Good article.
(Other than Ace being called Ace "Williams")
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, 67, still down with much younger players
Tampa — Just last week in practice, Steve Spurrier showed he still has what it takes.
He caught a pass, made a move, and spiked the ball.
"And acted like he was a player again," South Carolina senior safety D.J. Swearinger said, laughing. "It's all fun. We all love coach Spurrier. He still has those hands, he still throws the rock
good, and he works out every day."
The ol' ball coach is 67 now, says he feels as healthy as he did 20 years ago, and is completing his eighth season at South Carolina.
He has taken a team that struggled the first five years, averaging seven victories, to a team that has averaged 10 victories the last three seasons. The Gamecocks were 11-2 last season and are going for their second-straight 11-win campaign as they prepare to face Michigan in the Outback Bowl on Tuesday.
Spurrier, the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner who gained coaching acclaim while leading Florida for 12 seasons, hasn't slowed down, but he has found himself enjoying coaching life in Columbia, S.C., with a football staff that includes his sons, Steve Jr., the co-offensive coordinator, and Scott, a former walk-on receiver at South Carolina who is now a graduate assistant.
He recently signed a two-year contract extension that will take him through 2017, but said if he doesn't continue to build the South Carolina program, which he has sparked the last few years by adding players like Marcus Lattimore and Jadaveon Clowney, he will know when to go.
"When I end up coaching, I'm not going to end up getting fired," Spurrier said. "So if it's starting to go bad, I'll resign or something. One of my goals is not to be a fired coach and not to take money for doing nothing. When I go out, I'm going to go out. I don't know — it's just important to me. Probably not real smart."
He is as engaging as ever, funny and affable.
Michigan coach Brady Hoke, whose brother, Jon, worked on Spurrier's Florida staff, has referred to him as a coaching "icon."
Spurrier once said he wouldn't coach beyond age 60, but he's long past that.
"I think what keeps most coaches going a long time is they don't get fired or run off," Spurrier said. "I haven't been fired or run off. We've been doing pretty well. The first five years at South Carolina, we only won seven games per year, we only won 35, and it was a struggle.
"We got our facilities improved, we signed Marcus Lattimore and Clowney and a bunch of other good players. And got some new coaches, too, that I think are really good assistant coaches. We've averaged 10 wins the last three years. Life's pretty good as a coach when you can win nine, 10, so forth. I've got my son coaching and another son is a grad assistant. It's a nice, comfortable place to be."
There is a considerable age gap between Spurrier and his players, who say they don't notice his age.
"He's a legend, that might be an understatement," South Carolina receiver Ace Williams said. "Coach Spurrier gets around great. He even gets out there and tries to teach us how to run routes and demonstrate them. It's funny watching the old man go out there and do that — he's still got a quick step when he does his quarterback drop. He's got a little pep in his step."
They know Spurrier won the Heisman decades ago, and they know, as Williams said, he could "flat-out play." What they know now is he can coach.
"He's a mastermind," Williams said. "He won the Heisman, but he's also one heck of a coach. He could switch up a play on the spot and it will work right then and there. It's something he has in his head that clicks. He can see what the defense is doing before we can see it. And we're on the field."
Swearinger said that while the players sometimes laugh at Spurrier and enjoy when he's out on the field mixing it up, they have the utmost respect for him. He said his coach doesn't relate to the players in terms of music, but he keeps things light.
"You may catch him bobbing his head now and then," Swearinger said, when asked about Spurrier listening to the players' choice of music at practice. "He has (played his music), and we're like, 'No! Turn that off!'"
Spurrier might be well beyond his goal to stop coaching at 60, but he's in no hurry to turn off that desire to coach and teach young football players
.
He might not be coaching offense the way he used to at Florida with his "fun 'n' gun" pass-happy approach, but he has learned to adapt at South Carolina to a more balanced, run-first approach.
"We have to run," Spurrier said, dryly. "We're not good enough to throw 40 times."
Clearly, he wishes he could go back in time to his days as Florida head coach when, as he described, "we came out and started firing usually the first play through the end of the first half."
But Spurrier is still coaching as he nears 68 because he can adapt and relate, not only to his young players, but to the personnel he has at South Carolina and the type of offense he must play.
"Every guy who once was a quarterbacks coach — I guess I'm still the quarterbacks coach — and the guy who calls the play, he likes scoring," Spurrier said. "But when you're the head coach, you like winning above scoring and a lot of yards. The head coaches get judged on the win or the loss. And what we do best (at South Carolina) is when we run it more than we throw it."
