- Sep 8, 2014
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Good Buddy Martin story on Spurrier and Foley. What would have happened if Spurrier stayed at UF?
Florida AD: Steve Spurrier is ‘our Bear Bryant’
https://gridironnow.com/steve-spurrier-floridas-bear-bryant/
Imagine a Florida football coach having won 10 SEC titles, three or four national championships and maybe more conference games than even Bear Bryant.
It could have happened. All Steve Spurrier had to do was stay home for 10 more seasons.
Spurrier prompted a lot of “what if?” scenarios recently when he revealed on the “Paul Finebaum Show” on SEC Network last week that he wished now he hadn’t left Florida after the 2001 season.
“He’s our Bear Bryant, our Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma),” Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley told me. “He’s the guy who got it going, and we became one of the top programs in the country. Call it like it is: Our entire culture was changed. He valued every sport. He valued winners. And we all had a lot of fun.”
Spurrier had been at Florida 12 seasons, winning six SEC championships (that he could count — and one that he couldn’t) and one national title. But a few months before his 56th birthday, a few days after the end of the 2001 season, he signed on with the Washington Redskins to take shot at the NFL. And in doing so, he hit the Daniel Snyder lottery — a fat signing bonus and a five-year, $25 million contract. More money that any coach — ever. Who among us would not have?
“I don’t remember the exact conversation,” Foley said from California as he was boarding a flight to return to Gainesville, trying to recall that dark day for Gators fans. “But I remember that Friday after the Orange Bowl he called me and said, ’12 years is enough; I want to try something different.’ ”
It rocked Gator nation.
Aside from money and the lure of the NFL, Spurrier had the lingering feeling that there was almost a danger of wearing out his welcome at Florida. Having watched his Presbyterian preacher father move quite often because “he said people got tired of his sermons,” Spurrier decided to move on and try his hand in the NFL.
So did Foley try to talk Spurrier out of it?
“I’m sure I said something like, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ ” Foley said. “But you know how Steve is. Once he made up his mind, he’s made up his mind. You aren’t going to talk him out of it.”
BY THE NUMBERS
But there will be no pity party for Jeremy Foley, Gators fans or even Spurrier. Life since 2001 hasn’t been so shabby in Gainesville — or in Columbia, either. Spurrier became South Carolina’s all-time winningest coach. And a guy named Urban Meyer picked up in 2005 and added two more national championship trophies, plus two SEC titles, to the case in the Heavener Football Complex. And expectations are on the rise with Jim McElwain.
But what if Spurrier had stayed through 2011?
“Look at the track record,” Foley said. “You can’t go back and gaze into a crystal ball going forward. What he did in 12 years was spectacular. I’m not saying he would have won the title every year. But we’d have been in the hunt and we’d have won a couple more. We would have chucked it all over the place and had a lot of fun.”
Do the math: Based on past performance and metrics, Spurrier likely would have won 100 more games overall and 70 to 75 more in the SEC. Had he coached through age 66, he probably would have posted more SEC wins than Bear Bryant’s record 159. Given that Spurrier won one national championship and played for another in 12 years, odds are that he’d had at crack at least one or two more.
“His last year, we were right in there and we lost to one of the best teams in the country, Tennessee,” Foley said. “He won the Orange Bowl. He had Rex Grossman coming back. And we were going to continue on the track he set us on.”
As for the rumor about Spurrier having a run-in with Foley or getting mad for being told how to manage his staff being the reason he left, “that just never happened,” Foley said. Both men say that it didn’t.
What did happen the day after an Orange Bowl win over Maryland in January 2002 was that Spurrier called Foley, told him of his intentions and met with his AD that next night in Crescent Beach.
“It was a stunning day for all of us,” Foley remembered.
Foley drove to Crescent Beach and brought along a bottle of Dom Perignon. They sat there on the beach, toasting their success together — a more-than-amicable parting. They remain friends today. And a strong relationship exists between Florida and its first Heisman Trophy winner and first national championship-winning coach, whose bronze likeness can be seen out front of the stadium he nicknamed “The Swamp.”
“Steve meant the world to the University for Florida and he meant the world to me personally,” Foley said. “Obviously I was blessed to be a part of that ride. It was the time of my life.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Although Spurrier hasn’t made up his mind what he wants to do next, there are a couple of hints that he might somehow be associated with the Gators in a way other than a bronze statue, but nothing yet in concrete. I asked Foley if rehiring Spurrier in some role was possible.
“Maybe when that opportunity presents itself — yes, there is,” Foley said. “But Steve has a relationship with South Carolina right now. If there was an opportunity to have him around, that’s something we would hop on.”
If Spurrier chose to return to his alma mater in some capacity, it wouldn’t be as a hand-shaker or back-slapper. It would have to be something more directly connected to the game of football. A consultant to McElwain, maybe? A member of the broadcast team? Or both?
This being the 20th anniversary of Spurrier’s national championship Florida team, perhaps it is the perfect time to announce that Steve Spurrier is coming home to Gainesville. And while they’re at it, officials could change the name of Florida Field to Steve Spurrier Field. Or maybe even call it Spurrier-Griffin Stadium, as in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The Head Ball Coach legacy certainly warrants a lot more than a piece of bronze at The House Spurrier Built.
