Tag: Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier predicts Florida football’s 2024 record

Spurrier went on Jacksonville sports radio with to weigh in with his prognostications for the team.

The Gator Nation received its very first look at the 2024 edition of the Florida football team on Saturday inside the Swamp as the Blue team prevailed over the Orange team, 19-17, in the annual Orange and Blue game.

While it is difficult to derive any long-term takeaways from the intrasquad scrimmage, it still gives a glimpse at the potential the team might have in store. UF legend Steve Spurrier took to the airwaves with Jacksonville sports radio 1010XL to weigh in with his prognostications for the team.

“Well, we’re going to find out again this year I guess. I mean, anticipation and expectations are about the same as last year. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. (Billy Napier’s) got a bunch of new coaches, seems like they’re going to be more demanding, make the guys more accountable,” Spurrier said.

“Seems like the leadership of Graham Mertz and some of those other guys is going to be there. So, schedule’s tough, but, you know, everybody’s got a tough schedule now just about in the SEC. So, we’ll wait and see. I picked them to go 8-4 and win a bowl game, and if we do that, we can do cartwheels and somersaults around here. We’ll be a happy bunch of Gators.”

Keep in mind Spurrier is a paid ambassador for the program and has been featured in advertisements for the name, image and likeness licensing collective Florida Victorious. In addition to his already biased opinion, his prediction should be taken with a few grains of salt.

Nonetheless, he is 100% correct that Gainesville would be elated with an 8-4 finish.

Florida kicks off its 2024 regular-season schedule on Aug. 31 against the Miami Hurricanes inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The Gators open their SEC schedule with the Texas A&M Aggies arriving in the Swamp on Sept. 14.

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Does a Florida Gator make The Athletic’s NCAA football HC Mount Rushmore?

When it comes to naming a Mount Rushmore of college football coaches, a few former Florida Gators come to mind.

Nick Saban’s reign of terror with Alabama has come to an end and most would agree that the legendary Crimson Tide head coach belongs on the college football coaches Mount Rushmore, but which other coaches make that four-man list?

Any good Florida Gators should immediately think of Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer when reading that question. Both men led the Orange and Blue to championships, Meyer with a 2-to-1 edge, but it’s Spurrier who received mention when The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman and David Ubben attempted to come up with the four greatest college football coaches of all time.

With Saban as the commonality, Wasserman went with Pete Carroll (USC), Woody Hayes (Ohio State) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson), while Ubben named Bill Snyder (Kansas State), Knute Rockne (Notre Dame) and Eddie Robinson (Grambling State).

But where is Steve Spurrier?

The Head Ball Coach was the first name up on the honorable mention list in this exercise, earning the superlative of “most entertaining.”

“He’s the troll king of college football,” Wasserman and Ubben said of Spurrier. “Poking and prodding anyone and everyone, enraging people in the sport who might take themselves a little too seriously. And he was a man after our own heart with a willingness to always take a breather for a good tee time.

“He saved the best arrows for his rivals. From telling Tennessee that you can’t spell Citrus without UT to noting he loved to play Georgia early in the season because he could count on a few players being suspended for offseason shenanigans, even the fans who hated Spurrier most had to be smiling in their heart of hearts. Funny is funny.”

Spurrier, of course, did his fair share of winning with Florida, bringing the first national championship in program history back to Gainesville and establishing the Orange and Blue as one of the nation’s elite programs.

He did good work at South Carolina too after his NFL stint. Although he didn’t make the mountain range for either write at The Athletic, Spurrier is truly among the college football coaching elite.

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Steve Spurrier questions Florida’s massive coaching staff, praises UGA

“I think Georgia has done the best job of spending their millions. I give them credit,” said former Florida Gators coach Steve Spurrier

Legendary Florida Gators coach Steve Spurrier always has interesting insights whenever he speaks with the media. Among Spurrier’s favorite things to do is to criticize the Georgia Bulldogs, especially in the offseason.

Spurrier, who is a paid University of Florida ambassador, is not particularly confident in the Gators entering spring practice. Florida head coach Bill Napier enter the spring with one of the hottest seats in the country. Napier does not have an easy task ahead. The Gators have the nation’s toughest schedule that features a five-game stretch against Georgia, at Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and at Florida State to end the season.

Napier and Florida would be doing well to make it to a bowl game this year. Pressure is mounting in Gainesville, Florida, as the Gators need to show some promise this fall in order for Napier to keep his job.

Replacing a legendary head coach is hard. Just ask the Florida Gators.

The Spurrier-Zook transition is one of many examples of how hard it is to replace a legendary head coach like Nick Saban.

