Tampa, Florida					Monday, September 06, 2010

You Can Go Home, But Spurrier Won’t
Thursday, November 4, 2004
TAMPA—Steve Spurrier did not return to the Florida of his great successes and passion because he chose not to do that. Best guess here is he chose not to do that because he chose not to do that. And, that’s about it for this fine football coach of talent and of independence and of honesty who is such a fascination of the nation’s press. Now, contributing to the decision about which he told me on the telephone from his Maryland home Thursday morning about 9 a.m. were probably were: --Spurrier has been there and he has done that—gone back to the alma mater of his Heisman Trophy playing days and winning like no one before him, or after, winning a first-at-Florida Southeastern Conference championship and more, too, plus a national collegiate championship in 1991. --He had changed the way football was played—with more daring and dash and passing—in the Southeastern Conference. --He had made the forward pass at the college level not a novelty but a necessity—at some colleges the first priority. --He had made going for it the mode, and he had made the fun ‘n gun commonplace—in use if not at his level. --He re-introduced the visor to the college football sidelines. --He had gotten into his quarterback’s head like none other, and made it work. --He became the “ball coach,’’ became the passing guru of college football. --Like someone countered when said Spurrier would gamble like no one else, “no, when Spurrier did it, it was no gamble.’’ So, he did not have to return to Florida to prove anything, nor to satisfy anything, nor anybody. Again, he’d done that, too. Now, a paragraph catchup—Steve Spurrier did it all on his 12 seasons of Florida coaching (1990-200l) winning six SEC titles and a national title in 1996 with Danny Wuerffel as his Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, and in that 12 seasons coaching 122 wins and 27 losses for a . 817 average. He made the Gators a national power and a citadel for the passing game. Then he left abruptly for a big contract with the Washington Redskins, but left there early too, and has been on the sidelines a season and always a source of speculation, including these days. So, it was when his successor, Ron Zook, was fired this mid-season by the Gators, with Athletic Director Jeremy Foley the specific hit man, all the wonder has been focused on Spurrier again. The sides taken: 1, No way, he left the Gators in a lurch this last time; 2, Who cares, he is the man for the job; 3, No matter, Spurrier deserves the shot at the job if he wants it back. A majority just wanted him back. Another compelling reason for that last option: Well, if not Steve, then who? Spurrier is a personal friend of mine since he arrived as a player in 1963. He is proven. He did it and he can do it again, I reasoned—if he wants it. An angle of which I had not thought was posed by a former president of Florida to me the other night. “Are you forgetting that Steve will be 60 this year?’’ He got me. I only and always thought of Spurrier as a kid coach, almost, in his Forties, say, and always as a fine, loyal man to family and friends and to Florida. I had indeed not thought of him as approaching 60. What difference does it make, I countered. It is a young man’s game, head	coaching in college, this friend replied. And then there is the matter of assistants, finding and hiring them. And, there is the matter of recruiting, which he has said he does not like much. Okay, but. . . He should be offered he job. He can take it if he wants it and he won’t if he does not think he can do the job, I replied. I visited by phone Spurrier over this past weekend. I got the idea he’d probably like to return to Florida and if offered the job by Foley would take it, and by golly, he earned the right to be asked. I visited again with him by phone this Thursday morning. I don’t asked a lot of questions to which I don’t want answers. I got the impression—he did not say it was so—he had been advised he could have the job if he wanted it, or, at least a right to seek it seriously, We talked a bit. He told me his wife, Jerri, was on her way to the Pensacola home of daughter, Amy, to be with Amy on the birth of a third child. He said, yes, it looked like wideout son Scotty was going to walk on at the University of South Florida in Tampa. And then he said he thought he was going to call Jeremy and say he did not want to be considered (any more) for the job at Florida, as much as he loves the place and the coaching position it is. He said this would allow more good people to apply or to be considered for “that great position. It is special.’’ He said he was going to call out mutual friend, Norm Carlson, the public relations man at Florida, and ask him to put out a release for the Gators saying he was not in the picture for the job. He did that and Carlson quickly made it public, with, of course, Foley in the loop. I began to get calls in less than an hour after our talk, from media from all over. I told them what I knew, what had happened. Went on the air live with young Dave Reynolds of WFLA-8 in Tampa, who came to my home for the interview and told him what I knew, of the events of this day. I went on the air from a spot on my dock on Tampa Bay where Spurrier and Jerri have visited in a dozen different capacities all the years of our lives of friendship. It was done. Now, the Gators can go for anyone they may want or may want to coach there without a Steve Spurrier in the picture, as he wanted it. This is an honest man, this Steve Spurrier, a man of his word. He had decided this was right for all involved and acted quickly. I asked if he would consider another head job in the NFL (like the Washington job he gave up sooner than any one of us would have figured). He mentioned that offense is lacking in the pros, noting three teams with 2-5 NFL records and far down in the standings, lead in defense. Asked about the Miami Dolphin head job, coming open, he said, “in the pros, they do it right. They do not interview or talk about new coaches, they wait until the season is over.” A point made. So, he said, the NFL is not in anyone’s picture yet. Would he take that head job at Miami? Might. Loves Florida, the state, the Gators, the weather, the golf courses, his son playing ball down here. The thing for certain is that Orr (as in Steven Orr Spurrier) is not going back to the Gators. Would have done a good job. Again. I think. You? ##
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