The former Florida Gator and current South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier has weighed in on the scandal surrounding his predecessor Urban Meyer.
Hands on Shoulder is My Philosophy Steve Spurrier, the former Florida Gator coach who preceded Urban Meyer, weighs in on the scandal that has engulfed his old school.
Urban Meyer coached the Florida Gators to two national championships before becoming the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Steve Spurrier, known as “The Head Ball Coach,” was the only other coach in school history to take the team to such heights.
Because the two former Gators coaches have so much in common, it’s no surprise that an Orlando radio presenter asked Spurrier to comment on the current Urban Meyer controversy.
The two greatest coaches in Florida Gator history are Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.
Steve Spurrier has a 127-27 record, Ron Zook has a 23-14 record, Urban Meyer has a 65-15 record, and Will Muschamp has a 28-21 record.
December 4, 2014 — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter)
In 1990, Steve Spurrier was hired as the football coach at his alma school, the University of Florida. In the 1990s, the former Heisman Trophy winner helped his Gators regain popularity, and the team became one of the best in college football.
Spurrier led the program to its first-ever National Championship in 1996 and went to major Bowl games in each of the following seasons. Spurrier went to the NFL with a 122-27 record after 12 seasons in Gainesville.
Spurrier was replaced by Ron Zook, and the Florida program deteriorated as a result. The squad finished 23-15 and lost all three of its Bowl appearances. When Zook stepped down before of the 2004 Peach Bowl, Florida hired Utah offensive coordinator Urban Meyer.
Meyer was only at Gainesville for six seasons, but he was a huge success. He led the Gators to a 65-15 record and a 5-1 record in bowl games during his tenure as head coach. In 2006 and 2008, he also guided the squad to two National Championships.
Florida hasn’t achieved the heights it attained under Meyer or Spurrier since he departed following the 2010 season. The school hasn’t competed for the championship since Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, and Dan Mullen took over, and the program suffered its first losing season since 1979 in 2013.
Following the incident, Spurrier offered Meyer some advise.
Here’s our chat with Steve Spurrier and football selections from this morning, in which the Head Football Coach addressed Urban Meyer’s bad judgment… https://t.co/0ruZXAuYS0
October 8, 2021 — Mike Bianchi (@BianchiWrites)
Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier are both restaurant entrepreneurs in addition to being former Florida Gators coaches. Spurrier’s Gridiron Grill debuted in Gainesville in August, according to WJHL.
Spurrier joined Mike Bianchi’s Open on Friday. Mike on Orlando’s 96.9 The Game. At his restaurant, the retired coach commented on the Urban Meyer controversy and expressed his perspective on interacting with fans:
I’m constantly taking photos with everyone at the restaurant, so Putting hands on shoulders is my attitude. Don’t even bother putting your hands on their backs. But, in any case, it was heartbreaking to see all of this, and, of course, everyone has a mobile phone these days, so you can forget about getting away with anything. But, in any case, it surprised me. I had no idea he would allow such a thing to happen.
Urban Meyer, according to Steve Spurrier
“You’ve always taken the team aircraft home, right?” the host pushed Spurrier into speaking a bit more. Meyer did, according to the coach, and it was “a bit odd” that he didn’t following the Jaguars’ Thursday Night Football defeat last week.
Will the NFL careers of the former Florida Gators coaches finish in the same way?
Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier (L-R) | Scott Halleran/Allsport; Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Another thing that Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier have in common is that they both tried their hand in the NFL.
For the 2002 NFL season, Spurrier switched from the Gators to the now-Washington Football Team. Spurrier’s professional career was not without its setbacks, but it was not a complete failure. Before returning to the SEC to coach the South Carolina Gamecocks, he went 7-9 in his first season and 5-11 the following.
Reports emerged during his tenure in the NFL that he didn’t put in the hours that other professional coaches do. The coach’s “Fun ‘n’ Gun” offense didn’t work at the next level, either. Spurrier is most known for bringing in a slew of ex-Gators, including Danny Wuerffel, Shane Matthews, Reidel Anthony, Willie Jackson, Chris Doering, and Jacquez Green, who all failed to make an impact in the NFL.
Spurrier, on the other hand, had a better start than Meyer. With defeats to the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers in between, Washington won its first game under Steve Spurrier against the Arizona Cardinals and Game 4 against the Tennessee Titans.
Meyer is off to a worse start than Spurrier, who is 0-4 and has never had to deal with a controversy like Meyer has. While the new Jaguars coach clearly intended to perform better in the NFL than Spurrier, it suddenly seems that he may not even last two seasons like The Head Ball Coach.
Sports Reference provided all stats.
RELATED: Former Jacksonville Jaguars Pro Bowl Linebacker Jonathan Vilma Explains How Different Levels of Players Will React to Urban Meyer Scandal
The post Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer’s Florida Gator predecessor, Speaks Out on the Scandal: “Hands on Shoulder is My Philosophy” first appeared on Sportscasting – Pure Sports.
Related Tags
- urban meyer nfl
- urban meyer contract