Steve Spurrier: Former Duke Coach to Retire
Former Duke football coach Steve Spurrier is hanging up the title of Head Ball Coach. According to reports from Chris Low of ESPN, Spurrier has resigned and offensive coordinator Shawn Elliott has taken over as the interim coach at South Carolina. According to Low, Spurrier still has a Tuesday news conference so there is a good chance he will fill everyone in at that time which will only be about an hour from now.
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Spurrier spent much of his coaching career in the SEC, leading the Florida Gators to the 1997 National Title. After a brief foray with the Washington Redskins, Spurrier returned to the college ranks at South Carolina. There he led South Carolina to its longest period of sustained success including three seasons of eleven victories. He never won his coveted SEC title with the Gamecocks, but everyone would recognize the South Carolina program as better now than when he got there.
With all that SEC activity, people often forget that Steve Spurrier got his college coaching start at Duke with the Blue Devils. In fact Spurrier led the Devils to their most recent ACC Championhip in football in 1989. He also took the Blue Devils to their first bowl game in ages and won Coach of the Year honors in the ACC in his final two years at the school. He compiled a 20-13-1 record at Duke before leaving for his alma mater Florida the next year.
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Spurrier was always a colorful sort and a great interview. He sparred with the local rival, whether it was North Carolina while at Duke, Tennessee while at Florida, or Clemson while at South Carolina. He originated the term ‘The Swamp’ for the Florida Gators home field. He was known as the Head Ball Coach, but over time that got incorrectly corrupted by the media into the Old Ball Coach. An aging Spurrier probably did not appreciate that very much.
So now he leaves the stage and college football will be the poorer for it. He brought the Fun and Gun to fruition and later adapted to the grinding style of the current SEC. And he gave Stephen Davis to the Carolina Panthers.