Steve Spurrier

This article is about the American football coach and former player. For the British artist and painter, see Steven Spurrier; for the wine authority, see Steven Spurrier (wine authority).

Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier

No. 11
Position:	Quarterback
Career information
College:	Florida
NFL draft:	1967 / round: 1 / pick: 3
Career history
Playing career San Francisco 49ers (1967-1975) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1976) Coaching career Washington Redskins (2002-2003)
Career highlights and awards
Heisman Trophy winner (1966)
Record at Pro Football Reference
Stats at Pro Football Reference
College Football Hall of Fame

Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945 in Miami Beach, Florida) is a former American football player and currently the head coach of the University of South Carolina football team. He was a two-time All-American and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as a player. He is well known for winning the Heisman Trophy in 1966, and for coaching the University of Florida football team to six SEC championships in the decade from 1991–2000 including one National Championship in 1996.

Playing career

Spurrier was an exceptional, outstanding, and 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. A strong competitor, Steve played quarterback for the University of Florida, where he won the Heisman Trophy. Steve finished his playing career at Florida with 4,848 yards passing and 36 touchdowns. At UF, Spurrier was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame, the UF Athletic Hall of Fame, and Florida Blue Key. He is a brother of the Florida Alpha Omega Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

In 1967, Spurrier was drafted during the first round by the San Francisco 49ers. Spurrier spent nine years with the 49ers before playing his last NFL season in 1976 with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During his ten year career, Spurrier played in a total of 106 games, accumulating 597 completions, including 6,878 yards and 40 touchdowns, in 1,151 pass attempts.

Coaching career

Early career

After retiring from the NFL, Steve Spurrier began his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach at the University of Florida. After serving as assistant coach at Duke University and Georgia Tech, Spurrier received his first head coaching job with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League in 1983, where he compiled a record of 35-21. The team had significant success before the league dissolved after its third season. In 1987, Spurrier became head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. There he led the team to highs it had not reached in many years, including the ACC title in 1989. Coach Spurrier received the ACC Coach of the Year award in 1988 and 1989. For giving him his first college coaching stint, Spurrier always votes Duke as #25 in the Pre-Season Coaches Poll.

Florida Gators

On December 31, 1989, Spurrier accepted the head coaching job at the University of Florida, his alma mater. Known as the "Ol' Ball Coach" or "The Visor" (due to his preference for, and tendency to throw, his visor during games), Spurrier helped guide the team away from a period of scandal and captured the school's first ever Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship in 1991 (the 1990 team, while posting the best record in the SEC, was ineligible for the title due to probation for an NCAA violation (unrelated to recruiting) committed by previous coach Galen Hall). The Gators won the SEC Title in 4 of the next 5 years. The 1996 season saw the team capture its first ever National Championship with a 52-20 win over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, avenging the Gators' only loss that season (Florida State had beaten Florida 24-23 in the regular season). However, Spurrier's finest hour as a coach may have been the game in 1997 versus undefeated and national title game-bound Florida State. Using a QB-shuttle strategy that brought Doug Johnson and Noah Brindise in and out of the game – confusing the FSU defense and giving Spurrier an endless amount of counsel with both QBs without having to use time-outs – Florida upset the heavily-favored Seminoles 32-29.

Along with winning many games, Spurrier is also credited with changing the way the SEC played offense. Spurrier employed a pass centered offense in contrast to the grind-it-out, ball control, run-the ball-first offense that was traditionally found in the SEC. His offenses forced many in the conference to change their offensive and defensive playcalling. However, the SEC is still dominated by smashmouth, run-first football teams.

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

• Six SEC titles (1991, 1993-1996, 2000)
• 5-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 (Danny Wuerffel)
• 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.
• Spurrier's Gators appeared in the weekly polls 202 of a possible 203 weeks, including each of his last 202 consecutive weeks. From 1990-2001, the Gators were ranked number one in the polls 29 times, appeared in the top five for 117 weeks and among the nation's top 10 for 179 weeks.
• 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(.817) 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).

Under his leadership, the Gator offense became the only unit in modern collegiate history (since the NCAA started keeping stats in 1937) to score at least 500 points (including bowl games) for four straight years (1993-96). Yale also achieved that distinction from 1886-89 and Michigan from 1901-04.

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.

