South Carolina legend Marcus Lattimore wants to work for the Gamecocks. And South Carolina and new head coach Will Muschamp want Lattimore to work for the school. But the NCAA is saying no, according to David Cloninger of The State:
NCAA rightfully bars South Carolina from hiring Marcus Lattimore as advisor
All the big, bad NCAA is preventing is double-dipping.
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
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.
This would sound like yet another case of the villains in Indianapolis playing the black hat, except for what they seem to be barring: Lattimore serving as an advisor and de facto recruiter, while also working with potential recruits. (Boldface mine.)
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.
The unstated allure of having Lattimore is that he’s as compelling a figure to recruits as there is, especially in his native South Carolina. His story of glory and adversity, detailed for SB Nation by Jason Buckland in July 2015, is a stirring one, and having Lattimore officially affiliated would have been a coup for Muschamp.
But he’s also someone who runs football camps and outreach programs for young athletes in the Palmetto State.
Having him on staff at South Carolina while also being active in the community would station Lattimore with one foot in college football and another in prep football. And while the Marcus Lattimore Foundation is mostly interested in preventing and helping athletes cope with injuries, it does seem to provide financial support to potential recruits, so it's not hard to see how that could credibly create the "unfair recruiting advantage" the NCAA is against, even if Lattimore were not putting on camps.
As Bud Elliott notes, this probably wouldn’t even be a debate if not for Lattimore’s immense popularity.
Take the very popular name out of it. You cannot have a [former player] running 7-on or camps on the payroll.
— SB Nation Recruiting (@SBNRecruiting) April 15, 2016
A comparison to Chris Leak, nowhere near as popular when Muschamp hired him as a quality control coach at Florida, is instructive.
No one is saying Lattimore can’t join the Gamecocks in an official capacity, just that he can’t while also doing what he does in the state. Leak gave up his roles in broadcasting and grassroots work to rejoin the Gators. And nothing is preventing Lattimore from giving up some of what he does and working as a coach. Leak made his decision in part because of a desire to get into coaching.
Three years later, Leak is still in coaching, now at Edgewater High in Orlando. He’ll obviously be a fine ambassador for Florida there, and mentioned in any discussion of a blue-chip Edgewater recruit’s college plans. But there’s no conflict of interest that the NCAA cares about, because he’s not also drawing a paycheck from Florida.
In truth, the NCAA likely only cares in this instance because South Carolina would like to have its cake and eat it, too.
If Lattimore gave up his camps and foundation, the NCAA’s objection to his hiring would probably go away, even though he would be slightly less attractive as a potential staffer without the prospect of his magnetism in 7-on-7 camps.
“Man, I love this state,” Lattimore said in that 2015 feature. “I love the people here. They love me. I know I can make a difference here. I want to help this state until the day I die.”
And if Lattimore wants to perform that noble mission, he can’t do it while also working at his alma mater’s football program. That’s all the NCAA is saying. And, in this one instance, the NCAA is probably right.