Florida AD: Steve Spurrier is ‘our Bear Bryant’
https://gridironnow.com/steve-spurrier-floridas-bear-bryant/
Imagine a Florida football coach having won 10 SEC titles, three or four national championships and maybe more conference games than even Bear Bryant.
It could have happened. All Steve Spurrier had to do was stay home for 10 more seasons.
Spurrier prompted a lot of “what if?” scenarios recently when he revealed on the “Paul Finebaum Show” on SEC Network last week that he wished now he hadn’t left Florida after the 2001 season.
“He’s our Bear Bryant, our Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma),” Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley told me. “He’s the guy who got it going, and we became one of the top programs in the country. Call it like it is: Our entire culture was changed. He valued every sport. He valued winners. And we all had a lot of fun.”
Spurrier had been at Florida 12 seasons, winning six SEC championships (that he could count — and one that he couldn’t) and one national title. But a few months before his 56th birthday, a few days after the end of the 2001 season, he signed on with the Washington Redskins to take shot at the NFL. And in doing so, he hit the Daniel Snyder lottery — a fat signing bonus and a five-year, $25 million contract. More money that any coach — ever. Who among us would not have?
“I don’t remember the exact conversation,” Foley said from California as he was boarding a flight to return to Gainesville, trying to recall that dark day for Gators fans. “But I remember that Friday after the Orange Bowl he called me and said, ’12 years is enough; I want to try something different.’ ”
It rocked Gator nation.
Aside from money and the lure of the NFL, Spurrier had the lingering feeling that there was almost a danger of wearing out his welcome at Florida. Having watched his Presbyterian preacher father move quite often because “he said people got tired of his sermons,” Spurrier decided to move on and try his hand in the NFL.
So did Foley try to talk Spurrier out of it?
“I’m sure I said something like, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ ” Foley said. “But you know how Steve is. Once he made up his mind, he’s made up his mind. You aren’t going to talk him out of it.”
BY THE NUMBERS
But there will be no pity party for Jeremy Foley, Gators fans or even Spurrier. Life since 2001 hasn’t been so shabby in Gainesville — or in Columbia, either. Spurrier became South Carolina’s all-time winningest coach. And a guy named Urban Meyer picked up in 2005 and added two more national championship trophies, plus two SEC titles, to the case in the Heavener Football Complex. And expectations are on the rise with Jim McElwain.
But what if Spurrier had stayed through 2011?
“Look at the track record,” Foley said. “You can’t go back and gaze into a crystal ball going forward. What he did in 12 years was spectacular. I’m not saying he would have won the title every year. But we’d have been in the hunt and we’d have won a couple more. We would have chucked it all over the place and had a lot of fun.”
Do the math: Based on past performance and metrics, Spurrier likely would have won 100 more games overall and 70 to 75 more in the SEC. Had he coached through age 66, he probably would have posted more SEC wins than Bear Bryant’s record 159. Given that Spurrier won one national championship and played for another in 12 years, odds are that he’d had at crack at least one or two more.
“His last year, we were right in there and we lost to one of the best teams in the country, Tennessee,” Foley said. “He won the Orange Bowl. He had Rex Grossman coming back. And we were going to continue on the track he set us on.”
As for the rumor about Spurrier having a run-in with Foley or getting mad for being told how to manage his staff being the reason he left, “that just never happened,” Foley said. Both men say that it didn’t.
What did happen the day after an Orange Bowl win over Maryland in January 2002 was that Spurrier called Foley, told him of his intentions and met with his AD that next night in Crescent Beach.
“It was a stunning day for all of us,” Foley remembered.
Foley drove to Crescent Beach and brought along a bottle of Dom Perignon. They sat there on the beach, toasting their success together — a more-than-amicable parting. They remain friends today. And a strong relationship exists between Florida and its first Heisman Trophy winner and first national championship-winning coach, whose bronze likeness can be seen out front of the stadium he nicknamed “The Swamp.”
“Steve meant the world to the University for Florida and he meant the world to me personally,” Foley said. “Obviously I was blessed to be a part of that ride. It was the time of my life.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Although Spurrier hasn’t made up his mind what he wants to do next, there are a couple of hints that he might somehow be associated with the Gators in a way other than a bronze statue, but nothing yet in concrete. I asked Foley if rehiring Spurrier in some role was possible.
“Maybe when that opportunity presents itself — yes, there is,” Foley said. “But Steve has a relationship with South Carolina right now. If there was an opportunity to have him around, that’s something we would hop on.”
If Spurrier chose to return to his alma mater in some capacity, it wouldn’t be as a hand-shaker or back-slapper. It would have to be something more directly connected to the game of football. A consultant to McElwain, maybe? A member of the broadcast team? Or both?
This being the 20th anniversary of Spurrier’s national championship Florida team, perhaps it is the perfect time to announce that Steve Spurrier is coming home to Gainesville. And while they’re at it, officials could change the name of Florida Field to Steve Spurrier Field. Or maybe even call it Spurrier-Griffin Stadium, as in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The Head Ball Coach legacy certainly warrants a lot more than a piece of bronze at The House Spurrier Built.
