Spurrier still driven by desire to succeed at South Carolina

DESTIN, Fla. -- Originally, it was a four- or five-year gig. A nice retirement job. See what Steve Spurrier could get done at one of the SEC's more somnambulant programs, pull the rip cord in a few years and land on a golf course somewhere.

In the middle of the SEC spring meetings this week, Spurrier quietly re-committed to South Carolina.

"I'm back to four or five more [years]," he said.

Steve Spurier: 'It's time to make some history at South Carolina.' (Getty Images)

Try to imagine Spurrier, going into his fifth season, at South Carolina for a decade. He has. That's a major announcement for a 64-year-old whose program has continued to be something less than relevant in the SEC East.

Sure, the contract has four years left on it but everything else from here on has to be considered value added. Weren't we all expecting Spurrier to be a short timer in Columbia?

His legacy was set. The NFL foray had been a bust. If he wanted to attempt to tow Carolina out of the mud that was his business. But no one thought it would hold his interest for long.

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His first four seasons have produced only 28 victories. While that's a school record for any four-year period, it says more about what the program hasn't done in its history than what Spurrier has accomplished recently.

Outsiders expected more. Fans want more. There's something more at stake here than wins and losses. It's the man's career.

"I can't worry about what people remember," Spurrier said. "What I did at Duke is history. What I did at Florida is history. It's time to make some history at South Carolina."

This will be a difficult year to make it. In the East, Florida is the preseason No. 1. Georgia, last year's preseason No. 1, could have another 10-win season. Only 11 starters return in Columbia, the second-fewest in the SEC.

The risk, of course, is that one of the colorful figures of this college football generation becomes Willie Mays with the Mets. A legend trying to hang on.

"I feel like I did when I was 45," the coach said.

Looks it too. But when Steve Spurrier was 45, he was in his first season at Florida, a whole career ahead of him. At Carolina, he is the Gator in winter.

Three years in the program, Stephen Garcia was in his first spring practice. (Getty Images)

The man still has his coaching chops, but it has been a curious stay with the Gamecocks. Spurrier has quietly told at least one high-profile coaching friend that he can't understand why his offense hasn't been more productive. The defense has had to carry the Gamecocks at times. That might end up being the case again this season.

"We led the conference [in defense] after 10 weeks last year, [then] we pooped out," Spurrier said. "Our whole team pooped out at the end, which we've actually done the last two years."

Quarterback has been especially baffling. If nothing else, you expected Spurrier to have a big-time quarterback with which to groove. It hasn't happened.

Blake Mitchell had his moments. Syvelle Newton was a converted receiver. Chris Smelley transferred to Alabama, where he catches for the baseball team. Tommy Beecher transferred to Liberty.

That leaves us with Stephen Garcia, a one-time, big-time prospect, who has done everything possible to get kicked off the team.

Do you know Neal Lourie? Put it this way: Garcia has helped the Columbia attorney with his billable hours.

The quarterback was arrested three times in his first 15 months on campus. He has been at South Carolina three years and just completed his first spring practice.

"I will say this positive about Stephen Garcia," Spurrier said. "After the second incident, he basically got booted out of school. The school put all kinds of stipulations [on him] ... to be eligible. It's been a year now and he has done about 175 hours of community service. Everything they put on him, a lot of our coaches said he'd never be able to do."

There are sturdier foundations on which to build a season.

You root for Spurrier because there are not many 64-year-olds who can fit into the nickname "Spur Dog" comfortably. He is an imp who can needle just easily as slap you on the back.

Wins came easier for Spurrier at Florida -- he recorded 122 in 12 seasons. (Getty Images)

He energized a state, revolutionized a conference. Arguably the best SEC coach since Bear. People listened Tuesday when he wheeled on Lane Kiffin and confronted Tennessee's mouthy coach. It was telling that the youngest coach in Division I-A was speechless and, according to some reports, turned red after the admonishment.

The Ol' Ball Coach had spoken.

South Carolina will never be Florida, where Spurrier won 122 games in 12 seasons. But Spurrier can be the biggest thing ever at both schools. Something as small as a division title at South Carolina would leave the biggest footprint in the mediocre program's history.

But maybe it's too hard to recruit to Columbia, at least enough to punch a hole in the SEC East. Remember, he left Florida after the 2001 season. Today's quarterback prospects were 10 years old back then. To them maybe the Ol' Ball Coach is just Ol'.

Or maybe feeling and looking 45 is all he needs. Suddenly, staying a decade at Carolina doesn't sound so odd, especially when Spurrier revealed something else this week: It might be more rewarding for him to turn around South Carolina than anything he has ever accomplished.

"That's the challenge," he said. "That is what intrigues and gets me excited each day is to do it there. I'd rather do it there than do it somewhere that's already won the SEC."

Spoken like a man who can't worry about what people remember.