When he came to Columbia, South Carolina, to be USC's (that other USC) new head football coach, Joe Morrison was the next great thing; a new hot coaching prospect.
Toiling for three years at the University of New Mexico, Morrison had led the Lobos to a 10-1 record in 1982.
And so it was, as it always is, that he climbed a ladder and was hired to coach the Gamecocks in 1983.
Joe Morrison played professional football for the New York Giants. As a running back and wide receiver, he set receiving records and had his number 40 retired by the team.
As South Carolina's coach, he introduced a number of traditions that still are incorporated by the team today.
The Gamecocks take the field on game day to the sound of Also Sprach Zaratustra, a  tradition still regarded today as one of the great entrances in college football.
That was a Morrison dramatic flourish.
He also ushered in the 1984 Black Magic Year as the Gamecocks' football success matched the all black attire Morrison became famous for. Additionally, black was added to the South Carolina football jersey repertoire. 
He could coach and play the haberdasher too.
But something blacker loomed on the not too distant horizon and perhaps, seemed a terrible omen for USC's touch with success.
Talking over the years with a friend and Carolina alum, I couldn't help but notice the yearly sense of resignation in his voice whenever his alma mater gets themselves on any sort of run.
"You know," he'd tell me. "We always seem to almost get there. Almost get over the hump. And then, wham! We come crashing back to earth. Reminds me of the Morrison era."
That era would end abruptly in 1989.
At the age of 51, South Carolina's Man in Black, Head Football Coach Joe Morrison would collapse after playing racket ball and die of a heart attack.
And even with the passing of the years, there are still those Gamecocks that consider him to be the school's greatest football coach.
 
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