Eric Hyman apparently has a philosophy
similar to that of his counterpart at East Carolina, Terry Holland, when
it comes to non-conference football scheduling.
The State newspaper of Columbia,
SC, has reported that Hyman, South Carolina's athletic director, has
identified ECU as the type of school the Gamecocks should be playing in
its non-Southeastern Conference games.
�I like to play regional games,� Hyman
told the paper. �Our fans can travel to it. It makes sense.�
Holland has cited similar rationale in
filling much of the non-Conference USA portion of the Pirates' future
schedules with opponents located within driving distance of Greenville.
Since assuming command of ECU's athletic
department in 2004, Holland has locked in or extended home-and-home
series with Navy, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, North Carolina
and N.C. State.
A series between the Gamecocks and Pirates
would be in keeping with that scheduling philosophy, but Hyman indicated
to The State that such an arrangement would be for games several
years into the future. South Carolina already has home-and-home series
slated with North Carolina (2007 and 2010) and N.C. State (2008 and
�09).
ECU and USC could potentially play at Bank
of America Stadium in Charlotte, noted Hyman, who indicated such a
matchup would not be in lieu of a game in Williams-Bryce Stadium.
�I really don�t want to take a home game
away from Columbia,� he said. �A home game in Columbia is an economic
driver for this community.�
East Carolina and South Carolina are not
strangers on the gridiron. The programs first collided in 1977, with the
Gamecocks claiming a 19-16 victory.
After a hiatus of several years, the
schools launched a 14-game series that ran from 1984 through 1999. USC
handily won all seven games that were played through 1990, but the
Pirates turned the tables starting in 1991, winning five of the
remaining seven meetings.
Skip Holtz, East Carolina's head coach,
was in the first year of a six-year stint on the Gamecock staff of his
father, Lou Holtz, when the Pirates claimed a 21-3 victory in 1999 that
ended the series.
Former Duke, Florida and Washington
Redskins coach Steve Spurrier succeeded Lou Holtz at the helm of the USC
program after the 2004 season. Skip Holtz was subsequently hired by
Holland to resurrect ECU's football fortunes, which had plummeted during
the two-year regime of John Thompson.
