Steve Spurrier

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For the British artist and painter, see Steven Spurrier; for the wine authority, see Steven Spurrier (wine authority).

Steven Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945 in Miami Beach, Florida) is a former American football player and current head coach at the University of South Carolina, but is perhaps best known for his days coaching the University of Florida Gators football team to a multitude of SEC championships and a national championship.

Contents

1 Playing career
2 Coaching Jobs Before Florida
3 Florida Gators
4 NFL Flameout
5 South Carolina
6 \"Steve Superior\"
7 External links

Playing career

Spurrier was an exceptional multi-talented athlete in high school starring not only in football but also baseball and basketball at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee. An intense competitor, Steve played quarterback for the University of Florida and won the Heisman Trophy in 1966. At UF, Spurrier was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame, the UF Atheltic Hall of Fame, and Florida Blue Key. He was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. From 1967-1976, he played quarterback in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Coaching Jobs Before Florida

After retiring from the NFL, Steve Spurrier began his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach at the University of Florida. After further serving as assistant coach at Duke University and Georgia Tech, in 1983 Steve Spurrier was awarded his first head coaching job: the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League. The team had significant success before the league dissolved after its third season. In 1987, Coach Spurrier became head coach of the Duke football team. There he led the team to new heights, including a bowl appearance and an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship in 1989. For his success at Duke, Coach Spurrier received the ACC Coach of the Year award in 1988 and 1989.

Florida Gators

On December 31, 1989, Spurrier accepted the head coaching job at the University of Florida, his alma mater. The "Ol' Ball Coach" helped guide the team away from a period of scandal and captured the school's first ever Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship in 1990 (though it was not observed by the SEC because the Gators were on probation), and their first official SEC championship the following season. The 1996 season saw the team reach the pinnacle of the college football world and capture its first ever undisputed National Championship with a 52-20 win over rival Florida State in the Sugar Bowl. Along with winning many games, Spurrier is also credited with changing the way the SEC played offense. The Ol' Ball Coach's "Fun-n-Gun" offenses aired the ball out regularly; before Spurrier's reign at UF, the SEC was a grind-it-out, ball control, run-the ball-first league, and his offenses forced many in the conference to change their offensive and defensive playcalling ways.

Other memorable feats during Spurrier's tenure at the University of Florida 1990-2001 were:

Six SEC titles (1991, 1993-1996, 2000)
3-time SEC Coach of the Year
Became the first person to have both won a Heisman Trophy and to have coached a Heisman Trophy winner
Won at least nine games in each of his 12 seasons at Florida, one of only three coaches in major college history with that record.
Averaged 10 wins per season.
Ranked in the top 15 nationally in each of his 12 seasons at Florida, including nine Top 10 finishes, five Top 5s and an average final ranking of 6.8.
Appeared in a bowl game in each of his last 11 seasons, one of only five schools with that record.
Spurrier is the only major college coach to win as many as 120 games in his first 12 seasons at one school (122-27-1 at Florida from 1990-2001).
One of only two coaches in major college history to win 10 or more games in six consecutive seasons (1993-98).

Spurrier is also credited with creating the nickname "The Swamp" for Ben Hill Griffin Stadium the Gators' home field, when he said that "The Swamp" is a good name for their stadium because only gators come out alive.

NFL Flameout

After the 2001 season, Spurrier resigned his University of Florida coaching position to become head coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins. Spurrier's five-year, $25 million contract with the Redskins was the biggest coaching contract in the history of the league.

In his first NFL season he put up a respectable 7-9 mark for a first year head coach, much due to the presence of Defensive Coordinator Marvin Lewis. Marvin Lewis would depart after that season to become the Head Coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Redskins went 5-11 the next year, in a season that saw the complete deterioration of an offensive line that featured former Pro-Bowl Caliber players Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen and a drastically underachieving defense composed of players like LaVar Arrington, Jeremiah Trotter, Champ Bailey and Fred Smoot.

