COLUMBIA — For the University of South Carolina athletics department, the lowering of the Confederate flag on Friday morning had to feel like the removal of a long, painful thorn which had irritated the Gamecocks for decades.
USC certainly dealt with its share of frustrations over the banner’s presence on the Statehouse grounds, only a few blocks from the school’s Horseshoe. There was the nuisance that was the NCAA’s ban on predetermined championship events, which ultimately didn’t have much teeth, but did effect the women’s basketball and golf programs. And there was always the lingering question over whether the banner had a negative impact on recruiting, given that the argument over the flag often took place in what was effectively South Carolina’s front yard.