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South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier the Most Impressive Coach in College Football

By Caleb Calhoun

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For 24 straight years of coaching in college football, South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier has not had a losing season.

Let’s say that again.

For 24 straight years of coaching in college football, South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier has not had a losing season.

A 24-21 win over the Miami Hurricanes in Shreveport secured this year’s winning season.

The last time he had a losing record was when he was in his first year at Duke in 1987. And that was his first season coaching college football.

A losing season at Duke always counts as a mulligan.

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Since then, he has had a winning season every year in college except for one, when he went .500.

In 12 years at Florida, Spurrier never had fewer than 9 wins in a season along with four straight SEC titles. And then, at South Carolina, he had three straight 11-win and Top 10 finish seasons.

Sure, the Gamecocks were 7-6 this year in a disappointing season. But reaching these milestones are things hardly any coach can reach.

And it makes a strong case to put Spurrier on the Mount Rushmore of college football coaches.

He may only have one national title, but his other accomplishments are so incredible that there is no way he can’t be considered one of the greatest coaches of all time.

We’re talking about this in a disappointing season for the Gamecocks in which they drastically underachieved.

That is because a disappointing season for Spurrier is 7-6 at a college football program that has no history of winning consistently before he got there.

This is why this game was so important today. For Spurrier, to continue that unprecedented streak had to be crucial.

Other coaches may have a similar streak. None of them have them with the entire streak being in the SEC or at Duke.

And there are explanations for this season. South Carolina made a transition to a 3-4 defense, which is always tough, and Spurrier, the offensive genius, had to make Dylan Thompson look decent at quarterback.

Even with those two hurdles, South Carolina was still very close to being an 11-2 team again with heartbreaking losses to Missouri, Kentucky, Auburn, and Tennessee.

Remember that even before the three consecutive 11-win seasons, South Carolina won the SEC East, another unprecedented accomplishment.

So as a result, we have to spend a little more time acknowledging Spurrier’s greatness.

Saturday’s win in the Independence Bowl required us to do that.

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