Spurrier Is An Asset To Us Right Now

Dec 12, 2014, 4:49 PM

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JC Shurburtt
JC Shurburtt
National Analyst - 247Sports

Spurrier's "2-3 more years" comment is backfiring
4 hours ago
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is no stranger to saying exactly what is on his mind. His early December comments about the remainder of his tenure with the program, however, are proving costly.
“Give me two or three more (years),” Spurrier told The State. “I used to say four or five, now I’m down to two or three. I mean, I could get in a car wreck, but I’m definitely planning on being back.”
The Gamecocks have roster issues, due in part to the lack of talent in the state of South Carolina in recent cycles, due in part to a downgrade across the board in terms of assistant coaches and their ability to evaluate and recruit, due in part to a lack of roster-building plan. But the bottom line is, South Carolina isn't as talented as it was when it went 42-11 from 2010-13. That's obvious to anyone that watched this season's 6-6 team.
How do you fix it? You recruit. The Gamecocks got off to a very good start in the 2015 cycle, moving into the top five of the 247Sports team recruiting rankings and filling up on quality, impact commits.
So all is good, right? Wrong. This class is in serious jeopardy. Three players, including two needed junior college transfers, have already headed elsewhere. In January, when new staffs at Michigan, Florida and elsewhere are trying to fill classes, the Gamecocks commit list will be a prime target. These schools aren't going to think twice about moving in on a South Carolina commit and it has everything to do with Spurrier's "2 or 3 more years" comment.
According to multiple sources within the South Carolina football program and in recruiting circles, several staffs, including one that goes head-to-head with the Gamecocks quite frequently, are already using the "2 or 3 more years" comment as part of their narrative when recruiting against Spurrier and South Carolina.
Recruits make decisions based on comfort level. A coaching change, which is virtually guaranteed if a head coach leaves within a three-year window, has by far the most negative impact on any recruiting effort because it dramatically impacts the comfort level with a program.
Simply put, what seemed like a comment aimed at providing stability and reassurance has backfired.
And while there is a fighting chance for the Gamecocks to hold on to a chunk of the 2015 class (though no guarantee as the real raiding of the commits won't start taking place until January), recruiting for the 2016 and 2017 class is going to be next to impossible for a staff of assistant coaches (as things stand now) who already are (with the exception of 2-3) below average recruiters to begin with.
South Carolina primarily recruits Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Those states are among the most hotly-contested in the country when it comes to battling for high-level talent. Every school in the South and nearly every other school with a name nationally recruits those states. Spurrier's comments now mean that the Gamecocks are already behind the eight ball regardless of any improved effort and ability of the staff, any change in recruiting plan or anything else that would impact their efforts.
So can it be fixed? Absolutely, but there are only two ways.
One, Spurrier retires following the Independence Bowl on Dec. 27 and the next coach at South Carolina comes in and starts his tenure. Most associated with the South Carolina athletics program do not want to see the greatest coach in their history and one of the greatest in the SEC go out after a mediocre season. Heck, nobody associated with college football wants Spurrier to retire, period.
The second? Make the changes necessary to keep the Spurrier era from resembling the end of Jackie Sherrill's tenure at Mississippi State, when went 3-8 (2001), 3-9 (2002) and 2-10 (2003) before he called it quits after an outstanding career (as a whole) in Starkville.
There are two changes that need to be made.
1. Get a succession plan in place. It doesn't matter how it is structured, get the guy that can be the next head coach at South Carolina on staff. Those guys are out there (Will Muschamp obviously is one of those guys, there are others, too).
2. Revamp the plan in recruiting with new leadership, fire bad recruiters and bad coaches and replace them with guys who can coach and recruit (they are out there). Let the new "potential future head coach" make the recruiting calls on defense and give the offensive recruiting to quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus, who is by far the best recruiter on the staff and who understands recruiting and roster management better than anyone on the staff.
There obviously is a third choice. The Gamecocks can just do nothing, maybe make some defensive staff changes here and there and yes, the 2015 season could be better than 2014. But just like things eroded over time to see South Carolina fall from 11 to 6 wins in one year this year, things will erode to the point where the bottom would drop out.
Then, the South Carolina job, which is infinitely better than it was 10 years ago when Spurrier arrived in Columbia, becomes a major rebuilding project and making a great hire becomes an extremely tough challenge for USC athletics director Ray Tanner.
South Carolina football is at a crossroads. Most programs who have a nearly 70-year old coach who has been in place a decade arrive at this point around this time. It doesn't have to go back to mediocrity or worse, but it's going to take an admission of being at the crossroads on the part of Spurrier and some very stubborn people who have his ear who have been proven to be clueless about what it takes to have a winning program at South Carolina time and time again.
One thing that is an absolute fact. The Gamecocks athletics administration, the president of the University of South Carolina, along with the Board of Trustees, will do anything Spurrier wants them to do to put him and the football program in a position to succeed. He just needs to have a desire to do that.
Time will tell if anything will happen.

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Spurrier Is An Asset To Us Right Now

Spurrier has 2 years tops...

Memphis, i give him one more year, either way , if we ...

They won't beat us the next two years.

Aaah yes, the Bowden/Brown/Beamer technique.....

Poor c0cks

Definitely not enough life boats for SC right now

Re: Spurrier Is An ###.....There...fixed it. YW.***

I stopped reading at Spurrier Is An ###.....***

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