Change Spurrier believes in: Defense will be more solid with Hoke

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who turns 70 Monday, said he knew after this past season’s 7-6 record that he had to make changes or move on.

He wasn’t ready to move on.

“I didn’t come close to leaving,” Spurrier said. “I had some thoughts. … When you lose four out of five, and we had some issues, sometimes the thought hits you, ‘Is this what you want to do?’ And then you get your spirits back up when we won three of the (last) four (games). Your spirits really increase.”

So, he made some changes, the biggest of which was adding Jon Hoke to his staff as co-defensive coordinator.

“Now, my spirits have really increased with Jon Hoke here, I am telling you that right now,” Spurrier said. “Some things that we did defensively (last year) people in the stands have to say, ‘What in the hell are they doing?’

“And offensively I wish we could have done some things a lot better at the end of the games, but we didn’t. I’m not saying how close I was (to retiring), but when you’ve coached 30 years and your friends say, ‘Do you really need to stand over there and watch that?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t need to watch this so I either need to change it or I need to move on.’

“So I tried to change it, and I believe we have changed the organization on our defense.”

But Spurrier also defended his defensive staff this past season.

“The coaches did an excellent job the year before and the year before that,” he said. “As a coach, you can’t blame it all on the players. You have to say it starts with the head coach and goes through the coaches and on down the line. We didn’t do a very good job.

“I didn’t do a very good job. When you have two touchdowns run back by Vanderbilt, that is unbelievable, that is unbelievable, that is unbelievable. And then to watch Vanderbilt, we get a two-touchdown lead and they go score in about a minute, Vanderbilt.

“They made about 400 yards on us, Vanderbilt did last year. ‘Man, what are we doing,’ And we thought we were going to be decent. Our defense actually played pretty decent against us in scrimmages, and then all of a sudden, Vanderbilt is going up and down the field, Kentucky –whew. Anyway, it makes you stop and think a little bit. I couldn’t keep going on the path that we were going.”

Spurrier said adding Hoke gives more stability on the defensive side, “although Lorenzo (Ward) and those guys do a good job. And I was able to bring (Hoke) in without firing anybody. I hope all our coaches appreciate that. I think they have accepted the situation well. And away we go.”

Spurrier said he believes the USC defense will be solid this season.

“Offensively, I think we are solid there. So, hopefully, we can make a good run at them this year, a lot better run. You know, I told Dylan after the season, ‘Dylan, Connor Shaw played with a defense that gave up 20 points a game. You played with one that gave up 30 a game.’ That was the difference between 11-2 and 7-6.

“Now, we could have played a little better offensively at the end of those games, but overall, that (defense) was probably the biggest reason and difference in the record.

“I tell people, ‘It could have been worse, you know.’ We don’t need to sit around and say, ‘What if?’ We need to be thankful we had us another winning season and another bowl victory. And we are, we are thankful and appreciative. I have said a lot of, ‘Thank you Lords’ this past season for the 7-6 record.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Change Spurrier believes in: Defense will be more solid with Hoke."