Spurrier Might Succeed Holtz

Only days after removing himself as a candidate for the Florida football coaching vacancy and wishing the school well as it searched for “the best available coach to lead the Gators back to the top of the Southeastern Conference,” it appears Steve Spurrier will coach against his alma mater.

Although nothing was official, several media outlets report had reported that Spurrier had agreed in principle to replace Lou Holtz at South Carolina. Associated Press reported Thursday night that Holtz had told his team that he would retire at the end of the season.

South Carolina Athletic Director Mike McGee would not confirm or deny that Holtz was retiring or that Spurrier was replacing him. The (Nashville) Tennessean reported that an announcement about Spurrier would be made next week.

Holtz, 67, had been dropping hints of late about not coming back. He has 249 career victories at six Division I schools. South Carolina plays at Clemson on Saturday and, at 6-4, also has qualified for a bowl game.

The shock waves of Spurrier’s return would nearly match those he created in 2001, when he abruptly left Florida to become coach of the Washington Redskins.

Spurrier walked away from that well-paying yet ill-fated venture last year after a 12-20 record and has since been college football’s hottest free-agent coaching commodity.

Spurrier’s return would put him back in the spotlight while dropping him into the jaws of one of college football’s toughest neighborhoods, the East Division of the SEC, which includes Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy at Florida in 1966 and returned triumphantly as coach in 1990 to lead the Gators to six SEC titles, a national title in the 1996, and an overall record of 122-27-1.

Terry Bowden, the former Auburn coach and now a college football analyst, said Spurrier’s going to South Carolina doesn’t make sense to him.

Bowden questioned why the 59-year-old Spurrier would want to take over a program that has far fewer resources than Florida.

“I’ll believe it when I see it, because it doesn’t seem like a logical match,” Bowden said.

Bowden said he thought Holtz took a career gamble in 1998 when he took over a downtrodden Gamecock program.

After finishing 0-11 in his first year, though, Holtz led the Gamecocks to consecutive Outback Bowl appearances in 2000 and 2001. South Carolina was 5-7 each of the next two seasons.

Holtz’ record at the school is 33-36.

Since South Carolina began playing football in 1892, only once, in 1984, has the team won as many as 10 games in a season.

Bowden wondered how Spurrier could put South Carolina over the top when Holtz, considered one of college football’s all-time great coaches, couldn’t.

“I always thought that was a train wreck waiting to happen,” Bowden said of Holtz’s hiring. “The expectations of Lou Holtz and the reality of South Carolina are two different things. At South Carolina, you’re a great coach if you win nine games every other year. A great coach.

“If you’re Steve Spurrier, or Lou Holtz, it’s a bad year if you win nine games.... I can’t imagine 60-year-old Steve Spurrier wanting to go show he can win nine games.”

The Florida media guide still devotes an entire page to Spurrier’s accomplishments and most considered him a slam-dunk to return to Gainesville when the school fired Ron Zook on Oct. 25.

Spurrier, however, took himself out of the running in a decision that stunned Gator fans. There was published speculation that Spurrier would have accepted the job had it been offered immediately. Instead, the school announced it would conduct a national search for Zook’s replacement.

In 12 seasons at Florida, Spurrier recharged the SEC with his pass-happy offensive schemes and well-placed barbs.

Spurrier also had at his disposal a wealth of recruits from talent-rich Florida.

A big question, should Spurrier return, is whether he will be able to recruit enough skill players at South Carolina to compete in the rugged SEC East.

Bobby Burton, national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com, said Thursday that South Carolina produces more Division I-A prospects than most people think and that he believes Spurrier’s name would attract top players to the program.

“Any time you have a guy that has a proven track record of success on a national level, you have a drawing card that is powerful,” Burton said.

Burton said Spurrier, because of his reputation as an offensive guru, may have more success than Holtz in luring top-level quarterbacks and receivers to Columbia.

That said, it’s hard to imagine South Carolina will ever have the roster depth of other SEC powerhouses.

“Will his style of play work when he doesn’t necessarily have the best players, that’s going to be the question,” Burton said. “That’s what happened in the NFL; there was an equal playing field of players.

“At Florida, he not only had a great system, he had the best players.”

Although not saying he is going to retire, Holtz has acknowledged publicly that Spurrier would be an ideal replacement.

Spurrier and Holtz are friends. Holtz is also a member of Augusta National Golf Club, and there is speculation that Spurrier, an avid golfer, might have an inside track at membership, given that Augusta Chairman Hootie Johnson played football at South Carolina.

On Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ conference call, Holtz said he was trying to keep his team focused on Saturday’s game and mentioned his job status was a distraction in 1996 before he coached his last game at Notre Dame.

South Carolina plays host to Florida next season on Nov. 12.