Q&A With Former Gamecock QB Mike Hold

Mike Hold quarterbacked the Gamecocks to one of the program’s most successful seasons in 1984. Although a wild upset at Navy derailed any national title hopes, the 10-2 season ranks easily as one of the top-five in school history. Here, we catch up with Mike Hold in this Garnet & Cocky exclusive interview.

G&C: Why did you choose the University of South Carolina?

Hold: That’s a complicated answer, because there were a lot of moving parts to my decision. But at the end of the day, it boiled down to the fact that they wanted me and never waivered from that.

G&C: Who was your favorite receiver to throw to?

Hold: Of course the most sensible answer would be Sterling. He was amazing after he caught the ball and turned 5 yard passes into 50 yard gains. I could name Eric Poole, Chris Wade, Danny Smith, Bill Bradshaw or Chris Corley….I had all the confidence in the world in all of them. But Ira Hillary is who comes to mind right off the bat. The long pass he caught against Georgia is the play that kind of put me on the map.

G&C: How mad was Coach Morrison after the loss to Navy in 1984?

Hold: He was upset. No more than we were at ourselves though.

G&C: Of the teams we played in your day, who were the toughest?

Hold: I was a JUCO transfer, so really only had 2 seasons to judge from. I will tell you that Michigan was the toughest I played against. They were good! We couldn’t do anything offensively. They were big and fast.

G&C: Who were the easiest teams on the schedule?

Hold: We could never take a team lightly and had to be at our best every week. Example is Navy. I would say East Carolina though only because we beat them soundly in ’84 and ’85.

G&C: Which was your favorite game as a player?

Hold: Favorite game was Notre Dame. I grew up in the age of three channels on the Tv so that was a team that I grew up watching. They had tradition so to go to South Bend and win is kind of one of those bucket list things.

G&C: What was the funniest thing you ever heard Coach Morrison say?

Hold: Coach Morrison was a man of few words, so that’s a tough question. Looking back this was funny now, not then. Right before half against Clemson we were driving and needing six points, not a field goal. I don’t remember the exact down and distance but it was inside the five and we had to score. We ran a trap play and there was a penalty. Time was called and I went to the sideline. Coach Morrison to my knowledge never called a play, but OC Coach Sadler couldn’t seem to come up with a call. Coach Morrison asked what he was going to run and coach asked what he thought. Coach Morrison asked what we ran the play before and coach Sadler told him. Coach Morrison’s response was priceless with his southern drawl,”Well hell, run it again.” We did and scored. You really had to be there!

Mike Hold is currently the executive athletics director at Newberry College in South Carolina’s Piedmont region.