The definitive truth about Steve Spurrier

Jun 4, 2015, 6:59 AM

Whether it's feuds with rival teams or folks in the media, Steve Spurrier has made a career of running his mouth and often embarrassing himself. His own family has publicly noted his less-than loving ways and was even booed once by his own daughter. Even lifelong friends have gone on record telling how's he's always been a bitter, cold hearted, sour individual. Nevertheless here's a well documented tale of the type of person Spurrier really is.

We've all shaken our heads a time or two at the way the head ball coach behaves. Even his friends will give you a clear perception of the real Steve Spurrier. His teenage friend Joe Biddle once said, "He was always a pain in the a--." He recalled his friend by saying, "The kind of kid "who was always preoccupied with what's on his mind." Biddle wasn't the only one to go on record about Steve's shortcomings. Apparently his friends hated to participate in any activity with him noting that 'he'll dink you to death.' Former Miami coach Dennis Erickson once said, "Steve's a great coach but he just can't shut up." Even Terry Bowden weighed in by stating, "There are some people that it's fun to compete against. Steve's not one of them." After Spurrier left Florida, Bobby Bowden even had some things to say on him in an interview. "I'll miss Spurrier, but I'm glad he's gone. I'm gone from his life now. He's their problem now, not mine."

"Lisa and I had an unwritten rule when we were kids that we weren't going to do anything my dad could coach us in." Amy Spurrier said in an interview with Sports-Illustrated. The quote in itself is very telling . While playing for the Tampa Bay Buccs, 9 year old Lisa would boo him. After resigning as the Washington Redskins head coach, Spurrier returned to his home in Virginia where he'd spend more time with his family. One would assume that having the weight off his shoulders things would be less tense around the family's home. Right? Wrong. "He didn't know what to do," said Jerri Spurrier. Scott, his teenaged son said, "It wasn't a fun time, I can tell you that much." "For so many years we never demanded that affection from him. We always kind of let him do what he does." the coaches wife added. She also noted that being his wife is "like hanging on to the back of a train." His oldest daughter, Lisa, once said of her father, "He'll say things, even if you're sensitive about it. The older I got, the more I understood him. It's probably both his best and worst quality." Even something as joyous as attending his granddaughter's play appears a tall task for the self-centered coach. “I had to sit still for about an hour and a half. Just sitting still was a little hard. I’m not used to doing that.” Gosh Steve, we're all very sorry that your granddaughter inconvenienced you and got you out of your comfort zone.

As we all know, Steve is no fan of the media if they're being objective and maintaining their journalistic duties. If one says anything negative about him or anything truthful, he'll berate and belittle them while calling for their job. He frequently has asked fans and boosters to ban any writer or paper which prints something he doesn't like. "When Steve first got here he was outgoing, engaging, honest. He'd call me at home and say, 'Do you need some quotes?' He'd have the writers over his house for cookouts." per Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun. But success on the football field changed that and he viewed journalists as his public relations puppets rather than newspaper employees. Prior to the 1995 Auburn-Florida game Andreu wrote an article about the game and noted the coaching edge was Auburn's. Spurrier was so enraged that he called Andreu's boss stating, "I can't believe you let anyone as dumb and stupid as Robbie Andreu cover our games." And it gets worse from here.

Steve also flew off the handle several times at Orlando Sentinel writer Larry Guest calling him a 'sad, little, fat man.' The two were former golfing buddies but their relationship went sour and Guest opened up about Spurrier. "I got him into this country club he wanted to play at one day. After our playing, we went into the pro shop so Steve could buy a shirt. He held up the shirt to the kid behind the counter and said, 'What's the price?' The kid gave him a price, and Steve said, 'What's the price for the Head Ball Coach?' The kid gave him the same price. Steve was angry now. He said, 'What's the price for the Head Ball Coach of the Gators?' The kid apologized and said he couldn't do anything without his manager's permission. Steve threw the shirt at the kid. I was embarrassed."

So what led to the downfall of Spurrier and Guests relationship you ask? Here's Guests recollection of the events- "I wrote a little throwaway line in my notes column," Guest said. "It was nothing, really, not even much of a criticism of Spurrier. But it so infuriated Spurrier that he sent a letter to Florida's booster club, telling them that they should boycott the Orlando Sentinel until I was fired. When even the boosters ignored Spurrier's wrath, he tried to get me fired at the Sentinel by going to my boss. My boss just laughed at him. So Spurrier wouldn't talk to me. If I asked him a question at a press conference, he'd ignore me and call on another writer, who would ask him the same question. This infuriated Spurrier. So I began to refer to him as Darth Visor, which made him even more angry. All the writers who covered him experienced his wrath at some time. He sent a lot of us profanity-laced letters. We used to share them."

