Scorched-Earth (and Ear) Approach Will Be Missed

By Chris Dufresne

Jan. 5, 2002 12 AM PT

A season of raging controversy, computer geeks serving us Nebraska on a Rose Bowl platter, four lousy, lopsided BCS bowl games, and now this?

Now, Florida Coach Steve Spurrier tosses in his visor?

Say it ain’t so, Joe (Paterno).

We knew this day was coming almost since the day Spurrier took over downtrodden Florida in 1990 and revolutionized the program and the sport with his unique brand of sass and pass.

We knew Spurrier could not forever resist the NFL’s temptations. This isn’t the first time the major leagues have come knocking.

In the early 1990s, Spurrier might have had his pick of either of the expansion franchises, Charlotte and Jacksonville.

He turned down the Tampa Bay job after the 1995 season, the Atlanta Falcons in 1996 and, last year, the Washington Redskins.

On Friday, after 122 victories in 12 seasons, six outright Southeastern Conference crowns, two national title-game appearances, and an endless stream of verbal bombs and barbs, Spurrier finally gave in.

“I simply believe that 12 years as head coach at a major university in the SEC is long enough,” he said in a prepared statement.

This was not a case of burnout.

Spurrier’s retirement is only a prelude to his accepting a job in the NFL with (take your pick) Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Washington, maybe even San Diego.

True to form, in his statement, Spurrier was forthright, acknowledging he was leaving to seek employment elsewhere.

“If the opportunity and challenge of coaching an NFL team happens, it is something I would like to pursue,” he said.

Chalk this up as a win for the NFL and a huge loss for the colleges.

Spurrier used to talk all the time about “God smiling on the Gators,” but God isn’t smiling on Gainesville today.

Spurrier, simply put, was the most fascinating, petulant, outspoken, out-pass-you personality in college football--Bill Walsh with a pebble in his shoe.

A royal pain? You bet. Only Dennis Miller could hang with Spurrier when it comes to rants. Many coaches and sportswriters disdained Spurrier for his outspokenness and ruthlessness.

Yet, Spurrier never bought into the line about not speaking ill of your brethren.

It was he who took the playful dig at rival Tennessee, saying, “You can’t spell Citrus Bowl without the U or the T.”

It was he who called Florida State “Free Shoes University” after Seminole players were sanctioned for receiving shoes from a sports agent.

As a tactician, Spurrier goes for the jugular.

In the early 1980s, while coaching the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League, Spurrier opened a game against the Memphis Showboats by ordering an onside kick. After Tampa Bay had recovered the kick and scored a touchdown, Spurrier ordered another.

“Embarrassment is part of the game to him,” Memphis Coach Pepper Rodgers said.

A former Florida quarterback who won the 1966 Heisman Trophy, Spurrier was murder on his own quarterbacks, constantly playing mind games with them. Most recently, he benched All-American Rex Grossman for the start of the Orange Bowl against Maryland for missing curfew.

Spurrier was also one of the few coaches brave enough to take on Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden, a genuine Southern icon.

Before the 1997 Sugar Bowl against Florida State, with the national title at stake, Spurrier accused Florida State of late hits against quarterback Danny Wuerffel in the schools’ regular-season meeting.

It was an obvious ploy to unnerve Bowden and rattle Florida State, and it worked. After losing the regular-season game in Tallahassee, Florida easily won the Sugar Bowl rematch for the national title.

This season, after beating Florida State, Spurrier accused a Seminole player of trying to hurt his tailback, Earnest Graham, and quarterback Grossman.

Spurrier is blunt as a brick, and he might have had no earthly idea how poorly his diatribes played out on national stages.

Yet, there is no denying his impact.

He single-handedly changed the way football was played in the SEC, once a “cloud-of-dust” conference that thought passing was for sissies.

Boy, did the SEC get rocked when Spurrier arrived in 1990 and began using a wide-open offense that featured five-receiver sets.

In one stretch, starting in 1993, the Gator offense scored 500 or more points in four consecutive seasons. Other SEC teams had to adjust or risk getting embarrassed.

In no time, other teams started to mimic the Gators. Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana State and others scrambled to upgrade their offenses. Alabama and Tennessee, which also won national titles in the 1990s, oddly owe a certain philosophical debt to Spurrier.

“It certainly will be strange to see someone else on the sideline in the future,” Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley said “[Spurrier] brought us a program we could only dream about.”

Foley knew Spurrier eventually would leave, but did not think that day would be Friday.

Spurrier told Foley of his decision in a morning phone call.

“At one point he asked me if I was still there, because I was gasping,” Foley said. “I really thought he was kidding.”

No joke.

Although Friday’s announcement was a surprise, you sensed Spurrier was becoming increasingly frustrated.

Winning football games didn’t seem enough for him anymore.

Not even the 56-23 Orange Bowl victory over Maryland this week seemed to slake his thirst.

“We didn’t win much this year,” he said after the game. “We did win the Orange Bowl and go 10-2 and finish in the top five of the country. We’d still rather be ordering rings.”

You wonder, too, how much the befuddling bowl championship series played into the decision. Spurrier was a staunch playoff proponent and hated that college football’s champions were decided by computers and polls.

In his mind, games, and championships, were to be won on the field. Many thought that, in a playoff format, Florida would have been the team most likely to beat Miami this season.

Perhaps Spurrier had seen enough. There are no BCS standings in the NFL, no computer formula to deny him the chance of ultimate victory.

The question now is, who will replace him at Florida?

Foley is no doubt going over his short list, but the answer is obvious:

No one.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Superior Effort

Steve Spurrier, who resigned as Florida coach Friday, had the third-most victories among major college coaches in their first 15 seasons:

Wins Coach School Seasons 148 Barry Switzer Oklahoma 1973-87 147 Tom Osborne Nebraska 1973-87 142 Steve Spurrier Duke, Florida 1987-2001 141 Joe Paterno Penn State 1966-1980 137 LaVell Edwards Brigham Young 1972-86 136 Amos Alonzo Stagg Springfield, Chicago 1890-1904 131 Dennis Erickson Idaho, Wyo., Wash. St., Miami (Fla.), Ore. St. 1982-94, ‘99-00 129 Bud Wilkinson Oklahoma 1947-61 128 Bob Neyland Tennessee 1926-34, ‘36-40, ’46 127 Bob Devaney Wyoming, Nebraska 1957-71 126 Bo Schembechler Miami (Ohio), Michigan 1963-77 125 Pat Dye E. Carolina, Wyoming, Auburn 1974-88

SPURRIER SEASON BY SEASON

1987: Duke 5-6-0 .455

1988: Duke 7-3-1 .682

1989: Duke 8-4-0 .667

1990: Florida 9-2-0 .818

1991: Florida 10-2-0 -.833

1992: Florida 9-4-0 .692

1993: Florida 11-2-0 .846

1994: Florida 10-2-1 .808

1995: Florida 12-1-0 .923

1996: Florida 12-1-0 .923

1997: Florida 10-2-0 .833