When signing with the University of Florida he insisted the artificial turf in the stadium be replaced with grass. The Swamp remains a grass stadium today.

Spurrier also became known for his gamesmanship while at UF, doing such things as giving the much-derided Georgia coach Ray Goff the nickname of "Ray Goof" and intentionally running up the score against not only lesser teams, but also conference rivals such as UGA and Kentucky. His rivalry with Tennessee and their coach Phillip Fulmer became highly publicized, as Spurrier would often tell the media after UF wins over the Vols that "you can't spell 'Citrus' without 'UT'", a reference to the Citrus Bowl, which second-place teams in the SEC would go to.

On January 4, 2002, Spurrier abruptly resigned his University of Florida coaching position stating, "I simply believe that 12 years as head coach at a major university in the SEC is long enough."

Before Spurrier's return to coach the Gamecocks against the Gators on 11 November 2006, his most recent visits to Gainesville were on September 2, 2006, to take part in the Gators' celebration of the 10-year anniversary of their 1996 championship season and on September 30, 2006, when he was one of the first four inductees into the Gator Football Ring of Honor, alongside Danny Wuerffel, Emmitt Smith, and Jack Youngblood. At both appearances, Spurrier received standing ovations from the crowd.

Spurrier is known to hold a deep love for his alma mater. In April 2007, after Florida beat Ohio State's teams in both the football and basketball national championship games, Spurrier was quoted as saying "We've kind of turned Ohio State into Runner-up U., haven't we?"[1] The royal "we" in this statement was partially in reference to the Gators' recent dominance of Ohio State, as well as South Carolina's back-to-back wins over Ohio State in the Outback Bowl in 2001 and 2002.

Washington Redskins

Ten days after Spurrier resigned his position at the University of Florida, Spurrier became 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.

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, including 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.

Another bright spot was in Week 4 of the 2003 season. Washington defeated the New England Patriots 20-17; it would be New England's last loss until Week 7 of the 2004 season. The Redskins went 5-11 in that season.

Spurrier's offensive line troubles resulted in quarterback Patrick Ramsey being one of the most sacked and hurried quarterbacks in the league. Spurrier would often bench him mid-game during a bad performance in favor of Danny Wuerffel or Shane Matthews, who both played under Spurrier at Florida. Both combined for 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 15 games played. (TD/INT Wuerffel 3-6 with 7 games, Matthews 11-6 with 8 games).

Spurrier's 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 the Redskins coach.

South Carolina Gamecocks

Throughout the 2004 football season, Spurrier openly discussed coaching for a college team in the Southeast. The University of Florida had announced that they would be looking for a new coach after Spurrier's successor at Florida, Ron Zook, was fired after three seasons, but after their athletic director, Jeremy Foley, said that Spurrier would have to go through the interview process like anyone else, Spurrier removed his name from consideration to coach the Gators. The president of the University of Florida, Bernie Machen, had a prior relationship with eventual Gator coach Urban Meyer when they were both at the University of Utah, and some speculate that Spurrier knew that Machen was set to pick Meyer regardless of Spurrier's decision. [2] Rumors began circulating that Spurrier was considering the University of South Carolina. On November 22, South Carolina coach Lou Holtz officially announced his retirement. In his speech, Holtz hinted that Spurrier would replace him. The next day, months of rumors were put to rest as Spurrier was introduced as South Carolina's new head coach.

In 2005, his first season at the helm, Spurrier led the South Carolina football program to several notable successes. The 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 South Carolina had not beaten since joining the SEC. Spurrier was named SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, but the Gamecocks lost their last two games to finish with a 7-5 record for the 2005 season.

