Gunter: Best and worst of memorable decade

Bill Gunter is the co-host of the Early Game on 107.5 The Game in Columbia.

Follow him on Twitter @WillGunter. The best and worst of a memorable decade for Gamecocks By Bill Gunter | Contributing writer H ard to believe the last decade has come to a close. As a Gamecock fan, it’s interesting to reflect on what has transpired in the past 10 years.

In January of 2010, South Carolina football was led by Steve Spurrier and coming off a crushing Birmingham Bowl defeat (I was there and, 10 years later, I am still cold), men's basketball was heading in the wrong direction under Darrin Horn, Dawn Staley was in her second year and in the middle of a losing season and Ray Tanner was about to bring Gamecock Nation a national championship in baseball.

The Dawn Staley story just goes to show how much can change in 10 years. The 2009-10 season would see her team finish 14-15. Now she is one of the best basketball coaches in the game and her teams are national title contenders every year.

Players such as Tiffany Mitchell, Aleighsa Welch, Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson helped build a national power and win a national championship. Staley is head coach of the U.S. National Team and I would say the last 10 years have gone extremely well for her.

Carolina baseball has a different story. In January of 2010, Ray Tanner was in his 13th season as head coach and the Gamecocks were already a national power. However, Tanner was about to take things to another level by winning back-to-back national championships.

Tanner would depart three years later and Chad Holbrook would step in, followed by current head coach Mark Kingston. The baseball program has fallen on hard times of late, missing the postseason three of the past five years.

Baseball and women’s basketball are two great examples of just how much things can change in a decade. Men’s basketball and football have been interesting as well.

The 2010s saw Gamecock football reach heights never seen before under Spurrier. While the winning streak against Clemson started in 2009, it carried over four more years but has seen a drastic change in the last five. Will Muschamp took over and, despite this past year being a major disappointment, has shown moderate success that can be built upon.

After 10 years of watching Gamecock men’s basketball, it is hard to put into words what has happened. Horn left the program in an awful place and Frank Martin was left to pick up the pieces. Fans who remember the glory days of Frank McGuire may not understand that the general consensus when Martin took over was that South Carolina was considered one the worst coaching jobs in the country.

Martin rebuilt a program and fan base that had not seen an NCAA Tournament victory since the 1970s. It all came together in 2017 as the Gamecocks made a dramatic run to the Final Four.

Other than that, Gamecock basketball has been relatively mediocre through the decade, having more success in conference play than ever before but making just one more postseason appearance — the NIT in 2016.

The past decade brought both great memories and ones I would rather forget. The back-toback national championships in baseball, along with the women’s national title and seven individual championships showcase a strong decade.

But moderate success recently in football, baseball and men’s basketball leave much to be desired. As we transition into a new decade, one can only wonder where we will be and what memories we will have in January 2030.