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When it comes to speaking ones mind and athletics in The T&D Region, folks, historically, are not afraid to speak their mind.
In 2008, that trend remained. Coaches were fired. Big games were won. Big games were lost. Players passed and the Bulldogs had a blast. From high school to SCSU and Claflin, and of course, the best of Buddy Pough, below is a look at the best quotes of 2008.
“Football is not loved and if I’m going to be involved in something, if I’m going to give my heart, my soul, my time, my money, if I’m going to put that much time into a problem, then I expect something back from it. In four years, football just did not become a way of life. It did not become a habit to all but some. With a school our size and with a team our size, you can’t afford to have some people not love the game. Everybody has to love it. Everybody has to want to put 110 percent effort into what it is we’re trying to accomplish.” - former Bethune-Bowman football coach Robert Hemby following his resignation.
“A kind, good young man. Just humble. He went out and did his job and he did it well. He never complained, never mumbled, grumbled about anything. He just went out and did his job. Just remember him as the kind young man that he was and the wonderful job that he did.” - Richardean Brown about her son, former New England Patriot wide receiver Troy Brown. The former Blackville-Hilda standout retired this year.
“What’s happened has happened and nothing is personal on my end. A team rule was violated and we move on.” - S.C. State men’s basketball coach Tim Carter about the dismissal of forward David Cobb from the team.
“Why should they not be encouraged? Now we had a good recruiting class two years ago. We had a pretty good class this year, same as the first couple of years. But we’ve got plenty of players and we should play better and coach better than we did last year.” - University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier back in March during his visit to the Orangeburg Gamecock Club.
“I think society has really messed up the whole idea about you’ve got to win championships to be successful. I already feel like I’ve had a successful career because there’s young men walking around who are better citizens, who are productive citizens because of the program. Championships don’t make you a better team. Championships don’t send you to the next level because you look through time and schools - I’m not going to call any names - they’ve had plenty of championships. How many young men have they sent to the next level? How many doctors and lawyers and educators have they produced? So that is my goal in life. That is my focus in the program.
“I think that’s why I’m probably back at O-W. Yes, we want to win championships. Yes, we’re going to strive to win a championship. But that’s not the ultimate picture. That’s not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is make our student-athletes the best they can be.” - Orangeburg-Wilkinson head football coach Tommy Brown.
“I’ve got to take this suit off and put some construction work boots on and get ready to strap it up and get it going that way. This suit isn’t going to make it happen. I’ve got to get out there and beat the bushes and hit the road and get some talent.” - New S.C. State women’s basketball coach Doug Robertson.
“Right now, (ESPN draft expert) Mel Kiper can’t help me,” Lee said. “I’m keeping a positive mind and attitude about it. The coaches or GMs, my future is in their hands. Listening to (Kiper) wouldn’t matter to me anyway.” - Former S.C. State offensive tackle James Lee prior to the draft. He was initially signed as a free agent by the Cleveland Browns, but later went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“The main thing is missing the whole hospitality thing. Down South, I open a lot of doors to people and they say ‘Thank you’. Up here, you open the door and they just kind of walk through it and look at the ground. But, it’s a different environment but it made me realize what I have down south and that way, I’ll definitely won’t take it for granted and realize how great down south is.” - Former Orangeburg Prep outfielder Brad Felder (now at The Citadel) describing like in Upstate New York where he played summer baseball for the Watertown Wizards.
“My philosophy ever since he started played ball is ‘Playing ball is your job and you do your best on the job and when you come here, you don’t bring the job home with you. Come home and enjoy your family and I remind him of that once in a while,’” she said. “I tell him as long as you can go home and enjoy your family and go to bed and go to sleep and get a good night’s rest. Leave the job at the job and come home and enjoy yourself and your family. I remind him of that once in a while.” - Holly Hill native Minnie Randolph talking about her son, former New York Mets’ manager Willie Randolph, after his firing.
“Coach Pough was just getting tired about everybody saying that we were picked to win. Okay, we’re picked to win. So, blah, blah, blah, everybody’s saying we’re the preseason pick. So he wants us to forget about that, just go out and play and do our thing and prove on the field that we can win a MEAC championship.” - Center Raymond ‘Duck’ Harrison when asked about the team’s motto “Shut Up And Play.”
“I think South Carolina State athletics is in good shape. I think in any athletic department, if we can first stay healthy, I do believe we have the right people in place, very energenic, who are doing a ton of things that I am noticing and that’s a change. We’re holding our student-athletes accountable, I’m holding my coaches accountable. I’m being held accountable. And that’s the way it should be. But I’m very optimistic about this year. Maybe it’s a women’s intuition, I don’t know. But I get this feeling that we’ve worked hard, we’ve toiled in the fall, we’ve stayed long, we’ve dug deep, we’ve got people in place that are energenic and are doing what they’re suppose to do and we’re ready for the games to begin.” - S.C. State Athletics Director Charlene Johnson.
