Steve Spurrier says he resigned as the most successful coach in South Carolina history because he is not delivering the success required – and expected – of him.
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“First of all, I’m resigning”.
December. 31, 1989: Spurrier’s alma mater Florida hires him as head coach. He built a career looking to the future, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he saw his own and got out ahead of it one last time. He is one of four men to record 100 or more wins as an SEC coach against SEC competition, joining Bear Bryant, John Vaught and Vince Dooley. “With a new coach here, I think recruiting will pick up”. “Not sure the change is what they’ve needed but the change is what they’ve got”.
As for the somewhat odd timing of his retirement, Spurrier said he isn’t one to drag things out.
“When something is inevitable, let’s do it right now”.
“And somehow or another, we’ve slid”. “And it’s time for me to sort of get out of the way, and let somebody else have a go at it”.
Offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator Shawn Elliott was named interim coach.
“I was the best coach for this job 11 years ago, but I’m not today”, he said. “And I think we’ll all be proud of the way our guys play out there Saturday”. He also said he was a recruiting liability.
“I find that that doesn’t work a lot”, Spurrier said.
“If the players know you aren’t going to be their coach, you just don’t have the accountability”, Spurrier said of considering staying on through the end of the year.
Interim head coach Shawn Elliott said his job was to help the team move forward.
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. “I didn’t plan on going out this way”.
South Carolina’s inconsistency on offense this season has surely frustrated Spurrier, a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at Florida who played for San Francisco and Tampa Bay in the NFL.
Pastides said it was hard to imagine that the end of the Spurrier era at the university had arrived and listed Spurrier’s professional accomplishments.
“Some might question the timing, but if it’s flawless timing for Steve Spurrier, it’s ideal timing for us”, athletic director Ray Tanner said.
Dantonio went to South Carolina so people will ask if he would be interested.
The announcement came after reports from several media outlets said Spurrier was ready to hang it up after 11 seasons with the team. “I don’t know if I’ll be a head coach again, maybe a high school team somewhere”.
The Gamecocks were 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the Southeastern Conference for the first time in Spurrier’s career.
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Spurrier, who was 35-21 with the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits from 1983-85, started his college head coaching career at Duke.
