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Spurrier Happy In Outback, But He's Not Content

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2008

TAMPA - "We felt very fortunate to get invited to the Outback."

I never thought I'd hear the man who said that Thursday say that.

Not that he doesn't love the Outback Bowl or the guys who run it. This bowl treats you right. And not that he doesn't love Tampa. From his Bucs and Bandits days, it holds a special place in his heart.

But during all those incredible juggernaut years at Florida, the Outback Bowl was never a real point of interest for Steve Spurrier.

It's different now.

It's never a bad thing when he comes to town - never. He remains an icon. I'll never call him just another ball coach. But four seasons after Spurrier's arrival, South Carolina is just another football program, happy as a clam that a 7-5 season has been rewarded with a Jan. 1 date with Iowa.

Remember the days when Spurrier could hardly bear the idea of even the Citrus Bowl? Remember when the Spur Dog's domination got other coaches fired? Now he helps get them hired. Dabo Swinney just went from interim to permanent Clemson coach the day after he beat Spurrier.

He's the man who set the standard at Florida and for the new SEC. Nothing will ever change that, not even another national title for Urban Meyer.

Maybe he has lost some swagger. But in many ways he's the same Spurrier, forever youthful, playful with the media, as he was at Thursday's Outback contract signing party.

But it's been a long time since he had a Wow season.

"We had an above-average year," Spurrier said. "We won every game but one that we were favored to win. We lost every game we weren't favored in. We were about what we were supposed to be."

It's different now.

The Gamecocks have some big wins in Spurrier's four seasons, including beating Florida in his first season. UF has put 107 points on Carolina the last two seasons. It's taking longer than he expected.

"Well, a little bit. We've experienced some of the things that former coaches have experienced there. But generally it comes down to ballplayers ...

"Sometimes, everything is relative. Every now and again I'll read that 28 wins in the first four years is more than any coach has done there. We're not doing terrible, but we're not really tearing them up, either. We're not content. We've got some work to do."

Will it ever happen in Columbia?

Spurrier grinned.

"Oh, yeah, I really believe if we get Tebow to go pro. We got Dan Mullen out of there. Get Charlie Strong a job somewhere, get Percy Harvin to go pro, then maybe some year we could catch it right."

South Carolina has played football for 114 seasons and been to only 14 bowls. Spurrier has taken them to three - Independence, Liberty, Outback. It's not Sugar, Orange, Fiesta. It's not an SEC title game or a national title game.

"Hopefully someday we're going to have a team that really can compete," Spurrier said. "We thought two years ago we might have a chance to be competitive, but it didn't turn out that way. So we're trying to be more realistic to where we are."

Then he left to sign that Outback contract, happily.

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