Athletics department to pay $2.4 million buyout
Darrin Horn was dismissed as South Carolina’s men’s basketball coach Tuesday, ending his quest to build the program.
Standing in the same room that the women’s basketball team celebrated an NCAA Tournament bid just the night before, Athletics Director Eric Hyman listed reasons in his press conference for his decision to pay Horn $2.4 million for the three years remaining on his contract.
“Credibility comes with competitive success,” Hyman said as he took the podium.
He acknowledged Horn’s accomplishments over his four-year tenure, especially the academic successes, as the team achieved its second-highest GPA on record with a 2.932 team average for the fall semester.
But as Hyman explained, “Success competitively and success in the classroom are not mutually exclusive.” Horn has a 60-63 record as the coach of the Gamecocks, culminating in a program-worst 10-21 season with a 2-14 conference record. Under Horn, the Gamecocks were 0-5 in the postseason.
Hyman said his decision was not influenced by any one event, but rather by the body of work that was the season, where attendance dropped and fan frustrations grew.
“As the year progressed, the window of opportunity began to get smaller,” Hyman said.
On Sunday, Hyman recommended to USC President Harris Pastides that basketball go in a different coaching direction.
Pastides told The Daily Gamecock that board of trustees members’ and his own verbal support for Horn had been “misconstrued” as an indication that Horn would be the coach for another year.
“I don’t think that’s what that was about. They made positive comments about the coach a week ago when the tournament hadn’t even started,” Pastides said of the board. “If they had each been reached by members of the media, 100 percent would have voiced support.”
That didn’t signify an ignorance of the need to re-evaluate the program, Pastides said.
Pastides said Horn’s firing hadn’t been decided until after the Gamecocks’ loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament and that he knew nothing about Hyman’s leanings until Sunday. Hyman met with Horn Tuesday morning to inform him of the decision to make a change.
“He was apologetic that he couldn’t get the program turned into all that Gamecocks people wanted it to be,” Hyman said. “He understood. He’s been doing this a long time — you’ve got to create hope.”
By hope, Hyman means that he wants a coach who will put fans back in the stands and continue Horn’s success in graduating student-athletes, while recruiting and developing players that can put a competitive product on the court.
As for the current student-athletes in the program, Hyman recommended they wait until a new coach is hired before making a decision on whether to transfer. Hyman said that later in the spring he will support the players on any decisions they make.
“I said to them, ‘Anytime you have a transition, anytime you have a paradigm shift, you have anxiety, no matter who you work for,’” Hyman said. “I worked for 10 presidents. I understand the transitional part of it.”
Asking to respect confidentiality, Hyman said he would not discuss any potential coaching candidates, though Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall is the early favorite, as he has ties to the state after coaching at Winthrop for nine seasons. Marshall made the NCAA Tournament seven of the nine seasons at Winthrop and led Wichita State to a No. 5 seed in this year’s tournament.
Having to pay the $2.4 million buyout to Horn is one that Hyman has to “swallow” when he thinks of it, though he referenced a reserve fund with approximately $12 million. Hyman also said he has more flexibility from a financial standpoint than he did during the last coaching search for men’s basketball.
“I think this job is a challenge, but I think it’s got huge potential,” Hyman said. “The positive thing is we do have a history and tradition of success in the past. The person coming in will have their challenges, but I really reflect back and I look at other sports that have had challenges also and we have been able to overcome then.”
Hyman will have sport administrator for men’s basketball Kevin O’Connell and academic adviser Al Daniel head day-to-day operations of men’s basketball. Hyman said he would meet with Horn’s assistant coaches Thursday and do everything he can to help them and honor all promises. He wants O’Connell and Daniel to serve as liaisons for the team and wants team input as to what direction the program should go.
As for Hyman, who fired his first big South Carolina hire, it’s something that was difficult for him as well.
“This is not one of my joys,” Hyman said. “This is not something I’m really doing cartwheels about.”