Spurrier blames himself for SC being 'a mess' when he stepped down

[gamecockblack]

IMO he quit after the first 11 win season and it just took several years to play out. The signs were there as to what was coming. People just did not want to see them. Meanwhile Tanner is putting up banners of Spurrier on the stadium.

There is no telling where this program could have gone if the program was put first and managed properly by those paid big bucks to do so. When a Mike Stoops comes on his own dime to ask to be considered for the DC position and the "genius" Spurrier chooses Ward instead..what do y think that was all about? Do u think Spurrier is really that stupid or do u think he had considerations he valued over the welfare of the program we were paying him 4 million to run? IMO it was Jr...to make Jr the clear choice to succeed him here and to run off or pass on anyone that would be seen as an alternative choice. And Jr could not handle running a weeble wobbles league team.

Well said.

 

[TheReelEss]

Laying up on an island in the BVI's spending some of that USC cash?

OC's should work for free.

 

[Carolina4]

He’s probably just now getting around to spending some of his Redskins cash. Dude is loaded.

I don’t think he was coaching here for the money. The Augusta National membership maybe, but not the money.

He didn’t get a membership to Augusta. Lou did. Spurrier has stated this often. But people want to make up their own facts...

 

[jimnasium]

Good thing none of us has ever made a mess of things.

I have made a mess of plenty of things but wasn't being paid millions while doing it.

 

[jimnasium]

Things like hate among players and coaches happen when there's no leadership on either side.

 

[uscgrad1991]

OJ Simpson probably took Nicole on some fancy vacations too. Probably showed her the time of her life.

All that good doesn't amount to crap if you end it like Spurrier did.

One of the dumbest comparisons I’ve ever seen.

 

[king ward]

Nope. We should be recruiting top 5 talent and beating NC contenders by now.... >.> [/sarcasm]

We should be beating Kentucky and not worrying about App State by now, though.

 

[king ward]

Not so. Excerpt from The State paper:

"Steve Spurrier Gerry Melendez gmelendez@thestate.com
Former South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier returned his final payment from the school, a check for more than $70,000, to the Gamecock Club in the form of a donation, a source told The State on Tuesday.

Spurrier resigned in midseason but was paid the rest of his annual salary -- about $1 million, which came in large part from apparel supplier Under Armour and radio broadcaster IMG. A total of $225,000 came from public funds.

In a letter to Gamecocks fans that appeared on the front page of The State newspaper this past week, Spurrier wrote that “by resigning, I forfeited the buyout clause in my contract that saved our university three million dollars.”

Read more here: https://www.thestate.com/sports/col...c-football/article48651265.html#storylink=cpy

So, he got approximately $1 million for the rest of the season, only $225,000 of which was state money and the rest from Under Armour, etc. And he returned his last paycheck of $70,000 to the Gamecock Club. And the way he did it, he willingly forfeited the $3 million buyout. So actually, he saved us millions, not cost us. But let's don't let the facts get in the way of your anger.

Glad you pointed this out. Both Spurrier and Holtz worked without actual buyouts or paybacks.

 

[67gamecock]

IMO he quit after the first 11 win season and it just took several years to play out. The signs were there as to what was coming. People just did not want to see them. Meanwhile Tanner is putting up banners of Spurrier on the stadium.

There is no telling where this program could have gone if the program was put first and managed properly by those paid big bucks to do so. When a Mike Stoops comes on his own dime to ask to be considered for the DC position and the "genius" Spurrier chooses Ward instead..what do y think that was all about? Do u think Spurrier is really that stupid or do u think he had considerations he valued over the welfare of the program we were paying him 4 million to run? IMO it was Jr...to make Jr the clear choice to succeed him here and to run off or pass on anyone that would be seen as an alternative choice. And Jr could not handle running a weeble wobbles league team.

My guess is Jerri Spurrier wanted Junior to stay in Columbia, well paid and with his horde of little Spurriers doted on by Grandma. Remember the comment SOS said he made to Jerri after he'd turned in his 'retirement notice'? . . . 'Well, I guess Junior is going to have to make it on his own.'

Nepotism nearly always yields bad results in any business endeavor and in the case of SOS, Jr., it produced VERY bad results. Without a strong and FOOTBALL knowledgeable AD who could have avoided obvious fall-out, USC was doomed.

 

[Six Million Dollar Man]

From the horse's mouth.

View embedded media

Forever grateful to him. Changed Carolina football forever.

 

[bdblack]

Spurrier is arguably the best football coach we've ever had so I'd forgive him for anything just because of those five years from 2009-2013. Besides, he's the ONLY Gamecock head football coach I can remember who actually had a personality. Dietzel, Carlen, Bell, Morrison, Woods, Scott, Holtz, Muschamp were/are all boring, lifeless personalities, unless sinus, spittin' Lou was getting megabucks to speak and "be charming"! BTW, you Spurrier haters please let me know when Will gets us to even one eleven win season, much less three consecutive ones. Don't take me wrong, I really hope he does .... but until then .... SOS was the best.