“It’s been kind of crazy because our parents don’t know who they’re going for. They just wish the best for all three of us.” - Clemson safety Michael Hamlin, about facing his younger brothers Markee and Marquis at S.C. State.
“Out of all the guys that I played against in high school, he’s definitely by far the best quarterback I went against,” - Clemson quarterback Willy Korn about S.C. State’s Malcolm Long.
“How does it feel to be 3-0!” - North junior linebacker Gregg Davis speaking to his teammates following last Friday’s 12-6 double-overtime win over Bethune-Bowman. The Eagles finished the season 5-5, but missed the playoffs.
“Could somebody explain to me why we are playing a school like Clemson?” - S.C. State board of trustee Vice Chairman John Corbitt asked fellow members following the Bulldogs’ 54-0 loss to Clemson.
“We came in, got the money and nobody got hurt.” - Morgan State head football coach Donald Hill-Eley about playing lucrative Division I games.
“A Bulldog supporter is going to buy a ticket and come in to see the football game or they’re going to buy a ticket to see the basketball game. That’s a Bulldog supporter. Those are people I want to talk to.” - S.C. State President George Cooper.
“I proved tonight that I should have been on the Shrine Bowl.” - Blackville-Hilda running back Joe Thomas who rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-0 shutout win over Williston-Elko to clinch the Region 4-A title. Thomas was not selected to play in either the Shrine Bowl or North-South All-Star Game.
“It makes a statement for the type of program that we’ve put together at Calhoun. It speaks volumes for the effort that the young men put in every day in practice. I’m not just talking about this year’s team. I’m not just talking about teams in the past who basically laid the foundation for what we do right now. This record that we established tonight is a record for all of the Saints of the past as well. It’s a very satisfying accomplishment, one that I cherish and I know all of the former Saints of the past will cherish for a long, long time.” - Calhoun County boys’ basketball coach Zam Fredrick after his team routed Fox Creek 91-36 to break Hannah’s 48-year-old record for consecutive wins of 66.
This is special (in regards to Calhoun County’s winning streak). It’s like UCLA with the 88-game winning streak. They’ve just separated themselves. You see it night in and night out. They have separated themselves from the rest of us not only in Class A, but he’s beaten some mighty good 4-A teams, 3-A like Lake Marion, Lower Richland. It’s not just Class A teams that’s struggling with those guys.” - Great Falls head coach John Smith.
“I don’t think about it much, but in my mind, I know at some point it’s inevitable that it will happen. I’m not looking forward to it. My thing is I’ve got to make sure that my guys understand that winning those games are not promised to anyone. At some point, if we drop a game, you’ve got to make certain that you understand what happened and learn from that experience and you get moving forward just like we did the last time we lost a game.” - Fredrick just nine days before the Saints’ winning streak was ended at 81 games by Estill.
“It’d be a cold day in hell before I shook that coach’s hand.” - a Fox Creek mom talking about Calhoun County boys’ basketball coach Zam Fredrick during the Saints’ historic win inside the Baptist Church’s Family Life Center.
“I just had a lot of jitters, but I wasn’t going to let Chesterfield beat me in baseball and football.” - Bamberg-Ehrhardt pitcher Zack Godley.
“There was no doubt in my mind that we were not going to get through. My recruiting process was based on the fact that we would be eligible. I always said we would be eligible and that is the way we went forward with it. I didn’t see anything that could hold us back.” - Claflin Athletics Director Tim Autry after the NCAA approved the school’s application for Division II status.
“Every loser has something in common and that’s somebody cheated them, I never make any excuses about anything. Bamberg won the game, and I told (Bamberg-Ehrhardt head coach Kevin) Crosby to please represent this region well. I’m tired of seeing (Chesterfield head coach Steve Taneyhill) win it. I really am, and I wish Bamberg-Ehrhardt the best.” - Calhoun County head football coach Walter Wilson following the 40-34 loss to Bamberg-Ehrhardt in the Class A Division I Upper State playoffs.
“Anytime you lose and you’ve got to end the season like this, it hurts. But you know, like I told them, I’m so proud of them. I’m so proud of the effort and all the hard work they put into this team. Especially the seniors. They turned this program around. They brought us a region championship and I can’t ask any more of them.” — Orangeburg Prep head coach Adam Holmes after his team’s 23-20 loss to Ben Lippen in the first round of the SCISA Class 3-A playoffs.
