Reliving Ray Goff

The OBC is gearing up to get his digs in at the Dawgs this season.

“Georgia will be the trendy pick, but I like the Gators getting back to Atlanta,” Spurrier recently told the SEC Network.

If that comes to pass, you can already hear him recycling one of his greatest hits (“Why is it that during recruiting season they sign all the great players, but when it comes time to play the game, we have all the great players? I don’t understand that. What happens to them?”), can’t you?

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Sure beats working for a living.

Coming from a guy who bailed on his team mid-season, this is hardly surprising:

Steve Spurrier was already enjoying retirement but said he’s enjoying it even more after seeing some of the new NCAA rules, particularly the early signing period and players taking official visits in April, May and June. “I sort of liked an offseason. There is no offseason now,” Spurrier told ESPN. “It’s year around, and guys go, go, go, but a lot of guys like that. They don’t go to the beach. They don’t play golf. They don’t travel. They don’t do other things in life. I think it helped me last 30 years as a head coach because I did have an offseason.”

Serious question:  of all the great head coaches in college football history, was Spurrier the least hard-working?  If the answer is yes, that’s kind of a compliment, if you think about it.

Steve Spurrier has some advice.

“To me, the way you last 30 years, obviously, you’ve got to win a lot more than you lose,” Spurrier said. “You’ve got to play by the rules, which is not hard to do. I don’t understand why coaches brag about following the rules and this, that and the other. That’s not hard to do.

“You’ve got to get along with your bosses – your AD, your president, sometimes even some big boosters can be your bosses. Just the ability to get along with people. Have common sense and so forth. (Ohio) coach (Frank) Solich, he reminds me of a guy that’s done that. He’s done it a long time, and I feel like (Troy) coach (Neal) Brown’s going to do it a long time, too. But get along with people. If you want to have a job for a long time, don’t be one of those guys that think you have all the answers. Be respectful and so forth.“

Yeah, that worked for him.

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UPDATE:  Retirement means more kibitzing.

“Let’s see what Kirby’s got …,” Spurrier said, turning up the volume on the flatscreen across from his desk. It is tuned to the SEC Network.

“It ain’t easy out there,” Spurrier said watching the press conference of Georgia’s Kirby Smart. “He doesn’t have a quarterback who can run.”

Soon after, Ole Miss’ Hugh Freeze appeared on the screen.

“It’s tough to play that opening game against Florida State in Orlando,” Spurrier said. “All summer you talk about it, then you go down there and get your butt beat.”

Finally, there is a biting critique of Missouri as coach Barry Odom popped up on the TV.

“All of a sudden, instead of running the ball like they used to, they’re a passing team,” Spurrier said. “Now they’re all sorts of soft. They can’t stop the run and they can’t run. Bo Schembechler, what’d he say? Running teams are tougher teams.”

Maybe his heart isn’t into it, but I think he’d make a great broadcast color guy.

Dawgs and Gators, living together

Steve Spurrier, aging mellow like a fine wine?

The irony of Steve Spurrier, noted tormentor of the Georgia Bulldogs as an opposing coach, accepting an award in Georgia didn’t escape notice Thursday night.

Spurrier received an award for career-long contributions to the sport during the College Football Awards show, held at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta and televised nationally on ESPN.

Afterward, a reporter asked Spurrier if he had been tempted to mark the occasion and location by taking one more dig at the Dogs during his in-show remarks.

“I hope me and the Bulldogs are buddies a little bit,” Spurrier replied. “Can’t ever be too big a buddies, though. I’m back working at Florida.”

A buddy?  Oh, hells no.  Where’s the fun in that?

“Oh, I’m a little bored,” he said.

Steve Spurrier is tanned, rested and ready.  Just sayin’.

“That dang Gurley guy…”

I gotta admit this is pretty funny.  (h/t)

I wonder how long Dabo plans on saving that voice mail.

Serves you right to suffer.

At least it sucked for Spurdog in the end…

Throughout a coaching career that included the United States Football League, two moribund programs and two national championship games, you said the most stressful point in your career was last season. Can you elaborate?

I was at the end of my coaching career. Obviously, I wish I’d gone out a year earlier. I had two sons on the coaching staff, the pay was pretty good — there were a lot of reasons to stay. But the main reason was the stress level of the 2015 season. The year before our defense really struggled; we gave up more yards, more points, than any defense in South Carolina history. And we didn’t fix it.

Doubt he’ll fret too much about Boom having to clear the rubble he left, though.