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Morris: Spurrier needs to stop criticism
Posted on 12.07.08
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Steve Spurrier can be mighty stubborn. Consider his refusal to remove struggling quarterback Chris Smelley during South Carolina’s loss at Clemson as evidence.
Yet even in the late stages of his illustrious coaching career, Spurrier has shown some propensity to change. He scrapped his pass-happy offense in 2006 to better suit the skills of running quarterback Syvelle Newton. He turned over his beloved play-calling to his son this season. He also stopped meddling with the defense, allowing coordinator Ellis Johnson freedom to run that unit.
Now, the time has come for another big change in Spurrier’s methods. His public chiding and condemnation of players has reached the point of diminishing returns. His comments no longer appear to be motivating in nature, but rather harmful.
For his benefit, and the benefit of his program, Spurrier should curtail making public his critical comments of players. Spurrier needs to take to heart the business methods of praising in public and criticizing in private.
Spurrier’s way does not appear to be working anymore. That comes to light because of the contrasting styles exhibited during USC’s humbling loss at Clemson one week ago. One team played with confidence and dealt well with adversity. The other played scared and crumbled when facing any obstacle. My guess is the teams reflected the approach of their coaches.
An important task for every football coach is to motivate his team while instilling confidence in his players. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney inherited a shattered team seven weeks earlier and went about restoring its confidence with constant praise for the attitude and work ethic of his players.
USC stumbled along this season with an ineffective offense whose weaknesses were exposed in humiliating fashion in losses to Florida and Clemson to close the regular season.
Following the Clemson loss at Memorial Stadium, Spurrier addressed the media in his usual manner. He was brutally honest. He did not dodge questions. He wore his feelings on his sleeve. It is part of Spurrier’s charm, and a strength over the years. Players, coaches and even the media know exactly where he is coming from when he speaks.
Unfortunately, that strength also can be a weakness, as it was in his postgame comments. He was kind in his remarks about Smelley, despite a performance that included four interceptions. Of Stephen Garcia, the target all season of his verbal jabs, Spurrier said the backup quarterback was not prepared to play.
Then came questions about reserve quarterback Tommy Beecher and starting tight end Jared Cook. While most coaches probably would have ducked the questions or said the decision to not play Beecher and to bench Cook for the second half were internal matters, Spurrier attacked the questions as if they were a Clemson fumble.
Spurrier said Beecher did not want to play, which came across as a damning indictment of the player’s character. Several times earlier in the season, Spurrier had said privately that Beecher lost his desire to play. Each time, Spurrier asked that his comments be kept private so as to save Beecher any embarrassment.
“I said he didn’t want to play,” Spurrier said this past week. “Is that criticism or is that the truth? Why is that criticism? They asked me a question, why didn’t you play him? I said, well, because he doesn’t want to play.”
Of Cook, Spurrier said after the game that maybe some of his players were more concerned about the upcoming NFL draft than playing hard for USC.
“Somebody asked me a question, I guess I answered it. I answered it honestly,” Spurrier said. “What else would you say for why Jared didn’t play in the second half? I’m not going to lie about it. Jared just didn’t appear that he was into the game; actually, he even told me the other day he wasn’t into it. I don’t know why.”
Spurrier said his public comments about players are critical only in regard to lack of effort. He said he would never comment that Smelley had a “sorry” performance, preferring to use the word “struggled” to describe an individual’s sub-par play.
“I try my best not to publicly criticize if he’s trying hard and he makes a mistake, misses a tackle, misses a pass, throws a bad ball,” Spurrier said. “You’ve got to have thick skin as a player. Our job as coaches is to praise and criticize. I believe a coach shouldn’t overly criticize a player if he is trying and made a mistake, missed the ball or missed a tackle or whatever.”
During his college coaching career at Duke, Florida and USC, Spurrier has a well-earned reputation of being hard on his quarterbacks, both privately and publicly. Spurrier said even 1996 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel occasionally was on the receiving end of his sharp tongue in public.
Blake Mitchell, USC’s starting quarterback for much of Spurrier’s first three seasons at USC, was the target of his coach’s occasional jabs. Now, more often than not, Garcia is Spurrier’s whipping boy. In a halftime interview on national TV while he was leaving the field at Florida, Spurrier poked fun at Garcia for not knowing more than one of USC’s plays.
Garcia said he knew what to expect from Spurrier when he signed to play at USC two years ago.
“It’s pretty tough,” Garcia said. “He’s been doing that his entire career. Some guys respond to it, some guys don’t. It’s just a matter of how the quarterback takes it. ... I wasn’t really used to it. My high school coach kind of chewed me out a little bit, but not near as much as coach Spurrier does. It’s pretty motivating sometimes, but it’s just a matter of how you take it.”
Apparently, players have not been taking the criticism well, because Garcia admitted some teammates were “scared to mess up” during games.
When that is true, then something is amiss in the message from a coach. It is possible that the player of today does not react as well to public criticism from coaches. There also is the belief that coaches should be judicious in any public criticism of amateur athletes.
Whatever the case, it appears Spurrier’s comments are having an adverse effect on his players and team. If so, then it is time to consider a new approach.
Spurrier is a bright man. He is a Hall of Fame coach. I’ve got to believe he is smart enough to realize his public comments need to be curbed, for his benefit and the benefit of his program.
Listen to Morris on Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
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