There was no farewell tour.
Advertisement
The Gamecocks were 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the Southeastern Conference for the first time in Spurrier’s career.
Vanderbilt is a tough defensive team, also searching for its first SEC win.
January 2, 1997: Florida wins Spurrier’s only national title, avenging a Florida State loss on the final game of the regular season with a 52-20 win over the Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl. His work with that group has been cited as one of the key reasons behind the team’s stretch of three 11 win seasons from 2011 to 2013. The Gamecocks have struggled since however, going 7-6 past year.
The Gamecocks are now 2-4 on the season, their worst start since 1999, when they lost all of their games.
“And somehow or another, we’ve slid”. And it’s my fault.
“You can’t keep a head coach that has coached as long as I have when it’s heading in the wrong direction”, Spurrier said with his usual candor. It’s time for me to get out of the way. “So I just want to say thank you Coach for all you’ve done”.
A number of guesses have been thrown around regarding who the next head coach will be for the Gamecocks following Steve Spurrier’s resignation, but Shawn Elliott has no intention on being just a temporary fix. Many threw around words like coward and sore loser (I threw around words like senile, hateful, and arrogant). Using his Fun “N” Gun offense, Spurrier turned quarterbacks Danny Wuerffel, Shane Matthews, Doug Johnson and Rex Grossman into college-football stars. I will cherish the time we had sitting together while flying on an airplane over to Bristol, Conn., for the SEC Media Days. “I’m pulling for Shawn”.
Rumors about Spurrier’s retirement began in earnest after last season, but he downplayed them and said he was committed to staying on as coach.
“This time yesterday, I did not think I’d be standing here in front of you“, he said. Rather than make an announcement and coach out the end of the season as a few sort of farewell tour, Spurrier quit.
Monday night the news leaked that Spurrier was calling it quits, effective immediately, and now he explained his decision.
“I was probably the best for the job 11 years ago”, Spurrier said.
“That does not really tell the complete story of what coach Spurrier has meant to our University and to Gamecock Nation”, Pastides said.
Spurrier said this summer he planned to coach two or three more years, then extended that to four or five years when several recruits who had committed to South Carolina backed away before signing day in February.
Advertisement
Call it a graceful, yet surprising mid-season exit for South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier. Only 18 men have won more FBS games. He did hope to consult for a team one day, and promised players he’d still see them in the weight room and around town. “Your impact on me changed the trajectory of my life”. You risked missing something you might never see that dramatically clashed with the conservative nature of football back then.
