Spurrier A Football God, But Perfection Evades

Steve Spurrier is one of the great college football coaches, no matter what the Clemson fans say -- and despite his less-than-impressive 1-4 record against the Tigers during his tenure at the University of South Carolina.

Spurrier was the architect of some magnificent Florida offenses that blistered the Southeastern Conference during the decade of the 1990s, and he still has the desire to win at the Gamecocks' helm.

Despite season records thus far that could not be construed as ultimately successful by even the most diehard USC fans, Spurrier is still virtually worshipped by the win-starved USC Nation.

But some chinks have begun to show in the Spurrier armour, especially this season.

In 2007, Spurrier proclaimed that he had a team that could finally contend for the SEC East Championship. An early season win over Georgia, a 6-1 start, and a #6 ranking did nothing to quell such talk. However, an ugly loss to Vanderbilt (ugh!) sent the Gamecocks reeling. USC never won again that season, lost to arch-rival Clemson in the regular season finale, and at 6-6 found themselves at home when the bowl bids were extended. The offensive line woes that had troubled Gamecock fans for the last couple of years were still there, and Spurrier had been wrong about his team's potential that season.

In 2008, Spurrier started off by saying that Tommy Beecher was a quarterback who could indeed be the Gamecocks go-to QB for the season. Beecher must have been one hell of a practice player, because all he did was go out and throw four interceptions in the opener against N.C. State. Fortunately, the Gamecocks blew out the Wolfpack 34-0, but unfortunately for Beecher, USC's potential
Quarterback of The Season" lost confidence, and never had a real presence in another Gamecock contest in 2008. In addition, Spurrier exhibited less than steller coaching when he failed miserably with the quarterback shuffle experiement late in the season.

In fact, it might be argued that the shuffle never allowed any kind of rythmn when implemented, and took away momentum from an offense that desperately needs something positive.

The offensive line was still bleeding badly in 2008, and fans clamored for a change in coaching, The calls for Coach John Hunt's head (figuratively) grew louder on an almost weekly basis. Spurrier seemed reluctant to give his old friend the pink slip, as he bristled at the mention by reporters that the O-line players were not being "coached up" as well as they should have been. Eventually, Spurrier finally listened, and by the Monday after the embarrassing loss to Clemson, Hunt was heading down to Florida to catch up on his fishing, leaving his USC past in the rear view.

And there are other examples.

Steve Spurrier is tough, and he's pretty funny with the media members who follow his every move. But a few more boneheaded moves and stubborn tendencies like he has shown this year, and it won't take much for fans to begin to want to show him the door.

I'm hoping Coach Spurrier will be at USC for a long time. The Outback Bowl is a good place for him to show that progress is indeed being made, just not at the speed which most fans had expected by now.