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121231/SPORTS0201/212310344#ixzz2GvLmCduW
(Other than Ace being called Ace "Williams")
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, 67, still down with much younger players
Tampa — Just last week in practice, Steve Spurrier showed he still has what it takes.
He caught a pass, made a move, and spiked the ball.
"And acted like he was a player again," South Carolina senior safety D.J. Swearinger said, laughing. "It's all fun. We all love coach Spurrier. He still has those hands, he still throws the rock
good, and he works out every day."The ol' ball coach is 67 now, says he feels as healthy as he did 20 years ago, and is completing his eighth season at South Carolina.
He has taken a team that struggled the first five years, averaging seven victories, to a team that has averaged 10 victories the last three seasons. The Gamecocks were 11-2 last season and are going for their second-straight 11-win campaign as they prepare to face Michigan in the Outback Bowl on Tuesday.
Spurrier, the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner who gained coaching acclaim while leading Florida for 12 seasons, hasn't slowed down, but he has found himself enjoying coaching life in Columbia, S.C., with a football staff that includes his sons, Steve Jr., the co-offensive coordinator, and Scott, a former walk-on receiver at South Carolina who is now a graduate assistant.
He recently signed a two-year contract extension that will take him through 2017, but said if he doesn't continue to build the South Carolina program, which he has sparked the last few years by adding players like Marcus Lattimore and Jadaveon Clowney, he will know when to go.
"When I end up coaching, I'm not going to end up getting fired," Spurrier said. "So if it's starting to go bad, I'll resign or something. One of my goals is not to be a fired coach and not to take money for doing nothing. When I go out, I'm going to go out. I don't know — it's just important to me. Probably not real smart."
He is as engaging as ever, funny and affable.
Michigan coach Brady Hoke, whose brother, Jon, worked on Spurrier's Florida staff, has referred to him as a coaching "icon."
Spurrier once said he wouldn't coach beyond age 60, but he's long past that.
"I think what keeps most coaches going a long time is they don't get fired or run off," Spurrier said. "I haven't been fired or run off. We've been doing pretty well. The first five years at South Carolina, we only won seven games per year, we only won 35, and it was a struggle.
"We got our facilities improved, we signed Marcus Lattimore and Clowney and a bunch of other good players. And got some new coaches, too, that I think are really good assistant coaches. We've averaged 10 wins the last three years. Life's pretty good as a coach when you can win nine, 10, so forth. I've got my son coaching and another son is a grad assistant. It's a nice, comfortable place to be."
There is a considerable age gap between Spurrier and his players, who say they don't notice his age.
"He's a legend, that might be an understatement," South Carolina receiver Ace Williams said. "Coach Spurrier gets around great. He even gets out there and tries to teach us how to run routes and demonstrate them. It's funny watching the old man go out there and do that — he's still got a quick step when he does his quarterback drop. He's got a little pep in his step."
They know Spurrier won the Heisman decades ago, and they know, as Williams said, he could "flat-out play." What they know now is he can coach.
"He's a mastermind," Williams said. "He won the Heisman, but he's also one heck of a coach. He could switch up a play on the spot and it will work right then and there. It's something he has in his head that clicks. He can see what the defense is doing before we can see it. And we're on the field."
Swearinger said that while the players sometimes laugh at Spurrier and enjoy when he's out on the field mixing it up, they have the utmost respect for him. He said his coach doesn't relate to the players in terms of music, but he keeps things light.
"You may catch him bobbing his head now and then," Swearinger said, when asked about Spurrier listening to the players' choice of music at practice. "He has (played his music), and we're like, 'No! Turn that off!'"
Spurrier might be well beyond his goal to stop coaching at 60, but he's in no hurry to turn off that desire to coach and teach young football players
.
He might not be coaching offense the way he used to at Florida with his "fun 'n' gun" pass-happy approach, but he has learned to adapt at South Carolina to a more balanced, run-first approach.
"We have to run," Spurrier said, dryly. "We're not good enough to throw 40 times."
Clearly, he wishes he could go back in time to his days as Florida head coach when, as he described, "we came out and started firing usually the first play through the end of the first half."
But Spurrier is still coaching as he nears 68 because he can adapt and relate, not only to his young players, but to the personnel he has at South Carolina and the type of offense he must play.
"Every guy who once was a quarterbacks coach — I guess I'm still the quarterbacks coach — and the guy who calls the play, he likes scoring," Spurrier said. "But when you're the head coach, you like winning above scoring and a lot of yards. The head coaches get judged on the win or the loss. And what we do best (at South Carolina) is when we run it more than we throw it."
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121231/SPORTS0201/212310344#ixzz2GvLmCduW