Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 as of the 2020 U.S. Census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. It is the center of the Columbia metropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 829,470 and is the 72nd-largest metropolitan statistical area in the nation. The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, derived from the name of Christopher Columbus, who explored for the Spanish Crown. Columbia is often abbreviated as Cola, leading to its nickname as "Soda City."
Williams–Brice Stadium is the home football stadium for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the college football team representing the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. It is currently the 16th largest on-campus college football stadium in the NCAA and is located on the corner of George Rogers Boulevard and Bluff Road adjacent to the South Carolina State Fairgrounds. Carolina football teams consistently attract standing-room-only crowds to Williams–Brice Stadium. The atmosphere on game days has been voted "the best" by SECsports.com, and has been noted as being among the loudest environments to play in by opposing players. The stadium has been the site of many concerts, state high school football championships, and various other events. It hosted the annual Palmetto Capital City Classic between Benedict College and South Carolina State University until the last game in 2005.
The University of South Carolina is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina. It has seven satellite campuses throughout the state and its main campus covers over 359 acres (145 ha) in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities with Highest Research Activity". It also houses the largest collection of Robert Burns and Scottish literature materials outside Scotland, and the world's largest Ernest Hemingway collection.
Frank Joseph McGuire was an American basketball coach. At the collegiate level, he was head coach for three major programs: St. John's, North Carolina, and South Carolina, winning over a hundred games at each.
Founders Park, formerly known as Carolina Stadium, is a stadium in Columbia, South Carolina on the banks of the Congaree River. The facility was built for a cost of $35.6 million and is used for college baseball as home to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team.
Cocky is the costumed mascot of the University of South Carolina athletics teams. He represents a cartoon version of a gamecock.
The Clemson–South Carolina rivalry is an American collegiate athletic rivalry between the Clemson University Tigers and the South Carolina University Gamecocks. Since 2015, the two also compete in the Palmetto Series, which is an athletic, head-to-head competition between both schools, not just in football, but also in more than a dozen competitions throughout each school year. Both institutions are public universities supported by the state of South Carolina, and their campuses are separated by only 132 miles. South Carolina and Clemson have been bitter rivals since 1896, and a heated rivalry continues to this day for a variety of reasons, including the historic tensions regarding their respective charters and the passions surrounding their athletic programs.
The South Carolina Gamecocks football program represents the University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. The team's head coach is Shane Beamer. They play their home games at Williams-Brice Stadium.
This History of the University of South Carolina began in the 18th century when intersectional differences arose between the Lowcountry and the Upstate. It was conceived that a state supported college located in the center of the state at Columbia, South Carolina would foster friendships between those of both regions thus allowing the state to present a united front to the nation when threatened with issues jeopardizing the South Carolina way of life. The University of South Carolina's history can be described in four distinct phases: a firebrand college (1801–1862), constant reorganization (1865–1891), college to university (1891–1944) and the state's university (1944–present).
The South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gamecocks won Southern Conference titles in 1927, 1933, 1934, and 1945, and then they gained national attention under hall of fame coach Frank McGuire, posting a 205–65 record from 1967 to 1976, which included the 1970 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship, the 1971 ACC Tournament title, and four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1971 to 1974. The program also won the 1997 SEC championship, National Invitation Tournament (NIT) titles in 2005 and 2006, and a share of the 2009 SEC Eastern division title. Most recently, the Gamecocks won the 2017 NCAA East Regional Championship, reaching the Final Four for the first time in school history. Lamont Paris is the current head coach, and the team plays at the 18,000-seat Colonial Life Arena.
Robert Louis Caslen Jr. is a retired United States Army officer who served as the 59th superintendent of West Point from 2013 until 2018 and as the 29th president of the University of South Carolina from July 2019 until May 2021. Between January and May 2019, Caslen was senior counsel to the president and interim chief financial officer at the University of Central Florida. On July 19, 2019, the Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina elected him as the school's 29th president, a position he assumed on August 1, 2019. Caslen also served as HigherEchelon's Special Advisor on Executive Leadership and Character Development. He resigned as President at South Carolina on May 12, 2021.
Shawn Elliott is an American football coach and former player, currently the head football coach at Georgia State University. He served as the interim head football coach at the University of South Carolina, a position he assumed on October 13, 2015. Elliott joined the South Carolina Gamecocks football coaching staff in 2010 as the team's running game coordinator under Steve Spurrier. He was later named the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. A day after South Carolina head coach Spurrier's resignation, Elliott was elevated to the position of head coach on an interim basis.
Jacob Lane Bentley is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently a graduate assistant on the Florida Atlantic coaching staff. Bentley played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Utah Utes, and the South Alabama Jaguars.
Sami's Law is a piece of federal legislation in the United States introduced by Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey as H.R. #3262. The bill was introduced in May 2019 but has yet to advance. The bill would require ridesharing company drivers to prominently display lighted signs and a scannable QR code as a safety regulation in light of issues tied to the ride-sharing service. The bill would criminalize misrepresentation of being a driver of a ride-sharing service nationwide. The bill was named for South Carolina college student Samantha Josephson, who had ordered an Uber but mistakenly entered an imposter vehicle and was killed by the driver. On June 14, 2019, the law was referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
The murder of Samantha Josephson, a student at University of South Carolina, in Columbia, South Carolina, occurred on March 29, 2019. Josephson, 21, had ordered an Uber and mistakenly entered a car that she thought was her ride. Nathaniel Rowland used childproof locks to prevent Josephson from leaving the vehicle and kidnapped and murdered her, leaving her body near New Zion, South Carolina – 65 miles from Columbia, where she had entered Rowland's car.
South Carolina Gamecocks football under Steve Spurrier covers the history of the South Carolina Gamecocks football program under Steve Spurrier from 2005 to 2015.
Carmen Alexander Mlodzinski is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
Kevin Harris is an American football running back for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina.
Kingsley "JJ" Enagbare is an American football outside linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina.
Michael Amiridis is an Grecian-American Administrator and professor who serves as the 30th president of the University of South Carolina since July 1, 2022. Prior, he served as chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago from 2015 to 2022.
