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Morris: Spurrier goes in a new direction

SEC Media Days Football

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier talks about the upcoming season during the Southeastern Conference football Media Days in Hoover, Ala. on Friday, July 24, 2009.

Butch Dill /ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 07.26.09
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HOOVER, Ala.

The question swirling around Steve Spurrier at last week’s SEC Media Days was not so much about his voting record as it was about his future as South Carolina’s football coach.

Has the frustration of attempting to overcome USC’s century of mediocrity finally overcome Spurrier? Will that frustration cause Spurrier to retire and concede it cannot be done at a place which has only one championship trophy?

Spurrier admits to being disappointed that, as he enters his fifth season at USC, his program is still not in position to challenge for a SEC championship. He admits to being discouraged at times by not being able to get the most out of himself, his coaching staff and his players over four seasons.

Yet none of that appears to weigh on Spurrier as much as his own pride, or ego, if you will.

Looking ahead, Spurrier could throw up his arms and quit after another season or two of so-so success and still be known as one of the great coaches in college football history. The legacy he built at Florida and Duke will stand on its own merit.

Or, Spurrier could stick around four or five more years and win a title at USC. Then he would go down in the annals as one of the greatest coaches in college football history.He would be remembered not only for winning titles at Florida and Duke, but for accomplishing the unthinkable by uncorking championship champagne at USC for the first time since the Gamecocks won the 1969 ACC title.

That tiny difference between “great” and “greatest” drives Spurrier.

The problem with judging Spurrier at USC is the expectations that came with his hiring. Everyone expected success to come quickly. When USC achieved some success in his first season, expectations were elevated further.

“It’s all relative to the team you’re able to build,” Spurrier said last week. “When we first got here, the talent probably was middle of the conference or so, and we thought we had a pretty good recruiting class. It turned out we didn’t.”

A 5-3 league record landed USC in a tie for second place in the SEC East, and USC’s fan base believed the Gamecocks were in position to challenge for SEC championships every season. They have not done so since, as Spurrier’s 15-17 SEC record at USC attests.

“We just couldn’t put a team together,” Spurrier said. “It just hasn’t happened. The coaching staff, the whole thing. I haven’t done a great job. I don’t know about a lousy job. Twenty-eight wins are still tied for the most (at USC in four seasons), but it’s not anything super. We’re just a little above mediocre right now.”

While Spurrier’s 28 wins rank seventh-best among USC’s all-time coaches, his 22 losses are within five of his total over 12 seasons at Florida. Those numbers are part of the reason Spurrier has come to recognize that winning at USC is much more of a challenge than he faced at either of his previous two college coaching stops.

Spurrier used to poke fun at coaches who claimed they needed five years to rebuild a program. That was before he coached at USC, where it is not a matter of rebuilding, it is about construction.

“We haven’t put the team together that is capable of contending for a championship,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. It’s always disappointing when you lose, but that’s just the way it is.”

Losing can also be discouraging, particularly for a coach who has won 73 percent of his games in 19 seasons at the college level.

“Discouraged in how I coached or in how we coached and how the players performed,” Spurrier said. “We have not performed the way champions need to perform. I think we all understand that.”

To Spurrier’s credit, he has displayed a willingness to adapt and change. He recognized a year ago that his coaching staff needed an overhaul and he brought in five new faces.

A season after he turned the bulk of play-calling duties over to his son, Steve Jr., Spurrier conceded that quarterback Stephen Garcia needed different tutelage from his. G.A. Mangus was hired specifically to coach Garcia, whose success this season probably will relate directly to any that USC finds.

For Spurrier, those kinds of changes are not to be taken lightly. This is a coach who once chided others in his profession for playing the role of administrator over their programs.

But that is where Spurrier is in his career. For USC to be a champion, he needs to turn more of the coaching duties over to his assistants. For USC to be a champion, he needs to be more of an administrator.

“A new direction,” Spurrier said. “That ought to be the title of your story. This is a new direction.”

A new direction was needed for Spurrier to win championships at USC, and winning titles at USC is going to be the difference between him being regarded as a great college coach or among the greatest college coaches. It is what drives him.

Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM

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