HOOVER, Ala. – And to think this annual summer joyride almost didn’t happen.
Steve Spurrier is back here again, cracking jokes and firing off defining statements and talking about ball the way only he can. This is news only because eight months ago, after an ugly loss to rival Clemson capped off an even uglier regular season of six losses, Spurrier nearly walked away from it all.
SEC: Non-con schedule rankings | HAYES: Hype real for AU's Johnson | McElwain's big project
Yep, nearly packed it in and headed for the beach. He avoided the idea of it Tuesday, but those close to him say it was a lot more reality than he’d ever admit.
“Listen, you ever lose four out of five games that you had a chance to win … we never lost the way we were losing,” Spurrier said. “It wears on you a little bit.”
Now the man who just turned 70, who redefined football in the SEC in the 1990s at Florida and built South Carolina – South Flippin’ Carolina – into an SEC heavyweight, says all is good in Columbia. How, you ask?
Spurrier says beating Miami in the Independence Bowl rejuvenated him, and we’re supposed to believe that an entire program got a shot of energy from beating a bad Miami team in a game that means absolutely nothing.
Here’s reality: Spurrier is still coaching because he loves the idea of competing. And if he leaves, that innate core of who he is suddenly is gone.
“That retirement thing, I don’t think I’d be very good at it,” Spurrier said. “I’d go to the beach and stay 4-5 days, and (it’s) let’s get out of here, we’ve had enough.”
This isn’t so much about a coach as it is a man – a man who clearly sees the end and doesn’t want to give in, doesn’t want to allow himself to embrace something that’s for other guys, not him. You know, like every other 70-something on the planet.
Why would he? He’s 70 but he looks like he’s in his 50s. He’s winning at South Carolina, of all places.
Before last year’s 7-6 finish, he had a string of three straight 11-win seasons in the toughest conference in the game at a place that was an utter laughingstock for its previous 100-plus years of football. Who in their right mind would walk away from that?
So he swallows hard on 7-6 – something he swore when he was younger that he would never, ever, do – and learns how to “rejuvenate.” He finds a way to cope.
He talked about Tennessee and Arkansas doing “cartwheels” about finishing 7-6, so why shouldn’t South Carolina?
He talked about two people running for president (Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump) closing in on 70 and running for the leader of the free world.
He talked about 69-year-old Mike Krzyzewski winning a national title at Duke in April.
He talked about “breezing” through his 50s and then “breezing” through his 60s and hopefully doing the same through his 70s.
“He’s just a great man to be around,” says South Carolina wideout Pharoh Cooper. “I don’t ever see him as (an older coach). I just see him as my coach.”
Spurrier walked to the dais to begin this annual (and now legendary) back and forth by preemptively (and playfully) calling out those in the media.
“See a lot of familiar faces here,” he said. “I figured a bunch of you guys were retired by now.”
This isn’t about coaching. It’s not about wins and losses or one of the greatest characters in the history of the game. It’s about a man and the need to compete.
Years ago competing meant SEC and national championships. Now it’s a December game in Shreveport, La.
“You look at the players you’ve recruited, they look you in the eye and say I’m coming here for you, coach,” Spurrier said. “It’s tough to walk away from these guys. If we go bad, I’ll be the first one to say you need a new coach in there.”
Then, as only Spurrier can do, he reminded everyone that he’s the youngest coach in the SEC to have won four straight bowl games.
Competing to the very end.