South Carolina basketball coach Darrin Horn somehow got in the “rumor mix” for the vacant basketball opening at Murray State. Fans and pundits on twitter gave it some traction yet Coach Horn quickly squashed the speculation before any traction was made or USC fans could think “what if.”
When I heard it, I did not believe it as USC (and Horn) has too much vested in “rebuilding.” On top of that, South Carolina finished 14-16 overall and last in the SEC East. That is not something to put on the resume, nor is having three players leaving the program and the star point guard, Bruce Ellington, wanting to give football a try before rejoining the basketball program. If USC was going to part ways with the coach it would have been done at the end of this past season. I am not the biggest Horn-backer but I hope he finds success in 2011-12.
Horn knows that if he ever wants to climb the coaching ranks he has to make his stint at USC a success, so he is not going anywhere anytime soon. USC AD Eric Hyman might want the easy way out with Horn departing but he too does not want to face the wrath of the fans due to his sticking to his guy through some rough years for USC basketball.
Horn has some good recruits coming in with shooting guard Damien Leonard, power forward Anthony Gill and junior-college point guard Brenton Williams arriving for next season. So kill this rumor and honestly, don’t believe the next one. Both Horn and Hyman have “skin in the game” and a Murray State is not the carrot to move this horse.
As we always say here on this Gamecocks blog, we simply want to see improvement and progress in every USC sports program. In our mind, Horn is on the clock. USC fans must have hope that Horn and Hyman have a plan to get USC basketball out of the SEC cellar.
Thanks Murray State for bringing Horn thoughts to everyone’s mind but he has a job to do and that is get USC out of the SEC basement.
