College Football: 25 greatest head coaches of the 21st century
By Dakota Cox
Best college football coaches of 21st century: 13. Steve Spurrier
- Duke Blue Devils (1987-89)
- Florida Gators (1990-01)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (2005-15)
Steve Spurrier had to make it somewhere on this list. One of the greatest college football coaches of all time, Spurrier certainly had his fair share of iconic moments.
He is one of the coaches who is known for what he has done off the field just as much as he is for what he did on the field. Spurrier was a legend in press conferences and interviews, always giving reporters a good sound bite or quote.
On the field, Spurrier was amazing. The only reason he is outside of the top 10 is because I am solely focusing on what these coaches did in the 21st century. That only gives Spurrier the second half of his career to put on his résumé. I can’t count things like his championship with the Gators in 1996.
However, Spurrier was great in the latter half of his career. In his final two seasons with the Gators, they won 20 total games. After briefly coaching the Washington Redskins, he decided to return to the college game as the head coach of South Carolina.
South Carolina historically struggled because of the competition in the SEC and the lack of recruiting ties in the state, but Spurrier was able to grow the program quickly upon arriving in Columbia in 2005.
It took time, but Spurrier was finally able to get three straight seasons with 11 wins. The only bad thing with his time with South Carolina was that he never made it to a huge bowl game. The biggest one was the Capital One Bowl. It was nothing like the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl that he played in with Florida in his final two seasons.
At the end of the day, Spurrier is an icon. You can’t count his early success on this list, but he was successful enough in tough situations to end his career to still make the top 15.