Gamecock Fans React to Darrin Horn Firing

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — “I sure do, I do,” says USC Athletic Director, Eric Hyman. Three simple words is all USC Athletic Director, Eric Hyman had to say when it comes to whether or not the new head coach of men’s basketball will bring in more fans. This comes on the same day Hyman announced that Darrin Horn was released from his duties as head coach. “All is fair in basketball and if he wasn’t doing his job, they’ve got to get someone who gets the job done,” says Robbie Rodgers, Gamecock fan. “I actually agree with it, um we brought him to do a job and it just wasn’t getting done,” says Marcus Staton, Gamecock fan Fans were one thing Horn talked about when he was first hired in 2008, with a contract that included incentives for getting more fans to the games. “Our passionate fan base has to grow, we have to sell out that arena, it needs to be sold out every single time we play,” says Darrin Horn, former South Carolina Men’s Head Basketball Coach. Crandall Sims reporting, “It’s been two years since Gamecock fans went into an uproar here at the Colonial Life Arena, after the Gamecocks, coached by Darrin Horn…defeated the number one team in the nation, Kentucky, but since then things have changed.” When it comes to the season since, fans say they were let downs. “It’s upsetting, it’s upsetting. When I first started at USC it was the years we won the NIT’s back to back and although it’s the NIT it was something to hang your hat on and be proud of, and there really hasn’t been that out of the basketball program,” says Staton. But some are a bit taken back by his firing. “I just um, thought they might, they would have probably given him a second chance,” says Huston Harshaw, basketball fan. “They needed to at least give him a team that wanted to play for him,” says Lorenzo Jones, Gamecock fan Even with the news, fans say they are ready to move forward. “We are looking for a winning team and a winning team is what we want,” says Jones. Meanwhile, the university hopes to keep those fans, happy. “You’ve really got to be able to show progress and turn that corner and to have that hope where people are enthusiastic and want to be committed to the program. Our fans deserve, deserve to put a good product out there,” says Hyman Darrin Horn had three years left on his contract. His buyout is $2.4 million.