One of the greatest eras of college football came to a close on Thursday when legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban announced his intent to retire. The 72-year-old skipper won six national championships with the Tide plus a seventh with the LSU Tigers stretching over what ranks as the most impressive coaching career in Bowl Subdivision history.

Saban’s departure leaves a gaping hole in ‘Bama’s leadership circle, and as history has shown us, it is a tall order to fill when it comes to replacing the best.

Which begs some questions: How many schools have entered into the hiring pool after losing the most successful coach in program history? And what is the ensuing track record for the coaches hired to replace a legend?

USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg addressed those queries in his latest article about Saban’s retirement. In it, he included Florida football’s transition from [autotag]Steve Spurrier[/autotag] to [autotag]Ron Zook[/autotag] as an example of a failed tandem.

“Spurrier rewrote the SEC record book and turned Florida into a title-winning powerhouse before leaving for the NFL following the 2001 season,” Myerberg begins. “Zook, his immediate successor, recruited a good chunk of the roster that won the 2006 title under Urban Meyer. But his struggles were magnified by the way Spurrier had kept Florida at or near the top of the FBS throughout his 12-season run.

“Though Meyer got the job done, the program has struggled with every other hire since losing Spurrier more than 20 years ago,” he concluded.

The interesting thing about the Meyer connection is that his tenure and departure in itself was a microcosmic version of the topic at hand. After winning two championships, he was followed up by a disappointing run by Will Muschamp who went 28-21 during his three-plus years in Gainesville.

Florida fans certainly are not shedding tears for the Tide right now.

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How has Washington fared on Thanksgiving Day throughout franchise history?

A look back at each Washington game on Thanksgiving Day in franchise history.

The Washington Commanders (4-7) meet the Dallas Cowboys (7-3) on Thanksgiving Day. It’s the first time the two NFC East rivals have met on Thanksgiving Day since 2020, which was embattled head coach Ron Rivera’s first season on the sideline in Washington.

This meeting is between two teams going in opposite directions. The Cowboys are undefeated at AT&T Stadium, while the Commanders have lost two straight and seven of their last nine.

The Cowboys and Lions are the two teams who traditionally play every Thanksgiving. Who has Dallas played the most on Thanksgiving? That would be Washington. While the Cowboys have dominated the Thanksgiving matchups, things have been better lately.

Washington is 4-8 all-time on Thanksgiving Day. Let’s take a look back at Washington’s history on Turkey Day.

 

Steve Spurrier couldn’t help mocking Michigan for its sign-stealing scandal

Even Steve Spurrier is making Michigan sign-stealing jokes.

Everyone is going to understandably get their jabs in at Michigan over the allegations from the sign-stealing scandal, and former South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is next on the list.

Spurrier took a crack at Michigan from when his South Carolina team played them in the Outback Bowl way back in 2013 — you know, the game where Jadeveon Clowney did this.

Now, head coach Jim Harbaugh was still with the San Francisco 49es when this game took place, meaning that Spurrier’s joke is just more of a “kick them while they’re down because everyone one else is” joke than a legitimate trolling.

But, hey, everyone is going to get their Michigan jokes in while it’s still funny, so we guess Spurrier gets a pass here.

Well, hey, trolling the Wolverines is never a bad thing, particularly with how ridiculous the allegations from the sign-stealing scandal have been.

When even a long-retired Spurrier is getting in the jokes, you know something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

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Steve Spurrier: Florida has a chance to beat Georgia after win over USC

Florida’s win over South Carolina Saturday was just the second road victory of the Billy Napier era, and Steve Spurrier says that matters.

The Florida Gators have won just two games on the road since Billy Napier took over the program, the Texas A&M game last season and Saturday’s 41-39 win over South Carolina.

Legendary Florida coach Steve Spurrier thinks the South Carolina win is the bigger win of the two and perhaps even the biggest win for the Gators under Napier. On Tuesday, Spurrier went over the South Carolina win during his weekly radio show, “Inside the Huddle,” on ESPN Radio/WRUF.

“Biggest win for coach Billy Napier since he’s been here in two years. I think everybody agrees to that,” Spurrier said. “What was really neat about it is that we had to score two touchdowns in the last five minutes or so. And even though our defense struggled, we got two stops at the end of the game and that’s all we needed to win the game.”

Spurrier went on to say that Florida’s played well enough to at least have a chance against the two-time reigning national champion Georgia Bulldogs after the bye week. The Gators have had ups and downs on both sides of the ball, but the South Carolina win showed some improvement from Florida when faced with adversity.

“I think this team has a chance,” he said. “I mean, we have a chance to beat Georgia. If we do that, we’re right in the middle of winning the eastern division.”

