In all seriousness, can the University of South Carolina athletics department do anything right?

First, let me say I am privy to very little inside information about the circumstances surrounding former USC baseball and basketball play-by-play announcer Mike Morgan’s immediate, mid-season departure from his job with ISP Communications, which holds the radio rights USC sporting events, and from his position with Citadel Communications, which broadcasts USC athletics and employed Morgan as a sports talk radio personality on 107.5 The Game.

Speculation on message boards Tuesday morning was furious as no reasons were forthcoming, with some blaming egos in athletic department, some saying it had to have been some embarrassing legal incident, others pointing the finger at first-year basketball coach Darrin Horn and still more blaming ISP and USC athletics director Eric Hyman for unabashed cost-cutting. According to what little information the generic release by the university contained and an informal polling of media friends, I believe the answer is that Morgan’s personality rubbed some bosses at ISP the wrong way and they, ultimately, made the call, one which Citadel Communications, which broadcasts USC athletics, and the university essentially had to go along with.

What is abundantly clear, however, is that ISP, USC and 107.5 The Game have made an enormous mistake, the gravity of which I honestly don’t think they understand. To call anyone who would even give a second’s thought to ousting Morgan a complete moron is a sincere insult to those who genuinely suffer from that mental disorder. In my 10 years of covering, off and on, USC athletics and knowing personally most every media member on the USC beat during that time, Morgan has been the smartest, the most humble and the most naturally gifted media person I’ve ever come across. Outside of the coaches themselves, no one, in my opinion, has had better perspective or has given more thoughtful analysis on USC’s teams as Morgan.

His calls of baseball and basketball exploits already are legendary among fans. Just this past basketball season he delivered four or five performances that were the equal of any announcer in the country, and unlike announcers at other SEC schools (Kenny Stabler, anyone?), Morgan has been the epitome of class and professionalism.

Having been on-air with Morgan, I can say enthusiastically that unlike some hosts, he goes out of his way to make guests feel welcome and listens to their points genuinely rather than talking over them. And if you’ve ever listened to him hosting coaching call-in shows or his afternoon sports show in which he has to field the opinions of some of South Carolina’s least-educated citizens, you know he never, ever talks down to his listeners, an affliction all-too common in that profession.

So, what is not in question is his on-air professionalism in every facet of his work. What is not in question is that he has the absolute loyalty — earned in every respect — of USC fans, the vast majority of whom I suspect would have been thrilled to see Morgan replace the woeful Todd Ellis for USC football broadcasts. What is not in question is that he’s one of the finest voices and sharpest minds in the entire Southeastern Conference and beyond.

Therefore, it looks as if we’re talking about nothing more than personality conflicts, which, if that truly is the case, constitutes the most idiotic, boneheaded and pointlessly self-defeating decision I can think of when it comes to USC athletics in recent memory.

More directly, whomever at ISP decided to fire Morgan is an idiot with sh#t for brains who possesses no appreciation for talent or for the overwhelmingly positive reputation Morgan has with the USC community. And if Hyman went along with this without putting up a massive fight, then shame on his head, too, for allowing such blatant foolishness to remove the best broadcaster the school has or likely will have in the immediate future.

There are absolutely no winners in this sad affair, only losers. By making this move and making it now, USC and ISP has shown themselves either thoroughly incompetent, completely ignorant or a sickening medley of both. USC fans, especially the ones who can remember the regrettable Charlie McAlexander era and who are currently still suffering the ongoing embarrassment that is Ellis behind the mike, are cruelly deprived of their most knowledgeable source of information and insight. And the immensely talented Morgan, obviously, will have to explain this on his résumé for the rest of his life.

Morgan will bounce back. He’s too good and too well-liked not to. USC, on the other hand, will have to endure the fan outrage and public backlash that this insanely poor decision merits. Good luck asking fans for more money for football tickets this fall, and good luck asking fans to trust that athletics department decisions are being made prudently and with good, thoughtful judgment. This entire episode stinks from top to bottom, and whether he was forced out due to jealousy or egos or personality conflicts, the only thing that’s 100 percent sure is that, yet again, USC has proven that it’s a school whose athletics department just can’t do a damn thing right, and the result is that the program as a whole and fans in particular are punished for reasons not at all clear and for which those responsible will not easily or soon be forgiven.  

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