Steve Spurrier on Finebaum: ‘My give a dang was gone’
Steve Spurrier spent the afternoon of his 71st birthday chatting with Paul Finebaum.
The winningest coach in South Carolina football history, who resigned midway through the 2015 season, was in studio for Finebaum’s SEC Network call-in show for two hours. The former HBC answered questions ranging from his decision to leave the Gamecocks to what he might do next.
Spurrier, who was 86-49 at South Carolina, reiterated that he made the decision to leave at halftime of the Central Florida game and hoped at the time to be able to finish the season. He eventually retired on Oct. 13 – after six games.
“My give a dang was gone, my zest for the game …” he said. “It wasn’t working. I wish I could have lasted the season, but I wish I had retired, resigned, quit after the Miami game (to end the 2014 season), but I didn’t do that. I came close to it, but thought we were OK. I thought we were making a comeback. I thought I had two or three more years in me, and then, ‘Bam.’ ”
Spurrier would like to have something to do this fall, he told Finebaum, but is unsure what it might be.
“I really don’t know what I want to do,” he said. “I am sort of looking around here and there. Something will come up. I want to do something. I don’t want to be completely retired, but I’m not sure what I want to do.”
Other highlights from the two-hour segment, which included Spurrier taking questions from callers:
▪ Spurrier said he was wrong when he called an impromptu news conference in the summer of 2015 to blasts critics.
At the time he said, “Don’t believe our enemies.” Wednesday he said, “I’m not always right.”
▪ Spurrier believes his successor at South Carolina has at least a medium road ahead of him.
“I really like what Will Muschamp has done,” he said. “They are going to be competitive. Now, they are going to have to build it up some.”
▪ Spurrier regrets leaving Florida after his 12 seasons there, he told Finebaum. He was 122-27 with one national title with the Gators before leaving to take the Washington Redskins coaching job.
“My thinking was, ‘I think I want to coach in the NFL. Go coach five or six years there and then retire, quit, maybe play golf, travel,’” Spurrier said. “It wasn’t a good idea, but it’s what I was thinking back then.”
▪ Spurrier started wearing his trademark visor “because no one else was,” he said.
“I have always thought doing things a little different would help a person be successful,” Spurrier said.
He pointed out that golfer Bryson DeChambeau, who turned pro at last week’s RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, is wearing a newsboy cap.
“That kid’s different, and he’s special,” Spurrier said.
▪ Spurrier credited his 10-year NFL playing career to the fact that he was a backup quarterback for most of it.
“If you don’t play, they still think you’re pretty good, so that may have helped me,” he said.
When Spurrier was drafted third overall by the San Francisco 49ers in 1967, the team told him they planned for starter John Brodie to keep the job for another five to six years before Spurrier took over.
“So my give a dang there was not real high in getting ready to play,” he said. “I lived the life pretty much of a backup quarterback.”
▪ Spurrier expects his book, a collaboration with author Buddy Martin, to be available in June.
“It’s a little bit more work than you think it is,” Spurrier said.
▪ Spurrier called Georgia and LSU the best coaching jobs in the SEC.
“Of course, Nick Saban has made Alabama the best one right now,” he said.
Spurrier could have had the Crimson Tide’s job before Saban took it. After Saban turned down Alabama the first time, Crimson Tide athletics director Mal Moore called Spurrier to inquire about his interest. Spurrier had just finished his first year at South Carolina.
“I told him, ‘Nah, I am committed to these guys. This is where I’m going to finish up,’ ” Spurrier said. “I told him, ‘You don’t want me there. I’m not going to come there, but hang with coach Saban. Go back to him. I think he’d rather be at Alabama than at Miami.’ ”
Spurrier interviewed for the LSU job in 1987, but the job went to Mike Archer.
This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Steve Spurrier on Finebaum: ‘My give a dang was gone’."