 

[BobbyB1975]

So Spurrier Quit !?? So did Clowney , Gilmore , Ace , Bruce , Pharoh , Quarles , Hampton , Rice , Mike Davis , etc etc quit on us too ?? They left without finishing their commitments so they must be a bunch of quitters right ?? How dare they think about themselves and their families when they should have sold their souls and souls of their children to the Mighty Rooster . Same with Spurrier . What’s the difference . Did the 20+ players that transferred out quit?? I guess Tyson Williams is a Quitter too since he left UNC . Jeezz give it a rest .

 

[Wiles2]

Meh. It was unfortunate but most times divorces end lousy. I'd take Spurrier's departure over Lou's final curtain.

As far as the team being in shambles - yes, we lost to Citadel by a point which should never happen. However, beyond that, one could make the argument that the team performed just as well as this year's team against some stiff competition....Nailbiters on the road to A&M, Vandy and #11 Florida. Concluding with the barn-burner against CU and Watson - arguably CU's 2nd best team ever in school history.

 

[Legendary Cock]

If Tanner let Spurrier leave and we struggled you’d want Tanner fired for letting the best coach in our history leave. Seriously...this $hit gets old.

Not me. Like we saw with Holtz, when a coach is ready to hang it up, you have to let them hang it up. Begging them to stick around leads to disaster, as we've seen. Their heads and hearts just aren't in it, and everyone around them knows it.

 

[Legendary Cock]

Things like hate among players and coaches happen when there's no leadership on either side.

Which is what happens when coaches are ready to retire and ADs beg them to stay.

 

[king ward]

Spurrier is arguably the best football coach we've ever had so I'd forgive him for anything just because of those five years from 2009-2013. Besides, he's the ONLY Gamecock head football coach I can remember who actually had a personality. Dietzel, Carlen, Bell, Morrison, Woods, Scott, Holtz, Muschamp were/are all boring, lifeless personalities, unless sinus, spittin' Lou was getting megabucks to speak and "be charming"! BTW, you Spurrier haters please let me know when Will gets us to even one eleven win season, much less three consecutive ones. Don't take me wrong, I really hope he does .... but until then .... SOS was the best.

I must agree.

 

[jimnasium]

Which is what happens when coaches are ready to retire and ADs beg them to stay.

Right

 

[Legendary Cock]

Right

Glad to see you agree.

 

[Heyward1]

So the quitter came out and admitted he quit. Oh great. Thanks.

 

[Stewart.H]

If nothing else this will settle all disputes as to the state of the program when Spurrier left.
What is puzzling for me is how did he let the program go into such a free fall in such a short period of time under his watch.
Personally I've lost a lot of respect for SS. He did what every coach tells their players never to do. No matter the situation, no matter the fatigue level, no matter how bleak the outcome may look, you never ever quit. And he did.

I really think we lost quality coaches as opposed to poor recruiting...the classes we were getting all through this time were similar in ranking and star quality...but we lost our d coach in Ellis Johnson and the d line coach Brad Lawing, Shane Beamer @ lb....Lorenzo did not seem to function well as d coord and it went to pot after that...jmho

 

[jimnasium]

Glad to see you agree.

I was agreeing...lol. If a coach wants to bolt give him his paycheck and say tata.

 

[tngamecock#]

Nope. We should be recruiting top 5 talent and beating NC contenders by now.... >.> [/sarcasm]

Spurrier is best we ever had. My favorite. But by his owm admission he left a mess. Ask Jeremy Pruitt how easy it is to take over a team with similar traits of not liking each other. I love all this hate for Spurrier and disdain for Muschamp. Only on FGF.

Spurrier had us in the top 10 at years end for 3 straight years. He beat the taters 5 straight. I thank him for what he did and I dont hate him for how he left. It is what it is.

 

[FORKCOCK]

If I were an AD I with a hall of fame coach I probably also wouldn't have been too hands on with him. SOS had always shown himself to be very competitive and wanting to win so you would expect him to keep in control. Now, if SOS came to me wanting to retire or step down, I would have made some calls to see what coaches would be interested in replacing him. If there was a name coach out there interested I would have told SOS to go ahead and step down.

When he named Jr. Recruiting Coordinator, an alarm should have gone off in Tanner's head.

 

[WOFJRP]

Some of the same people that harp on Spurrier quitting were the same people that were saying he needed to be fired immediately. I guarantee you Steve Spurrier would never have quit if he thought continuing as head coach would be the best thing for the team. When the season started, I think Spurrier had reason to be optimistic, a QB that was supposed to be an upgrade from Dylan Thompson, a DC that was supposed to be an upgrade from Lorenzo Ward, and a JUCO DE that was supposed to be the next Clowney. None of that panned out. He made the right decision to leave when he did, he had lost control of the locker room. The day that happens is the day you leave. Nothing good could have been gained by him staying.

I've been hiring people for 35 years and when they say "I'm giving my two weeks notice", I tell them no notice needed, thank them for their service and show them the door.

 

[67gamecock]

I really think we lost quality coaches as opposed to poor recruiting...the classes we were getting all through this time were similar in ranking and star quality...but we lost our d coach in Ellis Johnson and the d line coach Brad Lawing, Shane Beamer @ lb....Lorenzo did not seem to function well as d coord and it went to pot after that...jmho

This ^^^^ is a very good summary of our post-SOS Era. Notwithstanding poor recruiting, bad coaching (HC and Assistants) will bring down ANY college football program.

 

[GarnetBlood80]

Water is wet.