Steve Spurrier
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- For the British artist and painter, see Steven Spurrier; for the wine authority, see Steven Spurrier (wine authority).
| Steve Spurrier | |
|---|---|
 Steve Spurrier as a player featured on Sports Illustrated |
|
| Date of birth | April 20, 1945 |
| Place of birth | Miami Beach, Florida |
| Position(s) | Quarterback Head Coach |
| College | Florida |
| Awards | 1966 Heisman Trophy |
| Career Record | 12-20 |
| Playing Stats | Pro Football Reference |
| Playing Stats | DatabaseFootball |
| Coaching Stats | Pro Football Reference |
| Coaching Stats | DatabaseFootball |
| Team(s) as a player | |
| 1967-1975 1976 |
San Francisco 49ers Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| Team(s) as a coach/administrator | |
| 1987-1989 1990-2001 2002-2003 2005-Present |
Duke Florida Washington Redskins South Carolina |
Steven 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 best 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.
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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 Athletic 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, where he earned the dubious distinction of being the Quarterback for the 1976 Buccaneers squad, the last team in NFL history to go through an entire season and lose every game (0-14).
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 heights it had not reached since the 1950s, 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 1991 (the 1990 team, while posting the best record in the SEC, was ineligible for the title due to probation). The Gators won the SEC Title in 4 of the next 5 years. The 1996 season saw the team reach the pinnacle of the college football world and capture its first ever National Championship with a 52-20 win over rival Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, avenging the Gators' only loss that season (Florida State had beaten Florida 24-21 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.
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.
- 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.
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."[1]
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.[2] [3]
NFL Coaching
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, partially 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.
When Marvin Lewis departed, the already underachieving defense suffered tremendously under his replacement George Edwards who had previously been Lewis' linebackers coach 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, 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 Englands last loss until Week 7 of the 2004 season.
The Redskins went 5-11 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 offensive line troubles 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 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 would also bench him entirely after a bad performance, until usually being forced to re-insert Ramsey after a mediocre performance by one of his favored Florida back-ups.
Many observers thought that Spurrier was overwhelmed with the complexity of the NFL and didn't wish 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 mostly ineffective. However, in fairness, discipline is more difficult to achieve in the NFL, and Spurrier may have eventually realized that his style is better suited at the college level.
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. Rumors began to fly 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, and months of rumors were put to rest as Spurrier was introduced as 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. However, 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. [1]
In his first season at the helm, Spurrier led the South Carolina 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, Tennessee -- 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.
On August 29, 2006, Spurrier announced that he would kick off the South Carolina athletics department's capital campaign with a $250,000 donation over five years. [2]
On August 31, 2006, Spurrier started his second season at South Carolina with a 15-0 win over Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, a place where he was 0-2 while coaching the Florida Gators. With this victory, he reached 150 wins for his college coaching career.
On November 11, 2006, Spurrier made his return to "The Swamp" to face off against his former team, the 6th ranked Florida Gators. Spurrier's Gamecocks were defeated by a score of 17-16. After having an extra point blocked, Gamecock kicker Ryan Succop had a chance to win the game for South Carolina. Instead, however, the 48-yard attempt was blocked again as time expired. South Carolina record fell to 5-5 on the year and finished 5th in the SEC East. Notably, however, the smaller, less talented South Carolina outgained the University of Florida in total yards and also had more first downs.
On November 25, 2006, Spurrier led the Gamecocks to victory over Clemson at Death Valley. South Carolina had to come back from being down 28 to 14 in the 3rd quarter. South Carolina went ahead 31 to 28 and withstood a Clemson field goal attempt with 8 seconds left in the game, the kick was wide left by 3 feet. This was USC's first victory against Clemson in five years.
On December 2, 2006, Spurrier received a contract extension through 2012 and received a raise that increased his annual salary from $1.25 million to $1.75 million. Spurrier said he hoped the new deal would end speculation that he was interested in the head coaching jobs at the University of Miami or the University of Alabama.[3]
References
- ^ http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2002/0104/1305688.html
- ^ http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=2&url_article_id=7624&change_well_id=2
- ^ http://www.secsports.com/index.php?url_channel_id=2&url_article_id=7749&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2#3
| Preceded by: Mike Garrett |
Heisman Trophy Winner 1966 |
Succeeded by: Gary Beban |
| Preceded by: John Brodie |
San Francisco 49ers Starting Quarterback 1974-1975 |
Succeeded by: Jim Plunkett |
| Preceded by: Steve Sloan |
Duke University Head Football Coach 1987–1989 |
Succeeded by: Barry Wilson |
| Preceded by: Gary Darnell |
University of Florida Head Football Coach 1990–2001 |
Succeeded by: Ron Zook |
| Preceded by: Marty Schottenheimer |
Washington Redskins Head Coach 2002–2003 |
Succeeded by: Joe Gibbs |
| Preceded by: Lou Holtz |
University of South Carolina Head Football Coach 2005– |
Succeeded by: Current |
| Duke Blue Devils Head Football Coaches |
|---|
| Crowell • Egan • Baldwin • Steiner • Alexander • Jones • Herron • DeHart • Wade • Cameron • Wade • Murray • Harp • McGee • Wilson • Sloan • Spurrier • Wilson • Goldsmith • Franks • Roof |
| Florida Gators Head Football Coaches |
|---|
| Forsythe • G.E. Pyle • McCoy • Busser • Kline • Vanfleet • Sebring • Bachman • Stanley • Cody • Lieb • Wolf • Woodruff • Graves • Dickey • Pell • Hall • Darnell • Spurrier • Zook • Strong • Meyer |
| Washington Redskins/Boston Braves Head Coaches |
|---|
| Wray • Dietz • Casey • Flaherty • Bergman • DeGroot • Edwards • Whelchel • Ball • Todd • Lambeau • Kuharich • Nixon • McPeak • Graham • Lombardi • Austin • Allen • Pardee • Gibbs • Petitbon • Turner • Robiskie • Schottenheimer • Spurrier • Gibbs |
| South Carolina Gamecocks Head Football Coaches |
|---|
| W. A. Whaley • W.P. Murphy • W. Wertenbaker • I. O. Hunt • B. W. Dickson • C. R. Williams • Benet • McKay • Neff • N. B. Edgerton • Warren • Foster • Dobson • Metzger • Bocock • Lightsey • Laval • McCallister • Enright • J. P. Moran • Newton • McMillan • Giese • Bass • Dietzel • Carlen • Bell • Morrison • Woods • Scott • Holtz • Spurrier |
| Florida Gators Quarterbacks |
|---|
| Bell • Berlin • Brindise • Dean • Dickey • Douglas • Dunn • Gaffney • Gailey • Grossman • Johnson • Leak • Libertore • Martin • Matthews • Palmer • Peace • Reaves • Shannon • Spurrier • Sullivan • Tebow • Wuerffel |
| Current Head Football Coaches of the Southeastern Conference |
|
Rich Brooks (Kentucky) | Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State) | Phillip Fulmer (Tennessee) | Bobby Johnson (Vanderbilt) | Urban Meyer (Florida) | Les Miles (LSU) | Houston Nutt (Arkansas) | Ed Orgeron (Ole Miss) | Mark Richt (Georgia) | Mike Shula (Alabama) | Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) | Tommy Tuberville (Auburn) |
Categories: Semi-protected | 1945 births | Duke Blue Devils football coaches | Florida Gators football coaches | Florida Gators football players | Gator Football Ring of Honor | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches | Heisman Trophy winners | Living people | San Francisco 49ers players | South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches | Tampa Bay Buccaneers players | United States Football League coaches | Washington Redskins coaches
