South Carolina secret weapon: How ‘The Mayor’ Carey Rich is helping the Gamecocks

Carey Rich went searching for a dictionary.

His head coach at South Carolina, Eddie Fogler, got up at a press conference and seemingly complimented Rich. He said something about Rich being the guy you want joining you in a foxhole. But then, Fogler called Rich “personable” and “charismatic.”

Fogler might as well have been speaking Italian.

Rich was a native of the now-extinct Saxon Homes Community that used to sit along Harden Street in Columbia. Mostly single parents living across 400 apartments trying to keep going, trying to provide for their family.

Rich’s mother worked as a waitress, busing downtown everyday for work. If Rich was lucky, sometimes he and his sister would meet their mom at the bus stop on Friday nights and she’d treat them to Pizza Hut or McDonald’s.

His peace was basketball.

On the court, he was a maestro, a vocal floor general who dominated pickup games and eventually led C.A. Johnson to a 1989 state title. Off the court he was an introvert who stuttered, who had all these thoughts but lacked the confidence to voice them. And lived in a place where the vernacular did not include “Personable” and “Charismatic.”

So he found a dictionary. He found his identity.

“I didn’t realize I had personality,” Rich said. “Once I figured that part out, I embraced it. I found a way to utilize it and maximize it.”

During his playing days at South Carolina (1993-95), Folger gave Rich the nickname “The Mayor.” Much has changed in the past 30 years, but no one will dispute Rich’s standing in South Carolina.

He coached at Allen University. At his alma mater, C.A. Johnson. He was on the board for the Chick-fil-A Classic, the annual winter tournament that brought the best high school talent to South Carolina. He was the one who wanted more eyes on South Carolina high school talent, creating the MLK Bash. He raised money with the annual South Carolina Pro-Am. He spent seven years as a recreation superintendent for Columbia’s Parks and Rec Department.

He worked as a liaison with the police department. He was a radio fixture on 107.5 The Game and made frequent appearances broadcasting high school games for WACH Fox TV. Parents knew him. Kids knew him. Every high school coach in the state texted him about information or tournaments. Dozens of college coaches texted him about recruits. He was — err, is — the go-to resource for all-things basketball.

Through it all, he remained a fervent supporter of his alma mater. Even during the turbulent times — and there were plenty — he was a constant, always sitting in the first row behind the bench cheering on the Gamecocks. Rich was so loyal that he would help college coaches with recruiting inquiries, but if South Carolina was ever in the mix, he was out.

From a short distance, he has always watched South Carolina have success — 1997, 1998, 2017, etc. This season, for the first time, he is part of the reason South Carolina, which begins play in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday against Oregon — is having success.

Rich’s responsibilities at South Carolina

Officially Rich is South Carolina’s special assistant to the head coach. To everyone inside the building, he is the Gamecocks’ problem solver. You’ve got an issue? Rich has just the person.

“Carey’s been instrumental in a lot of this stuff,” South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said on the Inside the Gamecocks Show. “There’s probably never been a person behind the scenes and wants no recognition or acknowledgment for what they do who has helped more than him.”

His job title is a bit vague, but on top of putting out fires and being a informed consultant for coaches/players/teams in South Carolina, three of Rich’s duties really stick out.

RECRUITING: Soon after he took his current post at South Carolina, Rich offered one of the more truthful quotes on recruiting.

“Building a program is about creating a level of excitement with the adults,” he told the Columbia Star. “If adults are excited, then that trickles down.”

Rich’s job at South Carolina: Every parent should leave Columbia with a sense of comfort and trust that their son will excel with the Gamecocks. For most families in South Carolina, Rich’s name alone brings that. For outside visitors, he shows them around like someone leading you through their remodeled house. With passion. Pride. Fervor.

“That is our approach,” Rich said of South Carolina’s recruiting philosophies. “(The other coaches) recruit the kids. I recruit the parents. I recruit the AAU coaches. Because if I get them to believe, those opinions matter to the student-athlete. … I have the ability to connect to people and it’s gonna be done in a very organic manner.”

Added Zach Norris, the high school coach at Keenan High: “Carey, he’s a guy who everyone loves because he loves talk basketball. Most of the coaches around here, we’re basketball fanatics.”

It’s a bit different with the transfer portal but, one could argue grassroots relationships are more valuable than ever in the new world of college athletics. Miss out on a kid out of high school? Well, you might have a chance to recruit him in a few years from the portal.

Look at Ta’Lon Cooper. The Roebuck, South Carolina native spent time at Morehead State and Minnesota before entering the transfer portal last spring. In short, he knew Rich and he became a Gamecock.

“He’s a big part of the reason why I came here,” Cooper said of Rich. “I talked to Carey Rich a lot. I call him the Godfather of South Carolina basketball because he’s always around keeping us poised and calm.”

