A former South Carolina Gamecock is on the move in the professional coaching world.

According to a report from CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, the Arizona Cardinals are hiring Rod Wilson to be the team’s new inside linebackers coach. The Cardinals’ current linebackers coach, Cristian Garcia, will move to safeties. The move is expected to be the final major move for new head coach Mike LaFleur in Arizona.

Wilson had spent the last four years and seven of the last nine in various roles with the Kansas City Chiefs. He won three Super Bowl rings with Kansas City, one as a special teams assistant and two more as a defensive assistant. Most recently, he was the team’s outside linebackers coach.

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Wilson was a former starter for the South Carolina defense and also spent some time coaching with his alma mater.

To start his playing career under head coach Lou Holtz, Wilson was on the offensive side of the ball. A high school quarterback, he transitioned to the wide receiver position before moving to defense. Splitting time between the safety, linebacker, and hybrid “spur” positions, Wilson became a team captain. During his final season in garnet and black, he earned some All-SEC recognition and led the team in total tackles.

Following graduation, he enjoyed a six-year career in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Jacksonville Jaguars. He got into coaching shortly thereafter, getting his first collegiate coaching opportunity at Charleston Southern.

Following three years at CSU and his first stint with the Chiefs, Wilson spent the 2020 season coaching linebackers at South Carolina under head coach Will Muschamp and defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson. He helped guide Ernest Jones to an All-SEC campaign that season, ahead of third-round NFL Draft selection.

by MARK POWELL

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For the second time this year, a bill requiring closed state primary elections has dropped in the South Carolina House of Representatives. The bill – H. 5183 – is currently residing in the chamber’s judiciary committee, where it faces an uncertain future.

This latest proposal, sponsored by state representative Mike Burns, fixes a flaw in a previously introduced version.

“It’s very similar to 3310,” explained state representative Jordan Pace, referencing a previous closed primary bill. “It’s virtually the same, with the exception of when you can register or affiliate for 2026 – and only in 2026 – the first time that a voter votes in a primary, they can sign the affiliation form when they vote.”

Pace is chairman of the S.C. Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers who have been working for years to close partisan primary elections in the Palmetto State. Their objective? Limiting Democrat influence/interference in the selection of GOP representatives.

Under the previous version of the bill, critics expressed concern that some voters might not have time to qualify to cast their ballots in the upcoming Democratic and Republican primary elections on June 9, 2026.

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Current election law provides for an open primary. Any registered voter can request the partisan ballot of their choice on primary day (although they must pick one party or the other; they cannot vote for both).

For Pace and his fellow conservatives, that’s a big problem.

“Right now we have Democrats crossing over and voting in Republican primaries,” Pace explained. “And in some cases, we have Republicans crossing over to vote in Democrat primaries in a few spots around the state. There’s been like four ballot questions over the last decade on primary voting questions. And they all have come back with eighty percent or so saying, ‘crossing over into the other party’s primary is not what we want’. That’s what November (the general election) is for. It’s not what the primaries are for.”

Each state devises its own system for holding elections, and they vary widely across the country. South Carolina is one of fifteen states with an open primary. Nine others, plus the District of Columbia, hold closed primaries. The remainder have various hybrid formats – with the exception of five: Alaska, California, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington. These states have so-called “jungle primaries,” electoral free-for-alls with multi-party, nonpartisan voting.

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The latter is exactly the kind of political food fight that supporters of the traditional partisan system wish to avoid with closed primaries.

Many independent voters say they would feel left out with a closed primary. As one told us recently, “I don’t want my choices dictated to me by the political parties – I want to have a say in who appears on the ballot in November.” 

According to Pace, that view misses the point of holding primaries in the first place.

“The reality is that the two parties are private organizations,” he said. “They’re private political organizations. Look at it this way: It’s like outsiders showing up at a lodge or some other social club or somebody else’s church and demanding to vote in their business meeting about whether to hire or fire a pastor or club president. If you’re not part of that organization, if you’re not affiliated with it, then you shouldn’t be allowed to make its decisions. Your vote is in November.”

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Pace also had this assessment of the current balloting situation: “Democrats shouldn’t be voting in Republican primaries, and Republicans shouldn’t be voting in Democratic primaries.”

Asked about the response to the new bill among House members, Pace was frank.

“Tepid would probably be the nicest way to say it,” he said. “There are several people in high-level positions who don’t seem to want this.”

The Freedom Caucus supports the measure, though, and Pace noted closing primaries “has been a Republican Party priority for the last 20 years.” 

“When it comes to passing conservative policies, South Carolina is always dead last among Republican states,” Pace said. “Open primaries are a major contributor to that. And if we were to actually do this (enact closed primaries), as the people have said repeatedly they want, I think we would get better conservative policy passed in Columbia on a regular basis.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.

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South Carolina’s thrilling 79-72 win over LSU on Valentine’s Day delivered monster ratings for ABC and ESPN.

An average of 1.7 million viewers, with a peak of 2.2 million, made it ESPN’s fourth most-watched regular-season game ever.

The game is also the most-watched women’s basketball game of the season on all networks. It surpassed South Carolina’s 93-50 win over Tennessee on February 8. That game averaged 1.5 million viewers and peaked at 2.1 million. 

The big ratings included College GameDay, which preceded the game. 1.2 million viewers watched GameDay, up 66% from the same week last season. 

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There have been five women’s basketball games that drew over one million viewers this season. The others are Tennessee-UConn on February 1 (1.2 million), Oklahoma-Texas on February 1 (1.1 million), and Iowa-Iowa State in December (1.0 million).

According to Nielsen, through February 8, South Carolina was the fourth most-watched women’s basketball team in the country across ABC, CW, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, ION, NBC, TruTV, TNT, and USA Network. Ohio State, Tennessee, and Iowa were the top three teams, but that will change once last weekend’s ratings are factored in. 

South Carolina played in the most-watched women’s basketball game of all time, the 2024 national championship game. That game drew 18.9 million viewers, surpassing the men’s title game and any NBA game since 2020.

Ratings for women’s basketball are up 33% year over year. 

Beginning in September 2025, Nielsen, the company that calculates ratings, changed how numbers are determined. The new methodology has boosted live sports across the board. But that doesn’t account for the entire increase.

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ESPN bet big on the matchup and was rewarded. The game was moved to Saturday night and put on ABC. The 40-minute edition of College GameDay, which included the first Top 16 Reveal of the season, preceded the game. 

The rivalry between the Gamecocks and Tigers, including the fight at the 2024 SEC Tournament and MiLaysia Fulwiley switching sides, was heavily promoted as the jewel of “No Love Lost Saturday,” playing off Valentine’s Day and lead-in men’s basketball games featuring Kansas at Iowa State and Kentucky at Florida.