Before the news of Stephen Garcia's dismissal became public, South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier was making headlines of his own by calling out a newspaper columnist and refusing to hold his normal weekly press conference with him in the room.
Spurrier never mentioned the State Newspaper's Ron Morris by name, but the longtime columnist was without a doubt the target of the USC head coach's ire. Instead of taking his seat in front of the assembled media, Spurrier paced in front of the table where he normally sits and said that he "need to get something off his chest".
"As all of you know, we got a negative guy over here that tries to hurt our football program. He's got a right to do that," Spurrier said. "The criticism he shows me is ok. I don't mind that. I just don't like stories that aren't true. Last spring, he wrote a story about me recruiting Bruce Ellington and luring him away from the basketball program and raiding and jilting Coach Horn - completely fabricated story."
Spurrier is referring to this March, 25th 2011 column that Morris wrote about Ellington's decision to play football and basketball at South Carolina.
"Since he sits in on all these meetings, basically I'm helping him contribute writing negative stuff about our football program. I'm not going to talk when he's in here. That's my right as a head coach, I dont' have to talk to him and I don't have to talk to him when he's in here."
Spurrier then instructed the television media to join him in another room for one on one interviews.
