SLIDE 15 of 15 1. Culture

Former coaches Steve Spurrier and Lou Holtz talked about changing the culture at South Carolina and both did in their own ways over the course of 16.5 football seasons in Columbia. The program Will Muschamp took over in 2015 had some baseline expectations that were much higher than the program Holtz took over in 1998 and Spurrier took over in 2004. Muschamp has built on those expectations for sure and those two deserve a world of credit, but what he's done is establish a culture that fits the Gamecocks. Carolina football is now about effort, toughness and discipline, not about a celebrity head coach. It's about being a blue collar, overacheiving outfit, not about what happened at Florida or Notre Dame or if ESPN is going to have the coach on SportsCenter. It's about hard work 365 days per year with every thing that happens, including recruiting, the offseason program, building more facilities, academics- you name it, South Carolina football is reaching for excellence in that department. Not since Joe Morrison have the Gamecocks had that type of coach that facilitated the program having its own persona rather than adopting the persona of a Hall of Famer. That's an immensely positive thing and what Muschamp is installing and establishing will be more able to stand the test of time. That culture being established was evident in his first season when a team that had no business winning 3-4 games rallied from a 2-4 start and got to 6-6 and a bowl. It was evident last season when Carolina suffered the loss to Kentucky, a near miss with Louisiana Tech and blew a lead at Texas A&M, then went on to finish 9-4, one of the seven best records in program history. That culture will continue to be obvious when this team, more mature and experienced and will less holes than the previous two, takes the field this season.