Graham Mertz is looking better by the week and the young receivers are starting to come into their own. The Georgia game will also be at a neutral site instead of on the road, not that Florida’s record in those games is any better.

Spurrier might be on to something, but the Gators will have to play their best football to pull off the upset. Let’s check back with him in two weeks.

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Steve Spurrier likes the idea of FSU coming to the SEC

Everyone is talking conference realignment, including the head ball coach. On Friday, Steve Spurrier suggested a few ACC teams that would be a good fit for the SEC.

With conference realignment running wild in college football, Florida State is one team fans and experts believe could be on the move sooner rather than later. Even legendary Florida (and South Carolina) head coach Steve Spurrier weighed in on the idea of the Seminoles joining the SEC.

“Yeah, if they come into the SEC, heck, that would be good, I think,” Spurrier said on Mike Bianchi’s Open Mike radio show (Orlando FM 96.9) Friday morning. “Maybe bring Miami or Clemson, I guess would be the other ones that would be a possibility.”

Talk about a super conference.

The SEC is already the toughest conference in the land, and Oklahoma and Texas are set to join in 2024. Adding three more teams would make it a 19-program conference, which is basically a small league.

Spurrier might be on to something, though. The SEC and Big Ten are further emerging as giants in the college football landscape. The Big 12 is trying to keep pace, but many ACC powers like FSU are ready to jump ship.

The Head Ball Coach also pointed out that the 12-team playoff should help balance things out. A tough loss in the middle of a difficult schedule doesn’t doom a team like it did in the four-team format.

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Remember when Commanders owner Daniel Snyder…

One last look back at some of Daniel Snyder’s many lowlights as owner of Washington.

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NFL owners will vote on the sale of the Washington Commanders from Daniel Snyder to Josh Harris for $6.05 billion Thursday. Sometime Thursday afternoon, the Commanders — after 24 years of Snyder — will have a new owner.

We remember some of Snyder’s follies on his last day as owner:

  • Had become the owner in May 1999, and Charley Casserly was suddenly resigning as General Manager in July 1999. What GM resigns just as training camp is opening?
  • In the offseason leading up to the 2000 season, he signed aging free agents Bruce Smith, Jeff George, Andre Reed, Deion Sanders, and Mark Carrier. He not only overpaid all of them but why would Snyder overpay Sanders so much when he had just been released by the Cowboys and was available in early June?
  • Upon Sanders being released, suddenly, the Redskins released Brian Mitchell. They actually released Mitchell for MUCH, MUCH less than they gave Sanders? What were they thinking?
  • Fired head coach Norv Turner with the team at 7-6 in the 2000 season and immediately hired Pepper Rodgers as VP of Football Operations? Snyder was ready to hire Rodgers, who had never coached in the NFL, but was persuaded that was not a wise step.
  • Hired Marty Schottenheimer as head coach and Director of Football Operations, then fired him after the 8-8 2001 season, demanding that he again have power over football decisions and not Marty? Then hired Steve Spurrier the next day?
  • Hired Steve Spurrier and brought back and rehired Vinny Cerrato as head of player personnel?
  • Shocked all of us announcing he had hired Joe Gibbs to return to coach the Redskins in January of 2004?
  • When Joe Gibbs retired after four seasons, Snyder hired Jim Zorn to be his offensive coordinator. Why would Snyder do this, not permitting a new head coach to select his own staff? Thus, he couldn’t find anyone to take the job, so he then hired Zorn to be his head coach in 2008, though Zorn had never been a coordinator in the NFL. What?

This only takes us up to 2008, and I am already tired of remembering all of this.

Welcome to Washington, Mr. Josh Harris.

We certainly welcome more competency in the ownership and leadership of the Washington NFL franchise than we have experienced since 1999.

You can follow Ivan Lambert on Twitter @IvanLambert18 and Commanders Wire @Washington_Wire

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 best NFL fits for quarterback Anthony Richardson

Pat Dooley breaks down the 12 best fits for former Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson in the upcoming NFL draft.

The NFL draft will be on Thursday and we will finally find out what we have been hearing for what feels like six months.

Like, where is [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] going?

The dissection moves to a second phase then. It’s no longer about broad jumps and 40 times. The next examinations will be more personal.

There is also this dynamic that some Gator fans feel – they want to be proud of a Gator going high in the draft but that also means questions about why Florida could not get more than 6-7 out of him.

Let it go.

Just watch the games, as [autotag]Steve Spurrier[/autotag] used to say.

In this edition of Dooley’s Dozen, we’ll look at the 12 best landing spots for the former Eastside Ram.