University of South Carolina Athletics mourns the passing of former Athletics Director Bob Marcum, who passed away July 23 at the age of 87.
Marcum served as AD at South Carolina from 1982-88. During his tenure as the head of Gamecock athletics, he moved the program to the Metro Conference in 1983, where it stayed until joining the Southeastern Conference in 1991.
South Carolina won two Metro Conference championships and 10 conference tournament titles during Marcum’s tenure at USC. Carolina won its first women’s sports conference championship, when it claimed the 1986 Metro Conference women’s basketball title.
Marcum hired Joe Morrison as the Gamecock head football coach in December 1982. Carolina had its best football season on record at that time, going 10-2 in 1984, reaching the Gator Bowl. The Gamecocks reached a No. 2 national ranking before finishing the season 11th, at the time the highest in school history.
Marcum also hired Nancy Wilson as the Gamecock women’s basketball coach prior to the 1984 season. In 13 seasons at Carolina, Wilson won 231 games and five Metro Conference titles.
Marcum also served as the athletics director at Kansas (1978-82), Massachusetts (1993-2002) and Marshall (2002-09). He started his career at Iowa State in 1971, before moving to Kansas. He also served as vice president and general manager of the Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1988-90 and vice president and general manager of the Atlanta Motor Speedway from 1990-93.
