[00:16:07] We gave him the keys to the proverbial car.
[00:16:12] We were expecting a little bit of a step back, or at least the old administration was when they hired him, right, because of the roster and things like that. And we're going to give him time to get this right because he does have the experience.
[00:16:27] And maybe it would be a little bit of an embarrassment to fire this guy who has this pedigree in the sport only after one year. That's one thought process.
[00:16:39] The other thought process is that while he has the pedigree, it was a little bit of an outside the box hire. He was away from the game for a few years. You tried it. It didn't work. It wasn't a fit. I'm the new athletic director. I'm going to bring in someone who I can vet and I feel more comfortable with and that's how we're going to go about it.
[00:17:03] If it were up to me, I do think the proof is in the pudding that maybe this isn't working. I don't like calling for a guy's job, but, you know, maybe let the next two series play out.
[00:17:19] Call it, call it off.
[00:17:22] You get to the SEC tournament and then whenever the season ends, you get maybe a week or two head start of a coaching search.
[00:17:31] Maybe that is a more sensible way to go about these things. So it's going to be interesting to see and it's a talking point as long as this team is playing. And honestly, even until we have a definitive answer.
[00:17:43] But through all the rumors and disappointment and turmoil around this season, like, let's not forget that there are still student athletes who are showing up every day trying to get wins.
[00:17:59] You know, like they're not happy. The coaching staff isn't happy. We're not happy.
[00:18:06] If nothing else, show some support to these student athletes.
[00:18:13] Try to not be a dick on social media to any of these guys.
[00:18:18] They're in a tough spot and we got to support them.
[00:18:24] But with that, y' all, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecox. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking Gamecocks. And please like subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y' all. Go Cox.
