Thank You, Coach Spurrier...

[AlexDaGator]

Thank you, Coach Spurrier.

Thank you for choosing to leave Johnson City Tennessee where you were a 4 sport star and coming to play football at the unheralded University of Florida for Ray Graves. You could have chosen to play for Tennessee, or Alabama, or Georgia Tech, or any other powerhouse program of the time. You chose to blaze a new path, you chose us.

Thank you for throwing it around the field (Spurrier to Casey!) and giving the Gators an identity as a fun team to watch, thank you for all the 4th quarter heroics, for kicking that field goal against Auburn, for winning the Heisman in '66 (and being the first and only winner to give the trophy to his school), thank you for being the first great player that put Florida on the map.

Thank you for the Super Sophs of '69, yes, you were with the 49ers in San Fransisco but they were the recruits who watched YOU play in the Orange and Blue while they were in HS, saw YOUR brand of football, and decided to come to Florida instead of going out of state.

Thank you for coming back to your alma mater in 1990. We had been kneecapped by probation, struggled with mediocrity, and our in-state rivals Miami and FSU were the hottest programs in the nation. We were down. We needed a miracle. Thank you.

Thank you for making Florida Football great. Thank you for bringing back the grass and the blue jerseys. The fun and gun made us must-see TV, made recruits want to play for us, made our fans the cool kids. Thank you for making it FUN to be a Gator.

Thank you for giving us the Swamp.

Thank you for being humble enough to un-retire your own jersey.

Thank you for stomping our rivals, for earning us respect, and especially thank you for owning Georgia. Thank you for making us laugh and making our rivals miserable. Thank you for coming to all the Gator Gatherings, for amusing us with your quips, for patiently signing autographs and smiling for pictures when you'd rather be golfing, thank you for backing up your words with wins.

Thank you for dominating the SEC and for making SEC Championships feel like our birthright.

Thank you for 52-20. Our first, against our arch-rivals, and a redemption beat down at that. Hollywood could not have scripted it better.

Thank you for building the foundation for the success that came after you. A young Tim Tebow grew up watching you coaching and Danny Wuerffel winning. Thank you for that.

Thank you for making the SEC the dominant conference it is today. When the big CBS TV contract was signed, the SEC's crown jewel was Florida. Nobody wanted to watch the 3 yards and a cloud of dust SEC of the 80s, but you introduced something new and exciting. Florida-Tennessee, Florida-Georgia, the SEC Championship games against Alabama, and Florida-Florida State every other year, were ratings bonanzas. Your success forced our SEC rivals to spend more on coaches and facilities to compete, to get better recruits. That TV money you helped generate paid for it. The entire SEC owes you a debt of gratitude for much of the conference's success in the last decade.

Thank you for "God smiled on the Gators".

Thank you for the wonderful memories, all the road trips, all the big wins.

Thank you for everything you have done for Gator Nation.

You will always be our Head Ball Coach.




Alex.

 

[bradgator2]

 

[GoGators!]

thanks for posting Alex.

I have tears in my eyes after reading that...

 

[NavetG8r]

Yep. He'll always be a Gator to me.

 

[AlexDaGator]

Alex.

 

[AlexDaGator]

Alex.

 

[Swamp Queen]

Damn you Alex...are you trying to make a girl cry???

 

[gator lester]

Yes defiantly worth it this time!

 

[rogdochar]

Spurrier will be the most humorous HOF coach. I was concurrent with that #11 player.
Steve, may you always be near your family and a golf course. Thank you for all that UF football is.

 

[stephenPE]

Thank you, Coach Spurrier.

Thank you for choosing to leave Johnson City Tennessee where you were a 4 sport star and coming to play football at the unheralded University of Florida for Ray Graves. You could have chosen to play for Tennessee, or Alabama, or Georgia Tech, or any other powerhouse program of the time. You chose to blaze a new path, you chose us.

Thank you for throwing it around the field (Spurrier to Casey!) and giving the Gators an identity as a fun team to watch, thank you for all the 4th quarter heroics, for kicking that field goal against Auburn, for winning the Heisman in '66 (and being the first and only winner to give the trophy to his school), thank you for being the first great player that put Florida on the map.

Thank you for the Super Sophs of '69, yes, you were with the 49ers in San Fransisco but they were the recruits who watched YOU play in the Orange and Blue while they were in HS, saw YOUR brand of football, and decided to come to Florida instead of going out of state.

Thank you for coming back to your alma mater in 1990. We had been kneecapped by probation, struggled with mediocrity, and our in-state rivals Miami and FSU were the hottest programs in the nation. We were down. We needed a miracle. Thank you.

Thank you for making Florida Football great. Thank you for bringing back the grass and the blue jerseys. The fun and gun made us must-see TV, made recruits want to play for us, made our fans the cool kids. Thank you for making it FUN to be a Gator.

