- Sep 8, 2014
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Spurrier recruited Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester to UF, until he blew out his knee:
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=The-lesson-Tim-Lester-learned-when-Steve-Spurrier-recruited-him
The lesson Tim Lester learned when Steve Spurrier recruited him
Signing Day was a day for coaches to tell their players’ stories. But Tim Lester also told his own unique recruiting story.
Lester was once a top quarterback coming out of Illinois, set to attend a big Power 5 school like Florida or UCLA. But he suffered a bad knee injury in the playoffs in his senior year, and it all changed. He ended up at Western Michigan, and Steve Spurrier's blunt assessment stuck with him.
Here was Lester’s recounting of the story:
“My recruiting was different. It all changed the moment I blew my knee out. I was going to Florida or UCLA, it was a done deal. I was just immature then and going to the biggest school that would have me. Then I blew my knee out, all by myself. Back then, it wasn’t like clip, clip, you’re back. It was like, it’s over. They didn’t know a lot about those injuries.
“The one guy that came in my school and offered me and was just a great man from beginning to end was (a WMU assistant). All the other MAC schools said, ‘You’re too big.’ He came in, gave me this information, and he was great. So I called him. Everyone started dropping me, Florida dropped me.
“The one conversation I had that still means the most to me was Steve Spurrier. I wanted to be Danny Wuerffel. It was a playoff game I blew my knee out. I already had tickets (to a Florida game). I called my recruiting guy and said, ‘I blew my knee out, I want to let you know I had surgery.’ Spurrier gets on the phone. ‘Tim, there’s about 20 y’all All-American quarterbacks, and I’m going to get two of them, but recruiting is an inexact science. I don’t know which one of y’all is going to be the next Danny Wuerffel. So if I can take one that’s had knee surgery and one that hasn’t, who am I going to take?’ I said, ‘Sir, you’re going to take the one that hasn’t.’ He says, ‘I wish you the best of luck.’ And that was it.
“This is the Head Ball Coach saying it’s an inexact science. This guy’s a legend. That was it. He handed it to the position coach, I said, ‘I’ve got this ticket.’ He says he’ll cancel it and boom, Florida was over. West Virginia stayed with me, but then I started visiting. Once I came on this campus, it was a done deal. West Virginia wasn’t very happy when I chose Western Michigan, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I’d blow my knee out 500 times again."
When Lester became a coach, he remembered how Spurrier treated the situation. Lester had just a few weeks to finish WMU's class after taking the job in mid-January. There was no time to dance around things.
"It had a major effect on me because he was blunt," Lester said of Spurrier. "He flat-out told me what he was thinking and why he was making that decision. He just flat-out said immediately and I respected him for it. He's still one of my all-time favorite coaches because of that."
As fate would have it, as a senior, Lester’s WMU team traveled to Florida for the opening game of the 1999 season, a 55-26 Gator win.
“Coach Spurrier, he remembers everything. After the game, I was shaking hands. He tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around,” Lester said. “I didn’t think he’d remember me. That was five years ago. ‘Tim, that knee healed up OK, didn’t it?’ Yes sir, it did.
“My recruiting was so different, because I thought it was going one way. We had some guys here that found out late that the school they were committed to changed, and we were there. Every guy’s story is different. I thought I was going one way, reality hit me quick. I’d never been hurt. I started thinking about where I wanted to go to school. If I could never play football again, I’d want to go here.”
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=The-lesson-Tim-Lester-learned-when-Steve-Spurrier-recruited-him
The lesson Tim Lester learned when Steve Spurrier recruited him
Signing Day was a day for coaches to tell their players’ stories. But Tim Lester also told his own unique recruiting story.
Lester was once a top quarterback coming out of Illinois, set to attend a big Power 5 school like Florida or UCLA. But he suffered a bad knee injury in the playoffs in his senior year, and it all changed. He ended up at Western Michigan, and Steve Spurrier's blunt assessment stuck with him.
Here was Lester’s recounting of the story:
“My recruiting was different. It all changed the moment I blew my knee out. I was going to Florida or UCLA, it was a done deal. I was just immature then and going to the biggest school that would have me. Then I blew my knee out, all by myself. Back then, it wasn’t like clip, clip, you’re back. It was like, it’s over. They didn’t know a lot about those injuries.
“The one guy that came in my school and offered me and was just a great man from beginning to end was (a WMU assistant). All the other MAC schools said, ‘You’re too big.’ He came in, gave me this information, and he was great. So I called him. Everyone started dropping me, Florida dropped me.
“The one conversation I had that still means the most to me was Steve Spurrier. I wanted to be Danny Wuerffel. It was a playoff game I blew my knee out. I already had tickets (to a Florida game). I called my recruiting guy and said, ‘I blew my knee out, I want to let you know I had surgery.’ Spurrier gets on the phone. ‘Tim, there’s about 20 y’all All-American quarterbacks, and I’m going to get two of them, but recruiting is an inexact science. I don’t know which one of y’all is going to be the next Danny Wuerffel. So if I can take one that’s had knee surgery and one that hasn’t, who am I going to take?’ I said, ‘Sir, you’re going to take the one that hasn’t.’ He says, ‘I wish you the best of luck.’ And that was it.
“This is the Head Ball Coach saying it’s an inexact science. This guy’s a legend. That was it. He handed it to the position coach, I said, ‘I’ve got this ticket.’ He says he’ll cancel it and boom, Florida was over. West Virginia stayed with me, but then I started visiting. Once I came on this campus, it was a done deal. West Virginia wasn’t very happy when I chose Western Michigan, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I’d blow my knee out 500 times again."
When Lester became a coach, he remembered how Spurrier treated the situation. Lester had just a few weeks to finish WMU's class after taking the job in mid-January. There was no time to dance around things.
"It had a major effect on me because he was blunt," Lester said of Spurrier. "He flat-out told me what he was thinking and why he was making that decision. He just flat-out said immediately and I respected him for it. He's still one of my all-time favorite coaches because of that."
As fate would have it, as a senior, Lester’s WMU team traveled to Florida for the opening game of the 1999 season, a 55-26 Gator win.
“Coach Spurrier, he remembers everything. After the game, I was shaking hands. He tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around,” Lester said. “I didn’t think he’d remember me. That was five years ago. ‘Tim, that knee healed up OK, didn’t it?’ Yes sir, it did.
“My recruiting was so different, because I thought it was going one way. We had some guys here that found out late that the school they were committed to changed, and we were there. Every guy’s story is different. I thought I was going one way, reality hit me quick. I’d never been hurt. I started thinking about where I wanted to go to school. If I could never play football again, I’d want to go here.”
