It’s been quite a week for former Florida Gators and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier.
On Saturday night, the Head Ball Coach walked Morgan Wallen out of the tunnel at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the venue he branded “The Swamp” back in 1992, for the second night of Wallen’s sold-out stay in Gainesville.
Then, on Tuesday, Spurrier was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame for his tenure as the Gamecocks’ head football coach, during which he went 86-49 and became the program’s all-time winningest coach.
Spurrier’s run with South Carolina featured three straight 11-win seasons as well as three straight seasons finishing ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll, and, perhaps most importantly to Gamecock fans, saw the team boast a winning record against rival Clemson in his 10 full seasons in Columbia, including a five-game winning streak from 2009-13.
During his acceptance speech, Spurrier proved that those competitive juices are still flowing in him, because when he saw Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney in the crowd on Tuesday night, he couldn’t help but remind him of his dominant run in the early 2010s.
“During my eighth year here, we won number 65,” Spurrier said while discussing becoming the winningest head coach in program history. “And, I’d like to thank coach Dabo, his team didn’t play very well that night. And I was able to win at Clemson.”
Spurrier softened the blow a little bit, reminding everyone in the room that his former rival has “more conference championships than any coach in America right now,” before capping things off by twisting the knife one last time.
“I’m still trying to figure out how we beat you guys 5 years in a row but it happened I guess.”
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Spurrier turned 81 last month, and while it’s clear he doesn’t move quite as well as he used to when he would toss his headset and playsheet a half dozen times a game, his mind and wit are still as sharp and as quick as they were when he was tormenting his rivals more than three decades ago.
Congrats to coach Spurrier on his induction into the SC Athletic Hall of Fame, the honor is well deserved.
And my condolences to any rival coaches who are still experiencing the wrath of The Visor even after all this time has passed.
The man’s still got it.