ALUMNI RELATIONS: Like with everything, winning solves problems. So, yes, as South Carolina put together its winningest regular season in program history, more alumni have packed inside Colonial Life Arena.

But Rich’s presence has been the bridge to connect Gamecocks of the past with the Paris’ teams.

“Thank God for him. If it wasn’t for him, a lot of us probably wouldn’t come back,” said Joe Rhett, who scored over 1,100 points in his time at USC (1988-92) and was roommates with Rich for a year.

“There’s been so many coaching changes throughout the years, so there’s never been that one person you can say, ‘Hey, can we come to a game? Can we come to practice? Carey has been that guy.”

And Rich isn’t just the ticket hookup. He is more of a behind-the-scenes VIP host.

On game days, Rich works closely with South Carolina’s marketing department to ensure when alums walked through the door of Colonial Life Arena, they feel special. Rich is a former player, he gets it, it is hard to walk back into a place where your name isn’t is bright and your face isn’t as famous.

So Rich will talk with the marketing team before games, telling them where former players are sitting. Telling them who should be on the jumbotron. Who needs to stand up and be recognized. The whole shebang.

And that stuff resonates.

“It meant a lot to our young guys seeing former players come to games,’ Rich said.

EDUCATION: Rich is not just a basketball figure. He’s a community figure, a guy who will eat lunch with a high school coach one day and the mayor the next. Or Joel Lourie, a former state senator in South Carolina who met Rich through events around Columbia over the past 15 years.

“When you hear the name Carey Rich, you just have positive thoughts,” Lourie said. “He is just such a positive force and so well-respected and admired.”

He also helped explain the landscape of college athletics and NIL to Lourie.

“We’ve broken bread together for many hours and he’s helped me understand this,” Rich said. “It takes somebody with the relationships and the knowledge to explain it. That’s what won me over to want to support the program even more.”

A long time ago, Rich learned a valuable lesson: If people like you, they support you.

And Rich has so many folks who like him — way before NIL was a thing — they want to support him in any way they can. For a second, Rich gives a pitch.

“You’re a friend of Carey Rich,” he said. “You know how much Carey Rich loves the University of South Carolina, how much Carey Rich wants this program to succeed. This is how you can help me.”

Getting the job with the Gamecocks

To learn about Rich’s impact is to wonder why it took until 2022 for him to be on South Carolina’s coaching staff.

Well, it’s not because South Carolina didn’t try.

Early in his tenure leading the Gamecocks, Frank Martin tried to hire Rich to a role with the Gamecocks. Rich was getting on the train. He was ready. He was excited. But the Big Bad Wolf of college athletics, the NCAA, stepped in and deemed it an unfair advantage because of Rich’s ties to AAU and high school basketball.

“The NCAA said no because Frank Martin would have been hiring me to gain an advantage to recruit those (highly-ranked kids in South Carolina),” Rich said.

By the time South Carolina hired another men’s basketball coach, there were new rules in place. So upon hiring Paris, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner told his new hoops coach that one of the first people he should talk with was Rich.

Soon after Paris arrived in Columbia, he met with Rich in his office.

“We had a short conversation and I guess it didn’t take long for him to make the decision that he was gonna hire me. We share a lot of the same (values) in terms of loyalty and our humble beginnings. We connected very, very quickly.”

But before word got out that Rich was finally joining his alma mater to work under an outside hire, Rich had folks he needed to call.

His first three phone calls were to Folger, Martin and former Gamecock B.J. McKie.

Folger, who he calls “the most impactful male figure in my life,” still lives in Columbia and keeps up with Rich and the Gamecocks.

Martin had been fired just weeks earlier after a decade-long run where he and Rich grew extremely close.

And McKie, a Gamecock great and Columbia native, was one of the finalists to get the head coaching job. Heck, a large majority of alums publicly or privately voiced their support for the Gamecocks to hire McKie.

There were not just wrinkles to iron out, but deep interpersonal relationships to smooth over.

Martin had just been fired by South Carolina. McKie was a finalist to take over at South Carolina, such a respected candidate that Fogler endorsed him. And now Rich was going to work for South Carolina? Go work for a guy with no Palmetto State ties who’s taking a job that many thought should’ve gone to someone else?

Friendships have been lost over far less. But Rich does not lose friendships.

“That was very delicate,” Rich said. “It was really important to me to make those three phone calls.”

How did Rich become “The Mayor” of Columbia? Because he doesn’t run from stuff. Because he does not just talk to people, but forms relationships where honesty is expected. It’s why over 1,000 texts poured in when he officially got the USC job. It’s why his Rolodex is the size of a hay bale. It’s why he is the secret weapon for South Carolina.

And through it all, he is still the kid from Saxon Homes. He is still that point guard.

“You don’t just play the position, you live it,” Rich said. “My job as a point guard is to make life easier for those around me. I’ve gotta get everyone involved.”