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Steve Spurrier Shots at Tennessee are Old, Desperate

ByCaleb Calhoun|

Why does Steve Spurrier continue to troll the Tennessee Volunteers?

Going on four decades as a head coach, South Carolina Gamecocks Coach Steve Spurrier has earned himself some leeway.

Spurrier’s antics, such as refusing to talk to specific reporters he does not like, refusing to answer questions at a press conference last year, and of course, taking shots at other programs, have all been earned.

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If you are a media guy, Spurrier gives you such great quotes, is so brutally honest, and has such a background of success that you can’t not like the guy.

But his most recent jab on Tennessee is not one to applaud. It’s actually pathetic.

After failing to meet expectations with a 7-6 season last year, expectations that never should have existed, Spurrier took another jab at the program he grew up just 90 miles away.

Sorry coach, but this one is not an honest jab. It’s desperation.

In the 1990s, when Spurrier made the infamous “You can’t spell citrus without UT” quote along with his statements that Peyton Manning came back to Tennessee to be three-time Citrus Bowl MVP and bringing up the fact that Tennessee didn’t even win their state championship in 1996 after losing to Memphis, he could back up what he said.

Spurrier’s Florida Gators were defending national champions and in the midst of a five-game winning streak against the Vols, who had not won an SEC championship since 1990 at the time.

But this time, even tough Tennessee hasn’t won an SEC title since 1998  and is in an unprecedented drought, the Vols have beaten his Gamecocks two years in a row. Let’s not forget that in 2013, Tennessee ruined a chance at a national title by upsetting South Carolina in 2013 despite falling to 5-7.

And in 2014, his Gamecocks blew a 14-point lead with less than 5 minutes left that broke Spurrier’s heart so much that he could not bring himself to answer questions in the postgame press conference.

Yes, both teams were 7-6 last year, but this time, in a major anomaly, Spurrier is leaving out the full truth here, which he rarely does.

Everybody can see that after a 7-6 season with a very young team and two straight Top 5 recruiting classes, the Vols seem to be on the path to a brighter future. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks fell grossly short of expectations this year and now seem to be a program on the decline.

To be fair to Spurrier, his statement at least gave a dose of reality that it is idiotic to think South Carolina is on the decline because they underachieved one year in which they had a new quarterback and installed a new defense.

But for Butch Jones and the Vols to beat him two years in a row as they are rebuilding, Spurrier looks like the outdated guy with this quote.

By the way, the signs that Spurrier is slipping show in his own state, where he has met his match in Dabo Swinney. Remember him trying to take a shot at Clemson’s stadium being named Death Valley and confusing it with LSU’s stadium?

Well, Swinney was quick to respond noting that USC could be confused with Southern California.

So his jabs aren’t where they used to be.

He never gives coach speak, even of his own team. And his installation of a new offense to the SEC in the 1990s made his teams the most fun to watch as well.

And his other jabs, the “Ray Goof” jab at former Georgia coach Ray Goff, calling FSU “Free Shoes University,” and saying that the real tragedy of a fire that burned 20 books at Auburn was that some of them hadn’t been colored yet are hilarious.

But this jab at Tennessee shows a Spurrier looking desperate, not a Spurrier that is intimidating.

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