(The State) - Marcus Lattimore will forever be an ambassador for South Carolina football, but it won’t be as an official part of the program.
The NCAA has stated that Lattimore cannot join Will Muschamp’s staff at USC due to Lattimore’s status as a former player and his presence through football camps and foundation. The NCAA considers it an unfair recruiting advantage.
Lattimore confirmed the news to The State on Friday.
Lattimore, who will graduate from USC next month, was never going to coach but was going to speak to the team about life off the field and beyond the game, such as he does through The Marcus Lattimore Foundation. Muschamp contacted Lattimore about some kind of position with the team before he was ever hired, wanting the Gamecocks’ career leader in touchdowns around in some capacity.
Lattimore can still speak to the team and be on the program’s periphery, but he can’t be named to a staff position. There would be nothing to stop Muschamp from hiring Lattimore as a coach, but Lattimore has consistently said that he doesn’t think he would want to coach in college due to the time demands.
Gotta hand it to the NCAA here. I mean they're absolutely right. Having a former player around a football staff is totally unfair. Everyone knows that football coaching staffs are lousy with former football players....It's not like every coach on the Gamecocks staff is a former college football player except it is like every single coach on the Gamecocks' coaching staff was a former college football player, literally all 10 of them.
You do have to give credit to the NCAA though. No one takes one step forward while taking two miles backwards quite like they do. For every good move they make, such as allowing basketball players to test the NBA waters without losing eligibility, they do something like this.
I'm just glad we're getting some clear-cut distinctions on what a recruiting advantage is.
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| Recruiting Advantage |
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| Not a recruiting advantage |
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| Recruiting Advantage |
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| Not a Recruiting Advantage |
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| Recruiting Advantage |
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| Not a Recruiting Advantage |
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| Recruiting Advantage |
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| Not a Recruiting Advantage |
It's nice to finally clear that up. It was becoming very confusing what was a recruiting advantage and what wasn't. God forbid someone with some real life experience be a source for guidance for young minds. We wouldn't want that corrupting the youth.
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