Q&A with the great Tommy Tomlinson

Tommy and I talk South Carolina sports and A Gamecock Odyssey

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with a guy I admire greatly, Tommy Tomlinson, longtime Charlotte Observer columnist, and author of two fantastic books, The Elephant in the Room, and 2024’s Dogland. Tommy is the host of Southbound, his outstanding podcast, and writes a weekly Substack newsletter, The Writing Shed (subscribe now to both - they are excellent!).

A few years ago, Tommy was featured in an episode of the SEC Network’s fantastic documentary series, True South, narrated by the estimable John T. Edge. If you haven’t seen the show, or specifically that episode, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Tommy is a gentle soul, a keen observer of the human condition, and a damn fine writer. And despite his Georgia Bulldog pedigree, he was willing to dedicate a good portion of his most recent newsletter to highlight A Gamecock Odyssey, for which I am most grateful.

Tommy and I talked for a piece in his newsletter about the book, and all things South Carolina sports ahead of the 2024 football season.

I appreciated his taking the time to chat. Our conversation is copied below:

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Tommy: My late friend and mentor Frank Barrows used to say that no fan base in sports has invested more, and gotten less in return, than South Carolina football fans. Do you ever feel that way?

Alan: I think Mr. Barrows was onto something. Certainly it has been better over the last decade-and-a-half or so. We have multiple national championships now in baseball, and our women's basketball program is hands-down the best in the nation. Our football program had a great run under Coach Spurrier and has a dynamic, young leader now in Shane Beamer. Our men's basketball program has a Final Four to their credit in 2017, and like football, is led by a young, up-and-coming coach (Lamont Paris) who has the program back on track. 

But there was a time when things were pretty bleak. We were 0-8 in bowl games until 1995. We went 43 years between NCAA tournament wins in men's basketball (1974-2017). We had multiple scandalous exposes in Sports Illustrated during the 80's. The "Chicken Curse" was real in people's imaginations, so much so that a few boosters hired an actual witch doctor to perform an exorcism (no, seriously) outside the gates of Williams-Brice Stadium a day before our first game as an SEC member in 1992. We started that season 0-5 and Coach Sparky Woods had to quell a growing player revolt. Curses are stubborn things! 

But through it all, Gamecock fans supported their program on par with the blue bloods in college sports. South Carolina is a small state that for most of its history had no professional sports teams in close proximity (though the Panthers have changed that equation a bit). Gamecock (and yes, Tiger) sports are so interwoven into the fabric of the state's culture. The passion is second to none. 

South Carolina's state motto is "Dum Spiro Spero," which translates to "While I breathe, I hope." Nowhere does that motto ring more true than in Williams-Brice Stadium, and Colonial Life Arena, and Founder's Park. 

Tommy: The football program definitely gives off an SEC vibe. But do you ever wish they had stayed in the ACC? They would often be one of the top three teams there...

Alan: I have thought about this a lot over the years. Unlike the men's basketball program, where ACC teams refused to play South Carolina after 1971, Gamecock football continued a steady diet of ACC competition throughout the 70's and 80's. They played Clemson annually, of course, but UNC, Duke, Wake, and particularly NC State were scheduled regularly. South Carolina went 4-1 versus ACC competition in 1975, 5-1 in 1981, 3-0 in 1984, and 4-0 in 1987. Might those teams have won ACC championships for South Carolina? It's interesting to ponder. I believe from the perspective of the 70's and 80's South Carolina would have been better off staying in the ACC than going independent. The University suffered for its tempestuous decision to bolt the conference in '71. There's a reason Gamecock fans refer to that two decade period as "the wilderness." 

As we sit here in 2024 though, USC has now enjoyed 33 years of lucrative stability in the SEC - almost twice as long as they were a member of the ACC. Would I want to change positions with, oh, let's say Clemson for example? I don't think so. Even given their remarkable run of success under Dabo, which is enviable to be sure, I believe South Carolina is the better-positioned school long term in this weird world of conference realignment we find ourselves navigating. I mean, Clemson and FSU are actually suing the ACC to get out. 

