I was wondering today what I would say to him if I ran into him on the beach. I spoke to him a few times during his coaching days here. I would like to be respectful due to the 5 in a row over Clemson and the 3 great seasons but I would love to ask him why he left us with so little talent. What would you say to him in that situation? Just curious.
Go Gamecocks!!!
I would just introduce myself as a graduate of South Carolina, most ex coaches no matter how it ended are fond of the universities they worked at and will respond better to a respectful approach.
I would not ask him that question, we already know the answer:
He was never much into recruiting and the final straw was promoting his son to recruiting coordinator, Spurrier Jr, who was not a outstanding recruiter or talent evaluator, and had admitted in the past he did not like making all the calls and all that stuff that comes with the job and it showed.
Nice guy by all accounts but i would be shocked if their was another recruiting coordinator at the time in the country had 7 kids plus was trying to be a recruiting coordinator at a school in the SEC. To do it right takes time your competing against workaholics.
I would assume the promotion drove the ire of some on staff given they were more deserving and better recruiters.
If no matter how good you do, any inside promotion will go to a undeserving son, I'm sure that is not very motivating for the staff and created divide.
Meanwhile in tater town Jeff Scott the coaching son who loves recruiting was getting a better support staff in place around him by his head coach.
In June 2013, Clemson hired from Alabama, Thad Turnipseed as Director of Recruiting/External Affairs. Turnipseed started working closely with Swinney, Jeff Scott, and his staff in terms of the organization of all recruiting activities and soon
benefits came to fruition and results improved.
Meanwhile the 2013 and 2014 season occured for us.
The truth is Spurrier should of won more national championships in his career but never cared for recruiting and it held him back, and was our recipe for disaster as it was not properly monitored and supplemented by the AD.