"By resigning, I forfeited the buyout clause in my contract that saved our university three million dollars," Spurrier said in a letter to Gamecocks fans last week.
That statement indicates had he not resigned, he would have been fired, causing the University to have to buy out his contract. The Big SPUR fired. Put that in the confused bag mix with he resigned, wanted to give Elliot a shot, did not want to favor any of his coaches getting the next shot, etc.