It also looks as if anyone who beats him in football will also be labeled in a poor manner by Steve. Just ask Bobby Bowden who's Seminoles defeated Spurrier's Florida team on more than a few occasions. In a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the score, Spurrier would frequently allege that FSU was cheating and bending the rules. One of his running backs was injured during a pile up in a 2001 game versus FSU prompting Steve to imply that it was purposely done. "It's the way they run the show up there," Spurrier said of the Seminoles. Leave it to FSU AD Dave Hart to put Steve in his place by saying,"It probably would be good if somebody'd just spank Spurrier and put him to bed and hope that he wakes up all grown up." Well played Mr. Hart. It's what people have been saying for years.

Steve's even taken heat before for over signing as well as his lack of ever playing a black quarterback. Though he'd been coaching for 21 years, the first black quarterback to ever start for Steve was Antonio Heffner in 2005. Spurrier inherited African-American quarterback Donald Douglas at Florida in 1990. Douglas went through winter drills before taking the hint and transferring to Houston. In 1991, Spurrier signed quarterback Antwan Chiles who is also African-American. After asking him to change positions Chiles transferred to Liberty. In 2005, Spurrier again faced the same dilemma with quarterback Syvelle Newton who had started 5 games in 2004. The day Steve was hired Syvelle's high school coach, Dean Boyd, knew what was going to happen and went on record saying, “We all know what Spurrier likes to see in a quarterback: tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed. I fear it’s not going to be good for Syvelle. Syvelle’s a good college quarterback, but he isn’t the kind of quarterback Spurrier would go for.” Apparently Boyd was correct as Syvelle was quickly moved to wide receiver to make way for Blake Mitchell. Mitchell went down with an injury that year and Antonio Heffner was forced into duty. A first for Steve.

Dean Boyd isn't the only high school coach to have something to say about Spurrier. When he first arrived at South Carolina, the first thing he did was remove scholarships from 6 players which angered many South Carolina high school coaches who found the move very unethical. Even worse, the day before signing day of 2011 Spurrier removed an offer from two prospect who had been verbally committed for quite some time. The coach of one of the players, Walter Banks, told the Wall Street Journal "I told South Carolina coaches this was foul. I didn't have a clue until 18 hours before signing day, and if they say anything else, they're lying." In an interview with The State, Banks also said that South Carolina coaches "are no longer welcome at his high school. I cannot look a kid and their parent in the face and say you can trust what a University of South Carolina coach says." Spurrier later went on to defend over signing and mocked the Big Ten for frowning upon the tactic of over signing. If you're wondering who the other 2011 prospect to get cut by South Carolina was, look no further than All-American Lorenzo Mauldin of Louisville.

After having a feud with boosters at Florida, Spurrier accepted a 5 year contract to coach the Washington Redskins. Apparently Steve thought they could just throw the ball down field all the time and challenge other teams to keep up. A very naive Spurrier was hoping the NFL could be just a slight extension of the SEC. His trash talking began immediately as he took a jab at the Cowboys saying "Hopefully, they'll be our Georgia." Dave Campo fired right back with a response stating, "I'm sure that's what he'd like us to be. I don't think he wants us to be like Miami or Florida State." The NFL ate his scheme alive as opposing defenses simply blitzed the Redskins to death as they wasted the talents of running back Stephen Davis. The speedy and complex defenses of the league proved to much for the Redskins as Spurrier couldn't make the necessary changes at the line. He blamed everyone for his disaster in Washington but himself. Lineman Ross Tucker said Spurrier "would literally be on the sidelines screaming out to his quarterback to change the play. So he'd change the play, then the defense would shift, and Spurrier would be like, no, no, no, no, and there's either a timeout or a delay of game. Dude, it was straight high school. It was honestly hilarious. It was absolutely brutal."

Rather than face the music that his failures in Washington were his own fault, he diverted attention to everyone but himself; including owner Dan Snyder. "You can't cut 'em and get rid of 'em so they're never gonna listen to you. I wasn't in charge." Lineman Jon Jansen recalls it a little differently, "There always seemed to be an excuse. It's just a whole lot of bulls---." Ross Tucker went on to berate Spurrier even further noting, "He was by far the worst coach I ever had." According to Tucker, he had revelation while playing in a preseason game versus Pittsburgh. "We actually only have two pass protections," Tucker recalled, "and the Steelers are laughing at us, and Shane Matthews and Danny Wuerffel are getting blown up." Tucker was later cut by the Redskins but had one last conversation with the old senile ball coach. He recalls the conversation and Spurrier saying, "Cowboys, huh? Don't be telling 'em any of my secrets." Tucker thought to himself, "Number one, your secrets are pathetic, and number two, as soon as I get there tomorrow, I'm actually going to tell them every single thing I can remember about your pathetic offense." After his debacle in with Redskins the NFL made no further calls to Spurrier as his gig was up. He is now known as one of the worst NFL coaching experiments ever.

