The decks were cleared for his team’s January 1st bowl game and University of South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier looked a head to a final team meeting, a bite to eat and a good night’s sleep.
Back in his hotel room, all tasks completed, Spurrier turned on the television midway through the Chick-fil-A Bowl and planned to watch it for a while, just to see how two teams he played earlier in the season were going to fare against each other.
“Man, what a game that was, huh?” Spurrier said in a phone interview from his second home in Crescent Beach, Fla. “I wasn’t planning to stay up and watch the whole thing, I wanted to get some rest for our game the next day, but the more I watched, I felt like I couldn’t turn it off.”
Spurrier coached South Carolina to a record-tying fourth consecutive victory over in-state rival Clemson, but lost a close game at LSU earlier in the season, so he had added incentive to see how that game played out.
The Tigers impressed him.
“Tremendous play from that defense, especially up front,” Spurrier said of the unit that sacked LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger six times. “I think they had eight 3-and-outs against those guys.
“The other thing that jumped out,” he said, “was that guy (DeAndre) Hopkins. I don’t have any question in my mind, Hopkins is the best wide receiver in the nation, bar none. You just don’t see many guys who can get down the field like he can, go up and take the ball away in a crowd like he can. He’s the best, he’ll be a first round draft choice in a couple months.”
You know it’s the end of a good season for any coach of a major college football program to toss around bouquets like those to his in-state rival, and if part it seems mischievous to encourage Hopkins to forgo his senior season, it is a view shared by NFL scouts. Hopkins will be one of the most sought-after receivers if he enters his name in the draft.
Beyond that, though, Spurrier has taken time at his vacation home to put his feet up, allow the world to pass by and consider where he’s been and where he wants to go.
He loves reminiscing about the past as most folks who follow him at all are well aware. He loves to talk about those days at Duke and winning the Atlantic Coast Conference, how he successfully introduced an open passing game to the Southeastern Conference and used it as a springboard to six SEC and one national championship.
Normally, he spends less time thinking about the unsuccessful two years he spent coaching the Washington Redskins (12-20), but now, after back-to-back 11-win seasons and a streak of dominance against the rival, Spurrier is putting the NFL experience in a new perspective.
“I almost glad it happened the way it happened,” he said, “because that’s why I’m where I am today and I never thought I could enjoy this as much as I have.
“These guys might have learned something (in the last-minute comeback victory against Michigan in the bowl game), the way we won that game,” Spurrier said. “We don’t usually lose too many leads, we usually get up by a little bit, add to it and then win by 10 or so, but this time we had the lead, lost it and had to come back.
“It was a fun game and how about the two South Carolina schools? We played the best bowls out there, didn’t we?”
Surely, the Tigers and Gamecocks played the two most compelling games of the bowl season by teams from the same state and the level of enjoyment Spurrier has gotten out of this last chapter of his career has urged him to keep going.
He made it a goal to record more wins than any Carolina coach and he accomplished that with his 65th victory when the Gamecocks won at Clemson in November.
How about staying around for 100?
“You know, I’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “I’m at, I guess, 66 now, so that’s 34 more and this has been so much fun, I think it’s worth shooting for.
“We were talking the other day and Brad Lawing (Carolina’s 17th year defensive line coach), was saying there was a time around here that you’d get laughed at it if you talked about dominating Clemson and beating Michigan in a bowl game, but that’s where we are.
“What the heck,” he said, “might as well go for 100.”
The old Florida Fun ‘n Gun offense is on the shelf, but the Head Ball Coach has found another way to win and at this point, he hasn’t had enough, not yet.
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20130107/SPORTS/301070014/
Back in his hotel room, all tasks completed, Spurrier turned on the television midway through the Chick-fil-A Bowl and planned to watch it for a while, just to see how two teams he played earlier in the season were going to fare against each other.
“Man, what a game that was, huh?” Spurrier said in a phone interview from his second home in Crescent Beach, Fla. “I wasn’t planning to stay up and watch the whole thing, I wanted to get some rest for our game the next day, but the more I watched, I felt like I couldn’t turn it off.”
Spurrier coached South Carolina to a record-tying fourth consecutive victory over in-state rival Clemson, but lost a close game at LSU earlier in the season, so he had added incentive to see how that game played out.
The Tigers impressed him.
“Tremendous play from that defense, especially up front,” Spurrier said of the unit that sacked LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger six times. “I think they had eight 3-and-outs against those guys.
“The other thing that jumped out,” he said, “was that guy (DeAndre) Hopkins. I don’t have any question in my mind, Hopkins is the best wide receiver in the nation, bar none. You just don’t see many guys who can get down the field like he can, go up and take the ball away in a crowd like he can. He’s the best, he’ll be a first round draft choice in a couple months.”
You know it’s the end of a good season for any coach of a major college football program to toss around bouquets like those to his in-state rival, and if part it seems mischievous to encourage Hopkins to forgo his senior season, it is a view shared by NFL scouts. Hopkins will be one of the most sought-after receivers if he enters his name in the draft.
Beyond that, though, Spurrier has taken time at his vacation home to put his feet up, allow the world to pass by and consider where he’s been and where he wants to go.
He loves reminiscing about the past as most folks who follow him at all are well aware. He loves to talk about those days at Duke and winning the Atlantic Coast Conference, how he successfully introduced an open passing game to the Southeastern Conference and used it as a springboard to six SEC and one national championship.
Normally, he spends less time thinking about the unsuccessful two years he spent coaching the Washington Redskins (12-20), but now, after back-to-back 11-win seasons and a streak of dominance against the rival, Spurrier is putting the NFL experience in a new perspective.
“I almost glad it happened the way it happened,” he said, “because that’s why I’m where I am today and I never thought I could enjoy this as much as I have.
“These guys might have learned something (in the last-minute comeback victory against Michigan in the bowl game), the way we won that game,” Spurrier said. “We don’t usually lose too many leads, we usually get up by a little bit, add to it and then win by 10 or so, but this time we had the lead, lost it and had to come back.
“It was a fun game and how about the two South Carolina schools? We played the best bowls out there, didn’t we?”
Surely, the Tigers and Gamecocks played the two most compelling games of the bowl season by teams from the same state and the level of enjoyment Spurrier has gotten out of this last chapter of his career has urged him to keep going.
He made it a goal to record more wins than any Carolina coach and he accomplished that with his 65th victory when the Gamecocks won at Clemson in November.
How about staying around for 100?
“You know, I’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “I’m at, I guess, 66 now, so that’s 34 more and this has been so much fun, I think it’s worth shooting for.
“We were talking the other day and Brad Lawing (Carolina’s 17th year defensive line coach), was saying there was a time around here that you’d get laughed at it if you talked about dominating Clemson and beating Michigan in a bowl game, but that’s where we are.
“What the heck,” he said, “might as well go for 100.”
The old Florida Fun ‘n Gun offense is on the shelf, but the Head Ball Coach has found another way to win and at this point, he hasn’t had enough, not yet.
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20130107/SPORTS/301070014/
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