THE SCOOP
Former LSU and South Carolina football coach and athletic director Paul Dietzel died early Tuesday. He was 89.
Dietzel took over the LSU program in 1956 and won the 1959 national championship and was chosen coach of the year. He gained fame by developing three teams to comply with the single-substitution rule of the time, with the defensive team known famously at the time as the Chinese Bandits.
He later was Gamecocks coach (1966-74) and AD (1966-75) and was 42-53-1 in Columbia. He is the only coach in South Carolina history to win a conference title, the 1969 ACC crown. But his impact on South Carolina athletics reached far beyond the field. Among his important moves while in Columbia: He initiated an upgrade of all athletic facilities, wrote the Carolina Fight Song, which is still used today and mandated the recruitment of black athletes in all sports. In addition, he hired former New York Yankees great Bobby Richardson, a move that vaulted the school into national baseball prominence. Dietzel later served as AD at Indiana and LSU as well as Ohio Valley Conference commissioner. In retirement, he became an accomplished artist, specializing in watercolor prints.
TWITTER TROUBLE
Vanderbilt had a Twitter dustup when running back Brian Kimbrow, a sophomore, expressed his frustration with the Commodores’ offense Sunday. Vandy (2-2) ranks 12th in the SEC in offense (77th nationally) and 13th in rushing. Kimbrow no longer was on the depth chart Monday. And his Twitter account is now limited to those he allows to follow him. Coach James Franklin said only that he reads every tweet by his players and that the situation was being handled internally. On Sunday morning, the following post was made from Kimbrow’s Twitter account (@I_GRIND_4_IT): “Have to find a home…. A better place for me!!!!!!!” Later there was a tweet, according to the Nashville Tennessean, that used some expletives. That post later was deleted, and a tweet apologized for earlier posts.
GATORS UPDATE
Quarterback Jeff Driskel will have surgery for a broken fibula Wednesday and is expected to need four to six months of recovery. The Tampa Bay Times also reports that coach Will Muschamp said he is unhappy with the Gators’ special-teams play and is opening the competition for both punter and kicker this week.
QUOTABLE
“We can put points on them. I think we can put points on anybody. … We have better receivers than (Texas) A&M.” — Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace about playing No. 1 Alabama, as reported by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, with one possible implication being that he thinks he is the equal of Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
BY THE NUMBERS
6 Games this season matching top-20 teams, including this week's schedule. Five of those games featured SEC teams: No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 8 Clemson, No. 12 LSU vs. No. 20 TCU, No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 6 South Carolina, No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 6 LSU vs. No. 9 Georgia. The other game? No. 17 Michigan vs. No. 14 Notre Dame.
About the Author
