Steve Spurrier, the head football coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks for the past 11 years, announced his resignation from the team on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Apparently the 2-4 start this season, along with losing eight of their past nine conference games was enough to let the Head Ball Coach know that it was time for him to step aside.
He commented at a press conference on Tuesday, “My answer has always been the same: If it starts going south, starts going bad, then I need to get out. ... It's time for me to get out of the way and give somebody else a go at it.”
There had been rumblings about his possible retirement after last season’s 7-6 finish following three straight 11-win seasons. However, Spurrier felt that this year’s team had potential: “I thought we had a better team. I thought I could help us be a better team. I was wrong. I guess we're all guilty in the preseason of thinking we're going to be better than we are.”
Spurrier took South Carolina football to heights it had never known. Before his arrival, the Gamecocks had only experienced one season that eclipsed 10 wins. Spurrier finishes his coaching career as the second winningest coach in the SEC behind legendary University of Alabama coach Paul William “Bear” Bryant, as well as holding the most victories at both South Carolina and Florida.
The co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Shawn Elliot has been named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Some speculations about who the next head coach for the Gamecocks will be include Kirby Smart, the Defensive Coordinator for Alabama; Mark Stoops of Kentucky; Tom Herman of Houston; and Justin Fuente of Memphis.
In their first game without Spurrier at the helm they defeated Vanderbilt 19-10. Elliot received his first win as a head coach with Spurrier, “out of the way.”