Thank you for giving us the Swamp.

Thank you for being humble enough to un-retire your own jersey.

Thank you for stomping our rivals, for earning us respect, and especially thank you for owning Georgia. Thank you for making us laugh and making our rivals miserable. Thank you for coming to all the Gator Gatherings, for amusing us with your quips, for patiently signing autographs and smiling for pictures when you'd rather be golfing, thank you for backing up your words with wins.

Thank you for dominating the SEC and for making SEC Championships feel like our birthright.

Thank you for 52-20. Our first, against our arch-rivals, and a redemption beat down at that. Hollywood could not have scripted it better.

Thank you for building the foundation for the success that came after you. A young Tim Tebow grew up watching you coaching and Danny Wuerffel winning. Thank you for that.

Thank you for making the SEC the dominant conference it is today. When the big CBS TV contract was signed, the SEC's crown jewel was Florida. Nobody wanted to watch the 3 yards and a cloud of dust SEC of the 80s, but you introduced something new and exciting. Florida-Tennessee, Florida-Georgia, the SEC Championship games against Alabama, and Florida-Florida State every other year, were ratings bonanzas. Your success forced our SEC rivals to spend more on coaches and facilities to compete, to get better recruits. That TV money you helped generate paid for it. The entire SEC owes you a debt of gratitude for much of the conference's success in the last decade.

Thank you for "God smiled on the Gators".

Thank you for the wonderful memories, all the road trips, all the big wins.

Thank you for everything you have done for Gator Nation.

You will always be our Head Ball Coach.




Alex.

We certainly owe him a lot of thanks. It is why I never worried about his post UF career. We could never repay him for the good times he brought us after the bad times we endured. He was a force of nature and one of a kind. He had enough confidence for an entire team and fan base. When he said he didnt know who his QB would be but that QB would be All SEC you knew it was gonna be different. If you had a Mt Rushmore of SEC legends it would have The Bear. Herschel and SOS for sure. I guess old man Rupp too.

 

[dubster1]

Thanks for all the ass whuppings you gave out to our sec rivals. Come home and relax

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

[youtube]qyb-4NPGmYA[/youtube]

 

[ReelGatorDoc]

Great post. SOS just makes my heart hop. He loves the game and understands the emotions that come with it. Us fans love that about him.

Go figure...let's call it the SWAMP!

Coach, you're welcome here anytime you choose

 

[CGgater]

Watching SEC Storied on the SECN. Those were the days... Thank you, HBC!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PaulDrake]

Sometimes listening to pundits who were former Gators is enough to make your blood boil [see Jesse Palmer]. But today Frank Frangie had a lucid moment and explianed the unexplainable to some with this: SOS watched UF get bullied and disrespected from the moment he left campus to head for the 49ers. He watched as the other SEC members kicked us around, especially when they worked overtime to take our SEC championship away from us in the mid 80's [see UT and UGA - especially VDooley]. We were a laughing stock for 57 straight years as members of the SEC. He came in and not only made us a great team and a top five school for coaches, but an entity to be reckoned with. Then he did what they [SEC] did to us: he made THEM the laughing stock. He couldn't score enough points against our rivals [see UT & UGA]. They came to fear us and what he did was not just win. It was retribution for 57 years of bull***t. Frangie crystialized it very nicely and I just nodded listening to him. THAT is why he is beloved by Gators. Frangie crstyallized that very nicely. He went on to say in no uncerteain words that stadium needs to be renamed Spurrier Stadium and I agree whole heartedly. I know there are those that hate Meyer with every fiber of their being but when he made Richt pay at the end of the game with those TO's for that disrespect the previous year with that on field team celebration over their opening TD I saw immediately he got it. He understood. That bush move Richt pulled smelled of those 57 years. It reeked with it. Richt could only stand and take the retribution that is still owed, to not only UGA but every other SEC team, for the way we were treated. No matter what Meyer may have done in the eyes of those that hate him he forever earned my admiration for that, the two NC's and Tim Tebow.

Go Gators.

 

[G 2]

As usual, well said Alex.

 

[Gatorbreath]

Damn you Alex...are you trying to make a girl cry???

This. And I'm not a girl.

Fantastic post. I cannot think of a single person that has meant more to a university's athletics than SOS has to UF.

Amen, HBC. Come on home.

 

[deuce]

He is unique in the History of College Athletics!


I'm glad he left USC before he coached there longer than he coached here.

Funny, SC fans love him too..

 

[Swamp Queen]

Great article by Chris Harry.

http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?...,+Thank+You,+Coach+Spurrier&utm_term=football

 

[Swamp Queen]

[video=youtube;yNsWp50sSY8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNsWp50sSY8[/video]