At South Carolina, Giese employed a conservative, run-first game strategy, but he enthusiastically adopted the two-point conversion when it was made legal in 1958. That year, he also correctly predicted the rise of special teams after the NCAA relaxed its player substitution rules.[1]
Giese began his coaching career at the Sacred Heart Academy High School in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where he coached for one season and compiled a 3–4 record.[7] From 1949 to 1955, Giese served as the ends coach at Maryland.[8]During that time, under Jim Tatum, Giese's former mentor at Oklahoma, Maryland was awarded the consensus national championship in 1953 and has been retroactively awarded the 1951 national championship by several selectors.[9] In March 1951, Giese declined the head coaching position at Central Michigan University, for which he had already been approved by the school administration, after Maryland offered him a pay raise.[4] Giese co-authored a book with Tatum entitled Coaching Football and the Split-T.[10]
In 1955, University of South Carolina athletic director and head football coach, Rex Enright, compiled a 3–6 record and his health was in decline.[2][11] As a result, he resigned as football coach and hired Giese as his own replacement.[2] At the time, Giese was the youngest head football coach in the nation.[12] He remained as South Carolina head coach for five years and compiled a 28–21–1 record.[13]
As head coach, Giese employed a conservative strategy heavily focused on the ground attack and rarely employed passing. He also relied on long drives to maximize time of possession and said "The other team can't score if it doesn't have the football."[12] When Giese took over in 1956, at least 51 South Carolina players were being paid, in violation of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules. The Gamecocks' star running back, Alex Hawkins, admitted, "Every school that recruited me had some kind of financial offer." Giese put an immediate end to the payouts and told the players, "Anybody that doesn't like it, submit three teams that you'd like me to recommend you to." Hawkins requested a recommendation for Kentucky among others, but says, "It never dawned on me he wouldn't call any of them."[11]
In his first season, 1956, Giese coached the Gamecocks to a 7–3 record. In the second game, South Carolina defeated 16th-ranked Duke led by quarterback Sonny Jurgensen, 7–0. It was South Carolina's first win over Duke since 1930 and propelled the Gamecocks to a number-17 ranking.[12][14] South Carolina set the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) record for passing defense, allowing just 476 passing yards (47.6 per game), which still stands to date.[15] In 1957, South Carolina upset the then 20th-ranked Texas team that continued onto the Sugar Bowl, 27–21.[12][14] The Gamecocks finished with a 5–5 record.[14] In 1958, Giese's team recorded the only win over arch-rivalClemson during his tenure, 26–6.[12][14] Hawkins was named the ACC Player of the Year.[2] That season, the NCAA implemented the two-point conversion rule, and Giese enthusiastically adopted it as part of his game strategy. He calculated that two-point conversions were successful 40% of the time, while point-after-touchdown kicks succeeded 65% of the time. In 1959, South Carolina recorded 13 two-point conversions, setting a school record that still stands to date.[12]
That season, the NCAA loosened its rules regarding player substitutions, and Giese correctly predicted the future rise of a "third platoon", distinct from the offensive and defensive units of two-platoon football. Today the third platoon is known as the special teams.[1] In 1959, South Carolina was the only team to beat Georgia. The Gamecocks climbed to a number 11 ranking in mid-season and finished with a 6–4 record.[12][14] In 1960, Giese's team finished with a 3–6–1 record, and he was replaced by former assistant Marvin Bass.[12] After his relief as head coach, Giese remained the South Carolina director of athletics for an additional year. In 1962, he became a full-time professor and chairman of the Department of Physical Education.[12]
