Sunday, November 19, 2006

Rumor has it...


Spurrier may be headed to Miami. ESPN.com and SportsCenter report that South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is the top candidate to replace Larry Coker at The U.

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Spurrier says publicly that he is not a candidate, but is it really that hard to imagine this guy--who loves the state of Florida, hates the facilities at USC, and has on various occasions referred to his team as "dumbasses," "idiots," and "losers"--moving to the kind of school where he's got a chance to get another national title?

Chime in here.

4 comments:

Woody said...

KEEP THAT ASS OUT OF THE ACC! We've already got one: Coach K.

Stanimal said...

This is all going to depend on what Miami is willing to offer. There isn't a coach in the NCAA who can't be bought, and I'm not sure Spurrier is an exception.

But for the most part, I don't see Spurrier leaving. I believe what the guy says publicly here. If he wanted to return to the state of Florida, he could have done so in the first place. I think what Spurrier wants is to turn South Carolina around and win an SEC championship there. The school is working on improving facilities and I highly doubt that Spurrier is growing tired of his golf memberships at some of the most prestigious courses in the southeast, a perk only available to him at South Carolina. If Miami offers him a big time contract, then maybe we'll see him move, but I think you can expect to see Spurrier wearing a maroon visor next year.

That being said, I think that the person who people should keep their eyes on is Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin. He's currently in the role of athletic director, but has said "never say never" in response to questions of whether he would return to coaching. He also has a close relationship with Donna Shalala (who I have my own reservations about after the Miami incident but that is for a different post).

Another point which needs to be made in this regard is the self-inflicted stain on Miami's image. Not only is a coach going to have to come in and turn them into a winning program, he's going to have to really clean house on a program that has taken several steps backwards. There's more to Miami's problems than a losing record. Any candidate is going to have to deal with that aspect, and that makes the job less desirable for anyone.

At this early point in the process, that is how I view the situation. Of course Coker hasn't even been canned yet, so it's pretty early to predict what'll happen.

Seamus O'Toole said...

Word has it he'll be canned after the BC game.

Anonymous said...

Steve Spurrier is a great coach. Vanderbilt has no answer for Jeff Green. AC/DC rocks.