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Spurrier renews resolve to win SEC
USC coach says he has no plans to give up without leading Gamecocks to Atlanta
File photograph/The State
Written by JOSEPH PERSON
jperson@thestate.com
Posted on 11.20.08
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survey:
When he arrived at South Carolina four years ago, Steve Spurrier borrowed a line from the Boston Red Sox when he asked at his introductory news conference, “Why not us?”
After four seasons without an appearance in the SEC championship game, Spurrier has an answer to his question about why the Gamecocks have fallen short:
“We’ve got to have a great quarterback, a top-notch running back, offensive line. We’re just not quite there yet. But we’re getting close.”
Close enough that the 63-year-old Spurrier is not ready to shelve his Gamecocks visors and retire to his home in Crescent Beach, Fla., despite a report on a college football Web site this week to the contrary.
Spurrier has four years remaining on his contract but will collect $1 million in retirement funds if he stays at USC for three more years, through the 2011 season. First-year defensive coordinator and assistant head coach Ellis Johnson also is signed through the ’11 season.
Though the Gamecocks have not had a winning conference record since 2005 in Spurrier’s first season, the coach remains hopeful the Gamecocks can win the East and make it to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in the near future.
“I really think we can put it all together. I’m not saying we’re going to win two or three years in a row. But we’re hoping for that one special year that we can put it together,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got to get a top-notch quarterback ready to perform. I don’t know if we’ve got one.”
Other than Spurrier’s first season, when Blake Mitchell started 11 of 12 games, the quarterback position has been unsettled under Spurrier. The former Florida coach took the unusual, though not unprecedented, approach of alternating Chris Smelley and Stephen Garcia nearly every play the past two weeks against Arkansas and Florida.
But Spurrier plans to go with one quarterback at Clemson next week and has hinted that Smelley will be the choice.
Smelley, a redshirt sophomore from Tuscaloosa, Ala., is 9-5 as a starter the past two seasons. Though Smelley lacks the arm strength that Garcia possesses, he has a stronger grasp of the offense.
Spurrier suggested Tuesday that Garcia might push him into early retirement. And while he was joking, Spurrier wants to see more commitment from the player who arrived at USC two years ago as Spurrier’s highest-rated quarterback recruit.
“I certainly think everything he missed the last two years has been harmful to his development,” Spurrier said. “He’s got a lot of training to do and learning to do if he’s going to be an accomplished player.”
In the meantime, Spurrier can expect to hear more rumors about his future with the Gamecocks. As a coach in his 60s, Spurrier understands that is part of the deal, recalling Wednesday how former Auburn coach Terry Bowden used to warn recruits about signing with Florida State.
“He used to tell recruits that you better not consider FSU. Said, ‘I don’t think my old man’s going to be there much longer,’ ” Spurrier said. “And Bobby Bowden used to say, ‘You can tell Terry I’ll be here when he’s long gone from Auburn.’ And he was right. Then he outlasted even Tommy at Clemson.”
Spurrier has not laid out a specific time frame for his retirement, other than to say he does not plan to coach into his 70s.
“We still have hope that we can put it together,” said Spurrier, who is 28-20 at USC. “If we can get this going, I’m hoping somewhere a spark’s going to happen real soon. Just got to keep grinding away with it.”
Jerri Spurrier, the coach’s wife, was more emphatic.
“We came here for a reason,” she said, “and we’re not leaving until it’s done.”
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.
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