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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina track coach Curtis Frye has brought in a former Clemson coach as a Gamecocks assistant.

South Carolina said Monday that ex-Tigers head coach Ron Garner will join the track and field staff. Garner was Clemson's head track coach from 1998-99, winning an Atlantic Coast Conference title and earning the league's coach of the year.

Garner has also worked at Virginia, James Madison, Illinois and Christopher Newport.

Garner says he is happy to join South Carolina and feels the program is close in talent-level to the group that won the 2002 women's NCAA track title.

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