Two days prior to South Carolina's 2006 season opener, Spurrier announced that he would kick off the athletics department's capital campaign with a $250,000 donation over five years. [3] He then followed with a 15-0 win over Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, a place where he was 0-2 while coaching the Florida Gators. With the victory, he reached 150 wins for his college coaching career. On September 30, Spurrier was inducted into the Gator Football Ring of Honor in a pre-game ceremony at Gainesville. Later in the season on November 11, Spurrier returned to "The Swamp" to face off against his former team, ranked #6 at the time. Trailing 17-16, the Gamecocks had a chance to win with a 48-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the game. However Ryan Succop's kick was blocked as time expired in a repeat of an earlier blocked extra-point attempt. In the final game of the regular season, Spurrier led the Gamecocks to victory over in-state rival Clemson at Death Valley. Trailing 28-14 in the 3rd quarter, South Carolina scored 17 unanswered points to lead 31-28. With 8 seconds left in the game, Clemson field goal attempt missed wide left as USC hung on for their first victory over Clemson in five years. On December 2, amid speculation he was a candidate for head coaching jobs at Miami or Alabama, Spurrier received a contract extension through 2012 and a raise from $1.25 million to $1.75 million annually. [4] Spurrier and the Gamecocks went on to defeat the Houston Cougars in the Liberty Bowl on December 29, to finish the season 8-5. All five losses were to ranked opponents. Spurrier became the first coach in USC Football history to take a South Carolina team to a Bowl game in his first 2 seasons as Head Coach and only the 3rd Coach with a Bowl victory at USC. Brad Scott (1995 Carquest Bowl), and Lou Holtz (2001 and 2002 Outback Bowl) are the only other coaches with Bowl victories at USC.

The 2007 football season, Spurrier's third season as the head coach of the Gamecocks got off to a quick start start winning at SEC rival Georgia early in the season as well as UL-Lafayette and South Carolina State, and climbed into the top 10 in the national rankings. South Carolina stumbled down the stretch dropping the final five games, including a home loss in the season finale to arch-rival Clemson. The 6-6 (3-5 SEC) season record marks the first non-winning season for Spurrier since his first season at Duke in 1987.

The Ladies Clinic

What has become a popular tradition started during the Sparky Woods era at USC, on the last Saturday of July the University of South Carolina athletics department hosts the annual Steve Spurrier Ladies Football Clinic at USC. Only female fans are invited to attend the clinic where both the football staff and players discuss the X's and O's to fans who want to understand the game further. The attendees get to ask the coaches and players questions and go through demonstrations in the morning session at the Colonial Center and a luncheon. All attendees get a tour of the football facilities and finish the day running onto the football field at Williams-Brice Stadium through the players tunnel into the artificial smoke and theme music to "Also sprach Zarathustra" the same way the football team does during the season. The event has been hosted by both Steve Spurrier and his wife Jerri Spurrier.

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Rank#
Duke Blue Devils (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1987–1989)
1987	Duke	5-6	2-5	7
1988	Duke	7-3-1	3-3-1	6
1989	Duke	8-4	6-1	1 (t)	All-American Bowl
Duke:		20-13-1	11-9-1
Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference) (1990–2001)
1990	Florida	9-2	6-1	1 (*)	Ineligible (*)	(*)	13
1991	Florida	10-2	7-0	1	Sugar Bowl	8	7
1992	Florida	9-4	6-2	1 - East (t)	Gator Bowl	11	10
1993	Florida	11-2	7-1	1 - East	Sugar Bowl	4	5
1994	Florida	10-2-1	7-1	1 - East	Sugar Bowl	7	7
1995	Florida	12-1	8-0	1 - East	Fiesta Bowl	3	2
1996	Florida	12-1	8-0	1 - East	Sugar Bowl	1	1
1997	Florida	10-2	6-2	2 - East	Citrus Bowl	6	4
1998	Florida	10-2	7-1	2 - East	Orange Bowl†	6	5
1999	Florida	9-4	7-1	1 - East	Citrus Bowl	14	12
2000	Florida	10-3	7-1	1 - East	Sugar Bowl†	11	10
2001	Florida	10-2	6-2	2 - East	Orange Bowl†	3	3
Florida:		122-27-1	82-12
South Carolina Gamecocks (Southeastern Conference) (2005–present)
2005	South Carolina	7-5	5-3	2 - East	Independence Bowl
2006	South Carolina	8-5	3-5	5 - East	Liberty Bowl
2007	South Carolina	6-6	3-5	4 - East
South Carolina:		21-16	11-13
Total:		163-56-2
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll.

• (*)The 1990 Florida team was on probation and ineligible to win the conference title, to be selected to a bowl, or to be selected in the coaches poll.

National Football League

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
WAS	2002	7	9	0	.438	3rd in NFC East	-	-	-	-
WAS	2003	5	11	0	.313	3rd in NFC East	-	-	-	-
Total		12	20	0	.375		-	-	-
Overall Total		12	20	0	.375	NFL Championships (0)

External links

• Official South Carolina Gamecocks bio