HOOVER, Ala. — It was only three years ago that he stood there red-faced and apologetic and very ordinary. Steve Spurrier stood at the podium and confessed that it was his vote that kept Tim Tebow from being a unanimous pick for the coaches All-SEC team, and he answered questions about it for most of his time at SEC Media Days for two reasons:
1. In the media world we live in, the story had become a bigger deal than it should have been.
2. Nobody really wanted to talk about South Carolina football.
Spurrier said Tuesday “a lot has changed at South Carolina in seven years,” but the reality is that nothing really changed until after that 2009 team stumbled to another pedestrian season. For five years, Spurrier’s team had stumbled around to a 35-28 record. It was going to take longer than he thought to become the winningest coach in South Carolina history even if the record is a less-than-impressive 64 wins.
But over the past two seasons, Spurrier has finally made South Carolina relevant. In 2010, the Gamecocks beat Florida in Gainesville and played for an SEC Championship. Last year, they won 11 games for the first time in school history.
And this year, Spurrier thinks he has his best team (in part because he’s finally jettisoned the bag of hammers named Stephen Garcia).
Spurrier has finally built what he wanted to build in Columbia — a team that has a chance to win the division each year.
“We wanted to see what we could do at South Carolina,” he said. “It took a little while. The years go by quickly.”
Here’s how quickly — Spurrier has said he plans to coach another five years. If he does, he’ll have coached at South Carolina as long as he did at Florida.
link: http://www.gatorspor...634?tc=cr&tc=ar
1. In the media world we live in, the story had become a bigger deal than it should have been.
2. Nobody really wanted to talk about South Carolina football.
Spurrier said Tuesday “a lot has changed at South Carolina in seven years,” but the reality is that nothing really changed until after that 2009 team stumbled to another pedestrian season. For five years, Spurrier’s team had stumbled around to a 35-28 record. It was going to take longer than he thought to become the winningest coach in South Carolina history even if the record is a less-than-impressive 64 wins.
But over the past two seasons, Spurrier has finally made South Carolina relevant. In 2010, the Gamecocks beat Florida in Gainesville and played for an SEC Championship. Last year, they won 11 games for the first time in school history.
And this year, Spurrier thinks he has his best team (in part because he’s finally jettisoned the bag of hammers named Stephen Garcia).
Spurrier has finally built what he wanted to build in Columbia — a team that has a chance to win the division each year.
“We wanted to see what we could do at South Carolina,” he said. “It took a little while. The years go by quickly.”
Here’s how quickly — Spurrier has said he plans to coach another five years. If he does, he’ll have coached at South Carolina as long as he did at Florida.
link: http://www.gatorspor...634?tc=cr&tc=ar
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