Spurriers most under discussed achievement:

[Bucs90]

Spurriers had 10 straight seasons from 2005-2014 without a single losing season and only 1 .500 season. He finished 3rd or better in the SEC East 6 out of those 10 years. And had a winning record in bowls, 5-4. All at South Carolina. And produced 2 of the best QBs we ever had.

Obviously we know the floor fell out in 2015. That was the pre-portal era. He couldnt land a Spencer Rattler, Jalen Hurts, Bo Nix or Jayden Daniels like coaches these days can. Who knows how 2015 goes if he could have, we had a walk-on QB.

But that year 1 through year 10 run, not a single losing season and 3rd or better in the East 6/10 years, probably his most under appreciated stat.

 

[FORKCOCK]

It was over when he named Jr. Recruiting Coordinator. Jr. hated recruiting more than his dad did.

 

[JohnnySolo]

What is Jr doing now?

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

His most under discussed achievement was hiring Ellis Johnson.

 

[Lurker123]

What is Jr doing now?

OC at Tulsa.

Steve Spurrier Jr. - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Gamecockben1979]

I’m one of the few here who give spurrier his roses. Greatest football coach we have had here by a mile and it isn’t even close. Not sure we will ever see anything close to the talent level we saw from 2011-2013 anytime in the rest of our existence. About the only teams in my entire life that could even come close would be 1984 and 1987. We were closer to a title in 84. 87 could have been similar with a couple of breaks. But the nfl talent in that three year span was off the charts great for us.

We were consistently a threat even before the big run until the wheels fell off. Partially bc Tanner talked Spurrier into staying when he should have retired. Partially bc Spurrier opened his mouth about sticking around a couple of more years. Partially bc Spurrier quit recruiting and holding the ones that were recruiting accountable a few years before. However knowing Spurrier wanted to retire it makes sense that he wasn’t holding people accountable thinking that the lack of recruiting wouldn’t directly affect him.

Regardless of the ending, the other stuff was pretty damn good. Better than anyone else before or since….that much isn’t up for debate.

 

[Ward Jr]

I’m one of the few here who give spurrier his roses. Greatest football coach we have had here by a mile and it isn’t even close. Not sure we will ever see anything close to the talent level we saw from 2011-2013 anytime in the rest of our existence. About the only teams in my entire life that could even come close would be 1984 and 1987. We were closer to a title in 84. 87 could have been similar with a couple of breaks. But the nfl talent in that three year span was off the charts great for us.

We were consistently a threat even before the big run until the wheels fell off. Partially bc Tanner talked Spurrier into staying when he should have retired. Partially bc Spurrier opened his mouth about sticking around a couple of more years. Partially bc Spurrier quit recruiting and holding the ones that were recruiting accountable a few years before. However knowing Spurrier wanted to retire it makes sense that he wasn’t holding people accountable thinking that the lack of recruiting wouldn’t directly affect him.

Regardless of the ending, the other stuff was pretty damn good. Better than anyone else before or since….that much isn’t up for debate.

Good post. I think it is important to note that the SEC East was pretty weak for most of his run. It would be very nice to have Kentucky and Tennessee struggling like they were at that point in time. UF had Muschamp doing his number them during our big years (sans 2012). UGA was not nearly what it is today. The SEC West was the dominate conference at that point. Not the case today.

 

[bucketdad]

Gotta credit Lou Holtz for making that happen as well.

 

[Gamecockben1979]

Gotta credit Lou Holtz for making that happen as well.

To some extent. Did he talk to Spurrier and convince him to come….well he talked to him but I’m not sure Holtz was so loved by spurrier he made a job decision based on that alone.

Holtz proved you could win 8-9 games here. The outback bowl teams in 2000 & 2001 had defense and were in virtually every game for two years. It’s amazing what Phil Petty did with very little weapons and a very conservative offensive playcalling scheme around him.

But the wheels had also fallen off by the time Lou stepped aside. Spurrier would have some nice wins in year one but it would take about 6 years before we really turned the corner, but when we did we had a nice stretch where we were as good as anyone.

 

[Gamecockben1979]

Good post. I think it is important to note that the SEC East was pretty weak for most of his run. It would be very nice to have Kentucky and Tennessee struggling like they were at that point in time. UF had Muschamp doing his number them during our big years (sans 2012). UGA was not nearly what it is today. The SEC West was the dominate conference at that point. Not the case today.

It certainly helped that the East was weaker then but I also think people forget that getting the recruits we got contributed to the teams around us being weaker.

Clowney, Lattimore, Gilmore, Jeffery and that crew could have been Vols, Gators or Bulldogs…and pre Spurrier SC players of that talent typically were.

 

[Ward Jr]

It certainly helped that the East was weaker then but I also think people forget that getting the recruits we got contributed to the teams around us being weaker.

Clowney, Lattimore, Gilmore, Jeffery and that crew could have been Vols, Gators or Bulldogs…and pre Spurrier SC players of that talent typically were.

Absolutely. Ultimately, recruiting was the biggest catalyst, specially 2nd half of his term. I felt like having the weaker conference worked in tandem with his recruiting charm to create an ideal environment.

 

[Flameout12]

Merging the zone running attack with his F'nG passing game....just in time for some guy named Lattimore and another guy named Shaw to show up.

 

[Gamecockben1979]

Merging the zone running attack with his F'nG passing game....just in time for some guy named Lattimore and another guy named Shaw to show up.

Man he carved up some defenses. But to be fair Spurrier did that with Blake Mitchell, Mike Davis, Corey Boyd and some less talented dudes. But it was next level when those guys took over.

 

[JohnnySolo]

From my memory Shawn Elliot was brought here to teach the zone run specifically for Lattimore. A small part of the conference being weak is because we had some of the players that would normally go to UT and UF. We helped balance it out a little and Spurrier was good enough to win those games. Best coach and teams by far.

 

[vidaliagamecock]

Man he carved up some defenses. But to be fair Spurrier did that with Blake Mitchell, Mike Davis, Corey Boyd and some less talented dudes. But it was next level when those guys took over.

It is weird, but I think Blake Mitchell may have been his best QB. He reminds me of Shane Matthews in Spurrier's early years at UF. I wonder how he'd have done with the talent upgrade that Connor Shaw had. (Not a dig at Shaw, who was awesome).

 

[Flameout12]

It is weird, but I think Blake Mitchell may have been his best QB. He reminds me of Shane Matthews in Spurrier's early years at UF. I wonder how he'd have done with the talent upgrade that Connor Shaw had. (Not a dig at Shaw, who was awesome).

Blake couldn't run. One of the reasons Steve benched him for Syvelle.
Blake also had Rice & Kenny McKinley.
When you look at raw passing stats, no one who played for Steve gets past Shaw.

What would have been interesting is to see Cory Boyd in the zone run offense. He led the CFL one season running those inside/outside zone plays we ran with Marcus. 😦