One of his biggest blunders during his brief NFL stay was his mishandling of Quarterback Patrick Ramsey. Spurrier's bad offensive line coaching resulted in Ramsey often finding himself on his back as he was one of the most sacked and hurried quarterbacks in the league. Despite several heroic performances by the young quarterback, he never received a full vote of confidence under Spurrier who would often bench him mid-game during a bad performance in favor of Danny Wuerrful in 2002 or Shane Matthews in 2003, who both played under Spurrier at Florida. Both combined for 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 15 games played. (TD/INT Wuerrful 3-6 with 7 games, Matthews 11-6 with 8 games). Spurrier would also bench him entirely after a bad performance, until usually being forced after a mediocre performance by one of his favored Florida back-ups.

Many observers saw that Spurrier was overwhelmed with the complexity of the NFL, and didn't really want to put in the extra effort required to win in the pro game. His practices were lazy and unorganized, and players could often be seen sleeping in team meetings. He had trouble coaching individual positions, and his assistants were for the most part ineffective as well.

When Marvin Lewis departed, the already underachieving defense suffered tremendously under his replacement George Edwards who had been the linebackers coach under Lewis the year before. The defense created a modest amount of pressure and interceptions, but gave up 4.4 yards a carry and blew several leads during the season, incuding a 23-10 lead against the Miami Dolphins in week 12 and a 13-7 late 3rd quarter lead against Tampa Bay in week 6 that resulted in a 35-13 blowout.

One bright spot on his staff was his son, Steve Spurrier, Jr., who helped Wide Receivers Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner reach their finest seasons so far in the NFL, including Coles' only Pro Bowl appearance to date. He is currently the wide receivers coach under Pete Carroll at USC.

Spurriers last game as a NFL Head Coach was a 31-7 blowout at the hands of the Eagles. In their last three games, The Redskins were outscored 85-31 including a 27-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

On December 30, 2003, Spurrier resigned as Head Coach of the Washington Redskins.

South Carolina

Throughout the 2004 season, Spurrier openly discussed coaching for a team in the southeast in the 2005 college football season. After removing his name from consideration to coach the Gators, rumors flew that Spurrier was considering coaching at either the University of South Carolina or the University of North Carolina. On November 22, South Carolina coach Lou Holtz officially announced his retirement. In his speech, Holtz hinted that Spurrier, Holtz's friend, would replace him and, indeed, months of rumor were put to rest as Spurrier was announced to be South Carolina's new head coach on November 23. Spurrier has been highly criticized by Gator fans for this move, seen as a form of treachery. In his first season at the helm, Spurrier led the Gamecock football program to several notable successes. The 2005 Gamecocks, which were not expected to have a winning season by most pundits, rattled off a five game SEC winning streak for the first time in school history. Included among those victories were historic wins at Tennessee (16-15) -- the program's first win in Knoxville -- and against then 12th-ranked Florida (30-22), which the Gamecocks had not beaten since joining the SEC. Following a regular season loss to archrival Clemson (13-9), Spurrier was named SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press. He led the 7-4 Gamecocks against Missouri in the Independence Bowl, where South Carolina lost to the Tigers, 38-31.

\"Steve Superior\"

Spurrier is both loved and hated for his wry, witty vocal commentary. Among his famous verbal jabs:

Insulted Florida State University as "Free Shoes University" (after a shoe store gave Florida State players free shoes) .
Questioned the abilities of Head Coach Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee ("You can't spell Citrus without UT") and former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning ("I know why Peyton came back for his senior year, he wanted to be a three-time Citrus Bowl MVP"), in reference to the Citrus Bowl being the designated bowl for the second-choice team from the SEC.
Poked fun at a fire that burned 20 books at an Auburn University football dorm, saying "But the real tragedy was that fifteen hadn't been colored yet!"
Often referred to Georgia Head Coach Ray Goff as "Ray Goof".
Imitated Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers, sticking his finger into a camera and saying "How y'all like my Kenny Rogers impression?"
Responded to a question of "Coach, how did we beat Tennessee this year?" at a South Carolina alumni meeting with "The same way Vanderbilt did."

External links

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