One would like to think that the son of a minister would have learned some humility and decency during his father's preachings. Instead, Spurrier has never been one to accept nor appreciate a compliment. While playing with a group of boosters, a fan said "Coach, I owe you an apology. I've been complaining for years how we never beat Clemson. Now you've beaten them four years in a row." Unfortunately, the ole ball coach couldn't just say thanks and let it go. Rather he used this as another opportunity to appear 'holier than thou' and responded with "What makes you think I give a s--- what your fat a-- thinks?" Then there was another occasion where Dabo Swinney offered his sincere sympathy to Gamecock Marcus Lattimore- who had suffered another tragic knee injury. Swinney was quoted as saying, "It just breaks my heart. This is a great guy that, to me, represents all the good things that college football should be about. I will lift him up in my prayers." So did Spurrier just say thanks, what a kind gesture? Of course not. He did what he always does and used it as an opportunity to show his true colors and divert attention away from the matter at hand. "Usually, when that coach up there talks about South Carolina, it's a bunch of garbage and b.s., usually. But I have to agree with him on what he said." It would've been so easy just to say 'Hey, I appreciate that coach.' But no Steve couldn't do that. Swinney could only shake his head and reply, "I'm embarrassed for him." Coach Swinney, you won't be the first and definitely won't be the last to shake his head at Spurrier's idiotic ways.

So just how many people can one man attempt to walk all over in a lifetime? There was Andreu, Guest, and several others. Enter Ray Tanner who is the AD at South Carolina. During a coaches show last season, Spurrier was clearly intoxicated as he slurred every word. That show was immediately pulled and replaced by another show from the archives. It was as if it was swept under the rug and it never happened. Or so that's what the ole drunk ball coach wanted atleast. Spurrier will tell you that he did have a few beers after the game but he didn't like the particular show because it was too negative. However, Ray Tanner was specifically asked about why the show was pulled and he stated, "Because Spurrier didn't like it." Rather than hold people accountable for their actions, Tanner would rather fit the mold as another one of ole Steve's puppets. Tanner has now set himself up to be another door mat for the ole ball coach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv1qaT6Kf44

Enter another one of Steve's puppets in The State paper publisher Henry Haitz III. After being angered by objectional columns by writer Ron Morris, Spurrier reached his boiling point and threw his typical child-like temper tantrum. The coach even asked fans, boosters, and South Carolinian's to cancel their subscriptions to the paper because they, 'slandered my name and integrity.' Again, he pitched a fit, cried, and whined until he got his way. "We need to make some changes and I really believe between [University of South Carolina] President Pastides and the guy that runs the newspaper, that some good changes are coming forth and I encourage the people that canceled their subscriptions last year, when some of this cr-p started last year, to give the newspaper and our university a chance." Morris, who wrote several articles calling out Spurrier on his handling of troubled quarterback Stephen Garcia, was actually just doing his duty and job. He further angered the grouchy coach with an article about Bruce Ellington and Spurrier's alleged agenda for Ellington. Morris was banned from writing about South Carolina football because of Spurrier's whining to publisher Henry Haitz. Morris later took to radio and clearly identified the coach as having to much emphasis over the university and the media; which is nothing new if you've been following. Ron was correct but Haitz folded under pressure and hired a Gamecock homer for a writer in Glenn Snyder- who's childish crush on Spurrier is enough to sicken anyone. Once again, Spurrier acted in a childish manner, threw a fit, kicked rocks down the road, and got his way. "I'm not taking it anymore. If that's part of the job, I can head to the beach." Simply pathetic but it is a clear reflection of what a pouty, grouchy, whiny, self-centered person Steve Spurrier really is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vslVprDE-c

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704444604576172954187357370
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Coach Spurrier can be a jerk, no doubt about that. He's been an A-Hole for a long, long, long time. That's easy enough to see and to document.

The flip side is that he was All State in Football, Basketball and Baseball in high school in Tennessee, and had division 1 offers to play both basketball and football. Everyone knows he went to Florida, won the Heisman Trophy AND once kicked a game winning 40 yard field goal as a Gator. Spurrier is a HOF coach, winning a conference title at Duke while beating a much more talented Clemson team. Spurrier won a string of conference titles at Florida to go with a national title, and he easily has the best record anyone ever posted at South Carolina. All of us are aware that Coach Spurrier once owned a 5 game win streak over our Tigers at a time we were putting out some pretty good teams.

So the real pain of Spurrier is that despite his pain in the butt personality, he's been a real winner on the field all his life. That's the real pain of Spurrier. No one likes to see a jerk win and Coach Spurrier has certainly been a winner.

I would like to see Clemson put an end to Coach Spurrier's success against our Tigers. We won one game against the old nasty ball coach last November. We MUST put another win up against him the fall in Columbia. It will not be an easy win.

Harley

The definitive truth about Steve Spurrier

Re: The definitive truth about Steve Spurrier

Re: The definitive truth about Steve Spurrier

I agree with you on both points,

Re: I agree with you on both points,

I agree, he's a winner, and a jerk. Thing is,

Well, the only thing I can say to that is...

What is pitiful is if anyone thinks that kind of behavior...

Re: The definitive truth about Steve Spurrier

Re: The definitive truth about Steve Spurrier

Spurrier is definitely the tool

Looks like I picked the wrong day to post this....

Re: Looks like I picked the wrong day to post this....

Great post. Thank goodness for Dabo Swinney!!***

Great read and good research materials! ******

This could replace "This is SC Football"

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