I understand we make a lot of money out of the deal, and I realize the level of competition can be good for us. But do any of you ever wish we were not in this conference? We will never be the dominant program in the SEC. Not going to happen. I’ll confess there are times I wish Carolina was in another conference where it has a chance to compete and win. I realize we’re not going to leave the SEC, but at times I dream and wish that we could.
From a historical perspective, we were not a dominant program in the ACC when we were there, or the Southern Conference before that. Nor were we a dominant program in the Major Independent years.
South Carolina not being a dominant program doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the SEC. This is a program that is around 20 games over .500 over 126 years of collegiate football.
But results have trended in a positive direction over the last 20 years (the Holtz/Spurrier/Muschamp era), with consistent bowl trips, relatively consistent bowl victories, and exponentially improved facilities and exposure.
No way I wouldn't want to be in the SEC
In talking about traveling to the moon, President Kennedy said ... "We choose to do these things, not because they are easy. We choose to do these things because they are hard." It's easy to bitch and complain. It's easy on come on this board and 'spew your venom' (phrase borrowed from a long time poster, from years ago). It's even easy to quit. But, ya know what? It's even easier to not even try. Would PARTICIPATION TROPHIES make y'all feel better???
I hate losing too. But you have to wonder, if not for being in the SEC, would our admin have done as much as they have? I think it forced them to do more. And that’s just to win about half the time.
We're like the welfare program of the SEC. sit on our butt and get paid while everyone else does the hard work.
IMO the SEC is the only factor keeping us afloat. The conference and our unique stadium lighting. Remove the lights and the conference affiliation and we are anyone of these programs....Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Iowa, etc. Basically a crappy football program located at the State's flagship University.
We gave up what leverage we had gained in 1971. We won the ACC Championship our last year in that league. We were leading the conference with respect to facilities at that point. We were in a position to remain at or near the top of that conference. Men's basketball would not have collapsed, either. Baseball was going strong. Independence killed us, despite a few good years under Morrison. As for football, it could be credibly argued that, had we remained in the conference and kept up our commitment to athletics, UPC would not have won two national championships.
But we won it in the two biggest sports our last year in it. And we had built the infrastructure that had us positioned to stay up there. Acting upon our persecution complex was the biggest mistake ever made by any athletic administration in the history of college sports.
