Dec. 9, 2004

Columbia, S.C. – Comments from USC assistant football coach Ron Cooper regarding the recent publicity from the Black Coaches Association. Cooper is an African-American and former head coach at Eastern Michigan University, the University of Louisville and Alabama A&M. Coach Cooper made these comments after first reading about the BCA issue on Thursday while he was out of town recruiting …

“In early November, when Coach (Lou) Holtz had made the decision to retire at the end of this season, Mike McGee came to me and informed me that Coach (Holtz) was going to step down. Dr. McGee said that he was prepared to recommend me to the University’s Administration to be a candidate for the job. He also said that there was a good chance that we could hire Steve Spurrier. My comment to him was “if you can hire Steve Spurrier, go hire him now.”