With the additions of Mizzou, Texas A&M, and now Texas and Oklahoma over the years, South Carolina now feels almost like an "old-guard" SEC program. There are people approaching their 40's now, who have no living memory of USC outside of SEC membership. That is simply astounding to me. Do I wish the Gamecocks played the Tar Heels and Wolfpack every year instead of Mizzou and Texas A&M? As I sit here in Raleigh, you bet I do. But do I wish South Carolina was back in the ACC? Not even a little bit. 

Tommy: What's a perfect football day in Columbia like for you?

Alan: I live in Raleigh now, so I don't get down to as many games as I would like these days. But there's nothing quite like gameday in Columbia. My wife, Melissa and I usually stay downtown and enjoy Soda City Market on Main Street early Saturday morning (which is phenomenal, BTW, if you have not been). It's neat to see all the vendors set up and thousands of people strolling along Main on a crisp fall morning. And it reminds me that Columbia no longer the same sleepy Southern capital it was when I lived there. 

Then it's onto the Fairgrounds for tailgating with family and friends. And tailgating is really what it's always been about anyway. Win or lose, those gatherings are where the memories are created. I insist on getting to our seats in plenty of time for the pre-game. I find myself getting teary during the alma mater, and the old fight song, and "2001." So many memories from that old stadium come flooding back. If it's a perfect day, Carolina wins and we celebrate back at the tailgate. If we lose, we commiserate back at the tailgate, but truth be told, it's still a pretty great day. I don't live and die by Gamecock sports like I used to. It's more about the memories now, and the relationships. The tailgate is really the highlight of the whole darn thing, and those memories are what inspired the book.  

Tommy: Your book focuses on the period between 1971 (when South Carolina left the ACC) and 1991 (when the Gamecocks joined the SEC). Which player or coach from that period do you find the most fascinating?

Alan: Gosh, there are so many great characters, players, and coaches from that time. It's hard to pick just one. But if pressed, I would have to go with Frank McGuire, who brought such notoriety and success to the Gamecock men's basketball program and elevated the University as a whole. The rivalries between South Carolina and UNC, Duke, Maryland, etc... they were so heated in the late 60's and early 70's. McGuire was such a dynamic presence in the ACC, literally from the very origins of the conference in 1953 (when he was with UNC). He won a national championship with the Tar Heels in '57, and then built South Carolina into a legit top-five caliber program at the moment the Gamecocks stepped away from the conference. Their ACC tournament title in '71 was USC's final Atlantic Coast Conference game, and is still one of the classics in the long history of that legendary tournament.

After '71, no ACC member other than Clemson would play South Carolina. Without those intense regional rivalries, McGuire was left to cobble together a national schedule, filled with great programs like Marquette, Houston, and UNLV, etc. But fan interest began to wane as those opponents, good as they were, just didn't hold the intensity and allure of the old Tobacco Road rivalries. USC still fielded powerful teams for a number of years, and great players like Brian Winters, Alex English, and Mike Dunleavy, but wins grew more scarce, attendance dropped off, and top assistants retired or pursued opportunities elsewhere. The program's slow decline in the post-ACC years was a death by a thousand cuts. But man, when it was great, it was really great, and Frank McGuire was a beloved figure in the state of South Carolina.

As a kid growing up in the post-McGuire era, I was fascinated by those teams and McGuire himself. In some ways, I think he's still the most consequential coach to ever spend time at South Carolina because he took USC from a backwater - an absolute doormat in the ACC - to a national contender, and for a fleeting time, made basketball king in football-crazed South Carolina. 

Tommy: One more basketball question, then: If there's a Mount Rushmore of USC sports, is Dawn Staley already on it?

Alan: Without a doubt! Coach Staley has been such a gift for USC, and it has been a profound joy to watch her program over the last 16 years. I hope she stays 16 more! Dawn Staley, Frank McGuire, Steve Spurrier, and Ray Tanner are on USC's Mount Rushmore of coaches in my opinion. But nobody outshines Coach Staley. It's nothing short of amazing what she has done at the University of South Carolina, and for women's basketball in general. God bless Dawn Staley! 

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Thanks, Tommy, for the conversation!