My condolences to the Clemson family on the loss of
Jul 14, 2008, 9:55 AM
Coach Ibrahim. As a Gamecock soccer fan all my life I obviously grew up really disliking him. of course... I was very young and didn't understand anything except, he coaches Clemson so he's the bad guy.
As I grew up, prolific soccer player that I was, I learned that Coach Ibrahim was a trend setter in the state of South Carolina. He might have coached the wrong team, but he was a man to be admired and respected.
The state of South Carolina has always been and continues to be behind the state of North Carolina, and Georgia in youth soccer development. Thanks to men like Coach Ibrahim, we not any further behind than we are.
Coach Ibrahim took a lot of heat for using so much international talent, especially in the early days at Clemson. But he did not budge on his commitment to create a powerful program, as opposed to pandering to the pressure to use local players. In doing so, he built a program that was to be feared on a national scale. He knew a successful program would do more for the local talent, than allowing local talent to field a losing program in those early days. The result is that by having such a powerful soccer program in our small state, he probably did as much as anyone in this state's history to build interest in the sport I grew up loving.
Guys like Coach Ibrahim never get the credit they deserve until they are gone. The soccer community in SC is a fairly small one. You run into the same people again and again all over the state. They lost someone very important to them, even if they don't even know it.
From a life-long Gamecock and soccer fan, here's to Coach Ibrahim. May he rest in peace.