CLEMSON -- The past few years have shown us that Clemson isn't immune to paying coaches a lot of money to not coach at Clemson.
The athletics department cut its final monthly checks to Brandon Streeter, Thomas Austin and Lemanski Hall in early February -- and then began stroking fat monthly checks to Wes Goodwin, who was owed more than $3 million when Dabo Swinney fired him.
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So no, we're not trying to make the case that Clemson is some unique oasis of perfect decisions and hires.
But you don't have to look around much, or very far, to recognize that it could be a lot worse.
Two hours down the road in Columbia, the Gamecocks' administration is trying to figure out how to address the utter dumpster fire that their baseball program has become.
They declined from great to just pretty good, but pretty good wasn't enough.
And now they'd probably give anything to be just pretty good.
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Well, almost anything. Because in this new world of trying to come up with new ways to come up with new revenue that will be shared with talent, a $7 million check to buy out an entire baseball staff feels like a financial bridge too far.
Or at least that was the conclusion when reports surfaced that South Carolina was going to stick with Paul Mainieri after the Gamecocks went 28-29 and 6-24 in the SEC in his inaugural season.
But then came another report -- a damning one from John Whittle of The Big Spur that still reverberates several days later.
Whittle wrote that the 67-year-old Mainieri was disconnected, disrespectful and even destructive as he mishandled a pitcher coming off arm surgery.
Among other things. Many other things.
Whittle has been around a long time and is extremely plugged into the baseball world. Very few people are questioning his reporting. The vast majority of Gamecock fans are appalled and outraged, as they should be.
It's so bad that Dabo Swinney probably has a higher approval rating in Columbia than Mainieri.
When South Carolina and Clemson were preparing to commence another rivalry battle, Mainieri acted strangely and seemed to downplay the magnitude and significance of it.
Meanwhile, Erik Bakich and the Tigers bathed in their excitement for the series, and in their outward hatred of South Carolina.
Maineri's disinterest stood out even more when the Tigers bathed in the Gamecocks' blood with a sweep by an aggregate 18-6.
Anyway, Whittle's report has been met with silence from South Carolina. Silence so deafening that The Post and Courier's Scott Hamilton made it the topic of his Sunday column yesterday:
South Carolina's answer to a request for comment by The Post and Courier was a one-sentence email from an athletic department spokesperson.
“Thanks for giving us that chance but we will pass on the opportunity.”
Don’t pop the messenger. The spokesperson’s succinct response was undoubtedly filtered by others before being sent. Bravo for the brevity.
Still, it only makes things worse.
There are three things possible when you’re accused of something: Deny, apologize or explain. We’ve gotten none of those.
No rebuking TheBigSpur.com's story or its author; no voicing regrets; no clarifications. Our minds are left to wander.
USC relinquishing those options isn't a good look under ideal circumstances. This climate definitely isn’t great. ...
Instead, keeping quiet makes us inclined to believe what we read. And to wonder if USC is questioning its silence about the baseball coach.
Or at least its intentions regarding him going forward.
The tantalizing question: Does the fan furor over this report end up leading the administration to reverse course and make a move? Because imagine how many opposing recruiters, including Clemson's of course, are going to hammer high school and portal prospects with printouts and screen caps of the most damning parts.
Imagine the falloff in season-ticket sales.
But again ... $7 million is a lot of money in any era, but a ton in this era.
In the Clemson neck of the woods, the absence of buyout money was a major part of the formula for greatness: If you make smart, visionary hires you're not having to fork out millions of dollars to buy out a football, basketball or baseball staff every three years.
Swinney is preparing for his 17th season leading Clemson's football program.
Brad Brownell is preparing for his 16th leading the Tigers' basketball program.
Since this writer began covering Clemson in 2004, there have been four head-coaching changes in the big three sports.
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And Bakich seems to have the baseball program in a pretty good place.
Yes, the baseball Tigers certainly aspire for Omaha and have a lot of work to do to get there.
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But it could be worse.
Much worse.
The current mess in Columbia is quite an example of that.
