Steve Spurrier has always been a gambler. Or pummel me on Twitter.
The most hated coach in Tennessee, if not most of America, two decades ago, the Head Ball Coach was properly hailed as an innovator and a victor when he stepped down at South Carolina a few days ago.
For the first time since 1999, South Carolina started a game without a coach who won a national championship on the sidelines. If there is any hope of turning the Gamecocks season around, that’s what it’s going to take.
South Carolina’s Perry Orth unloads a pass against Vanderbilt during second-quarter action in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday, October 17, 2015. If the Head Ball Coach doesn’t get in this winter, it won’t be long after that.
In his own way, he even alluded to such during a Tuesday news conference announcing his decision.
“I’ve got so much respect for Coach Spurrier, ” Winston said. It’s not about moral victories, and I get that.
Quit on his team. “They were running the fun-and-gun as everybody knows over there at Florida, and we were competing against that year after year (at FSU)”, Richt said. It’s time you hear a different one, and coach Elliott is ready to give you a new message.
From leading the team out while waving a white visor in honor of Steve Spurrier, to rough housing with his offensive line, everything South Carolina’s interim head coach does appears to come from the heart. One is likely to end the year with just one SEC win and one is likely to end the year without one. (Co-coordinators) Jon Hoke, Lorenzo Ward and that staff, they played one heck of a game.
“The athletics department is appreciative of the efforts of these organizations to get our state back on its feet”, said Gamecock athletics director Ray Tanner. He has ALWAYS figured Spurrier took the South Carolina gig because of the school proximity to numerous golf courses.
He’d previously been the head coach at Duke and Florida, and has a career record of 228-89-2, placing him 19th in all-time college football wins. The team posted 2.938 grade point average for the spring 2015 semester.
The thing USC fans have to love about Elliott, no matter what happens, is he is going to do things his way.
This was an emotional week for the South Carolina Gamecocks, to say the least.
On Georgia: “I don’t know. He has been great to me”.
ESPN’s SportsCenter On The Road is shooting live from South Carolina’s campus Saturday, and it’s not because Vanderbilt is here or because it’s the kickoff of the Shawn Elliott era. Likewise, in the college ranks, Hal Mumme and his “Air Raid” offense have taken over college football through his disciples. The lowest low and highest high.
The players were told to let loose and to be themselves throughout the week and it was a message that they followed on Saturday. As long as we keep winning.
Like eating barbecue with my brother and my buddy Jeremy at Pig on Beale in downtown Memphis the night before the 2006 Liberty Bowl. The team’s home game with LSU last week was moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana because of the devastating floods earlier this month.
See, the games were just a backdrop for the memories.
“We need a hustler, a guy with fire and passion, a guy that is going to out-recruit (Clemson coach) Dabo (Swinney) and (Georgia coach) Mark Richt and (North Carolina coach) Larry Fedora”, he said.
“It was probably just a combination of a lot of things”, Elliott said when asked about the team’s red zone struggles.