“It was unreal. All the emotions of the day, all the plays everyone made…players getting dehydrated and still wanting to play, players given their all.” - Holly Hill Academy softball coach Henry Lockey after his team went through five games and 15 1/2 hours before winning the SCISA Class 2-A title.
“If he were here and it was a Friday night, fourth-and-1, he’d tell us to run to the left behind ‘Big C’. But if he were here today, he’d say he’d want to call one final play for mom, dad and family. He’d say, ‘It’s fourth-and-goal for mom.’ He’d say, ‘Put in a final play for mom, dad and family. Put in the play and call it faith.’ And, I’d tell him that he knew we ran the no-huddle ... and that we’d have to have a signal for that play. And, he’d say, ‘Coach, that’s easy.’ “He’d say, ‘Coach, you just put your hands together in front of you and fall to the ground on your knees and pray.’” Fairfield Central head coach Reggie Kennedy about deceased O-W offensive lineman Carlton Brown.
“Everybody wanted him to be their brother. He was real friendly with everybody. I mean, he knew everybody and everybody knew him. Larry was just Larry. There are not enough words to describe how he was. He was just that type of person. It’s just hard to give one word that describes him.” - Edisto assistant coach Herman Johnson about former Cougar wideout Larry Thomas.
“I was talking to the ball. I was trying to talk it up the middle. As soon as I saw him get some glove on it, I was like, ’Oh, no. He’s going to knock it down.’ But it squirted away.” - New York Yankee center fielder Brett Gardner of Holly Hill Academy about his game-winning RBI single against the rival Boston Red Sox.
BEST OF OLIVER “BUDDY” POUGH
(About hiring new assistant coaches)
“I get a lot of feedback from people, from our fans saying that we’re tired of us training coaches for other schools. I take it as a compliment that we hire people here who are taken by other coaches. I think that means more than anything that we hired the right people. At the same time, I need to get more out of them when I get them here.”
(Following the 54-0 loss to Clemson)
“We’ve put Clemson pretty much to bed this year. We said goodbye and let’s move on.”
(Reflecting on the victory over Florida A&M)
This FAMU game was one where I was really concerned, especially after they saw them on tape against Tennessee State, I’ll be honest with you. They scared the fool out of me. They went down the field almost as effortless as you could possibly imagine. The first three drives, the game is 21-0 before Tennessee State got off the bus. So I was afraid that we were going to get beat Saturday, and I guess that’s the reason for our relief of sorts because of the fact that we were able to be successful.”
(Talking about playoff
seeding)
“Because we’ve had a little stretch where we haven’t done quite as well (10 straight playoff losses), we’ve been penalized in a way that’s not fair. So we want to try to see if we could do something to clean some of that up and if they give us a chance to, if our kids can come out and play well I think we possibility can.”
(Discussing the prospects of playing without starting quarterback Malcolm Long, who was feared to miss the rest of the season with a separated shoulder, but was only out of action one game.)
“This is football. This is part of the game and I don’t know if you can cry when these kind of situations come about. You’ve got to kind of prepare yourself because these things will happen and that’s why we practice and play some of the people that we do. People are always talking about how many people you need for a football team. Well, you’ve got a lot of guys who are one snap from being on the field. He may be a third-team quarterback or third-team wideout, but one guy gets hurt, the next guy gets tweaked somewhere of that nature, then where you’re at. So the numbers that you have that you carry in a program to have a chance to weather these kind of storms is pretty significant.”
(Post-game analysis of 17-0 loss to Central Florida)
“We’re not in the moral victory business. We’re a good enough team now where we’ve got to make some type of statement and we haven’t made it yet. The one thing we do know is that we can go in and play defense I think with pretty much anybody. We’ve just got to find a way to make our overall team come together.”
(About opening the FCS playoffs against three-time defending champion Appalachian State)
“It was almost too quick to be true. You’re kind of sitting there, you want to kind of wait and get into the moment a little bit and before you get a chance to sit down - BAMM! - there it is. But it’s what we want. I think it’s a situation where if you’re going to get anywhere, you have to see those guys some time so you may want to see them now.”
(About the last touchdown pass thrown by Appalacian State in the final seconds of the 37-21 loss)
“It was kind of boneheaded on my part. He (head coach Jerry Moore) taught me a lesson in the end. If a guy’s giving you an out, go ahead and take it. I knew a pass was coming and it kind of made the game a little bit bigger margin than it should have been. But, it serves me right.”
(On what a strong showing against Appalachian State means for his program)
“I now know that we belong. I think right now we’ve got to have more confidence in the fact that we actually may be a favorable matchup as opposed to being a new guy on the block, not think we can play with the great Appalachian. The great teams of that sort. I know that if we play at our best level, then we’ve got a catch to match up with them.”