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Spurrier Seeking Another Level

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By MICK ELLIOTT The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 26, 2008

HOOVER, Ala. - Jabs that once drove opponents toward rage are fewer and without nearly as much sting. Quips guaranteed to poke needles into rivals' thin skin now are mostly self-effacing.

Can this be real? Steve Spurrier left as just another coach fighting to keep up?

For sure, the legend hasn't recorded much growth lately. Since returning to college football four years ago to take over the South Carolina Gamecocks, the ol' ball coach - he is 63 now - has learned more about humility than ever seemed possible.

Maybe it was too much to ask that South Carolina - a perennial also-ran since joining the SEC in 1992 - make a quick step to even footing with Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Except Spurrier's reputation and track record, first at Duke and then at Florida, suggested differently.

Only thing: After three seasons, South Carolina, albeit greatly improved, remains in the same place it started - battling Kentucky to be first up after the SEC Eastern Division's Big Three.

"No, I knew it would be difficult," Spurrier said Friday at the conclusion of SEC preseason media days. "If it was easy, it wouldn't be that much fun to try to do it. If it was easy, all them other coaches would have been winning at South Carolina. So we know it's not easy.

"It's one of the ultimate challenges. But what's sort of neat is our facilities are pretty close to the other schools, and we need to have one or two big years. We need to win the division somewhere along the way. That's the next step, or else, if that doesn't happen in about five years, then probably somebody else needs to try to do it."

No one seems to be grumbling yet. In three years under Spurrier, the Gamecocks are 21-16 and have averaged one stunning upset a year, getting Tennessee in his first season, Florida in 2006 and Georgia last year.

"He hasn't lost it at all," senior All-America wide receiver candidate Kenny McKinley said. "When he was at Florida, teams had just started passing like that. Coach Spurrier is a very smart man. He knows how it's done. The first couple of years here, he just didn't have the talent. Now I feel like we can compete with anybody."

The Gamecocks started last year like it was time to prove it. They were 6-1 and ranked No. 6 in the nation. That, however, was as good as it got. The next week they were upset by Vanderbilt and finished with a five-game skid.

"Last year was a disappointing ending; 6-6 is mediocrity at its best, and that's where we finished," Spurrier said. "Couple of heartbreaking losses at Tennessee, Clemson that would have changed things around, but we didn't quite win 'em. Didn't make a play there at the end of the game.

"Huge difference between 8-4 and 6-6. But maybe it was good for us in a way, because as a head coach, I got to look and say, 'Hey, how can we get better?'"

The first step was bringing in some new assistants, including defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, hired from Mississippi State. Also, Spurrier plans to hand over play-calling duties, putting the young ball coach, Steve Spurrier Jr., in his 10th season on dad's staff, in charge of the offensive game plan.

"I think Steve's a good coach," Spurrier said of his son. "He's been watching me call plays. He's been calling 'em also. He's been up top watching. Nowadays it's a little different than the early '90s. ...

"Nowadays, guys are going in motion, shifts and all that, which you have to do. To get it all on paper and so forth, it takes a lot of time during the week. The guy who's the principal play-caller, I mean, he's got to be going through his mind all week long right up to game time. So, anyway, I just felt like he's ready to do the principal play-caller. And then I'll still have the sheets ready to insert."

Then, Spurrier believes, it's just a matter of expecting success.

"We're not that far away from being a pretty good team," he said. "When you see South Carolina run out on the field for warm-ups, you're going to say, 'Those guys look like an SEC team now.' We've improved our personnel.

"We've got ball players. We absolutely have no excuses about ball players. We need to coach better, and they got to play like good players. If we get that happening, maybe those close losses will turn into victories, 'cause to win the conference everybody has to win their close games."

He may not be done just yet.

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534 or melliott@tampatrib.com.

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