Assistant coach Florida (1978) Spurrier spent fall 1977 out of football, living in Gainesville with his young family and considering possible career choices. While not officially connected with the University of Florida at the time, he was often on campus, running at the university's track and attending football games as a fan. The changes did not bring many positive results. While Florida's passing attack improved and former option quarterback
Cris Collinsworth was named to the All-SEC team as a
wide receiver under Spurrier's tutelage, the
1978 Gators' overall scoring output was almost identical to that of 1977 at about 22 points per game. The team's record also slumped to 4–7, leading to Dickey's dismissal. Spurrier expressed an interest in becoming Florida's next head coach but was not a serious candidate due to his lack of experience, and
Clemson coach
Charley Pell was hired soon after the conclusion of the season. Pell chose not to retain any of Dickey's coaching staff, leaving Spurrier without a job. In later years, Spurrier has repeatedly thanked Doug Dickey for giving him a chance to get into coaching with no prior experience.
Georgia Tech (1979) Spurrier was unsure if he wanted to continue pursuing a coaching career after his unpleasant experience at Florida, stating that he would only accept a position "if the opportunity was really right." Like Dickey at Florida, Rodgers sought to shift Georgia Tech's offense from a wishbone attack to a more passing-oriented offense. And also like Dickey, Rodgers's efforts did not produce immediate results. The Yellow Jackets began the season 1–5–1 and did not score more than 14 points against a
Division I-A opponent over its first seven games. Spurrier, who had not been tasked with constructing a game plan and had seldom been allowed to call plays up to that point, asked Coach Rodgers for a larger role on the staff and was allowed to take control of the offense for the eighth game of the season, against
Duke. Spurrier asked incoming head coach
Bill Curry if he would be retained as Georgia Tech's quarterback coach and was told that he was one of "two or three" candidates for the job, prompting him to seek employment elsewhere.
Duke (1980–1982) In 1980, Spurrier was hired to be the
offensive coordinator at
Duke University by head coach
Red Wilson, who had been impressed by Spurrier's coaching abilities the previous season when Georgia Tech had upset Wilson's Duke squad. Wilson gave the young coach free rein to design the offense, coach the quarterbacks, and call the plays, and Spurrier met the challenge by developing a record-breaking offense that Duke fans nicknamed "Air Ball". Under Spurrier, Blue Devils quarterback
Ben Bennett set an NCAA record for career passing yardage, receiver
Chris Castor was named ACC player of the year, and Duke's 1982 team became the first in
Atlantic Coast Conference history to average more than 300 passing yards per game. Duke earned two straight winning seasons in 1981 and 1982, a feat that the program had not achieved since 1970 and 1971 and would not achieve again until Spurrier returned as the school's head football coach later in the decade. They also upset Tennessee in Knoxville 25–24 in 1982 on an 88-yard touchdown pass during Spurrier's first return to the state as an opponent. Success at a school not known for its football program also built Spurrier's reputation as an innovative young offensive coach who could improvise and succeed without seeming to work very hard.
Head coach Tampa Bay Bandits (1983–1985) In 1983, Spurrier returned to Tampa to accept his first head coaching position with the
Tampa Bay Bandits of the new
United States Football League (USFL). At 37 years old, Spurrier was the youngest head coach in professional football at the time. "BanditBall" was marketed as a fun alternative to the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were in the midst of a record-setting streak of losing seasons. Spurrier's wide-open offense was prominently featured, as was starting quarterback
John Reaves, who had broken many of Spurrier's passing records at the University of Florida and had grown up in Tampa. The team narrowly missed the playoffs in their first season and made the postseason the next two years. Overall, Spurrier led the Bandits to 35–21 record before the USFL dissolved after the
1985 season.
Duke (1987–1989) Spurrier spent 1986 out of football as the USFL's planned move to a fall schedule never took place. When it became clear that the Bandits would not retake the field, Spurrier began to seek new coaching opportunities. He interviewed to be the head coach at
Mississippi State, but was passed over in favor of
Rockey Felker. He also sought to be the head coach at
LSU, but was passed over in favor of
Mike Archer. Finally, Spurrier returned to Duke University as the Blue Devils' new head coach and offensive coordinator in
1987. In what would become a recurring trend at most of his coaching stops, Spurrier's teams regularly beat their biggest rivals while he brashly "needled" them with jokes and "zingers" that were amusing to his fans but infuriating to opponents. Spurrier's Duke squads went 3–0 against archrival
North Carolina, including a 41–0 victory in
Chapel Hill that clinched a share of the 1989 ACC title. At Spurrier's suggestion, that win was followed by a joyful team picture taken in front of the
Kenan Memorial Stadium scoreboard, a photo that still rankles some Tar Heel supporters.
Florida (1990–2001) In December 1989, Spurrier accepted an offer to return to the University of Florida as the Gators' "head ball coach." He had privately expressed interest in the job in early October, when Florida coach
Galen Hall was fired mid-season for his alleged involvement in an NCAA rules violation and prominent Gator boosters reached out to Spurrier. Spurrier asked to delay an official announcement until both Florida and Duke had played in their respective bowl games. As rumors swirled, however, Spurrier broke the news to his Duke team on December 27, the night before they played in the
1989 All-American Bowl. They played poorly and lost, and Spurrier later decided that he should have waited to tell his team until after the game, and that when it came to coaching jobs, "it's best to make your decision and move on quickly". During his introductory press conference on New Year's Eve 1989, Spurrier said that he wanted to immediately change several things, including bringing back blue jerseys (Florida had switched from traditional blue to orange in 1979 under Charley Pell), bringing back natural grass to
Florida Field (artificial turf had been installed in the early 1970s), and putting
Miami back on the schedule (the schools' annual series had ended after the 1987 game). He stressed the need to beat traditional rivals Auburn, Georgia, and Florida State, against whom Florida had gone 0–9 over the previous three seasons. Finally, he worked to convince Gator players and fans alike that it was possible to win championships at Florida, which had still never won an officially recognized conference title in 83 years of football. To that effect, he put together a booklet called "The Gator Mentality", in which is collected coaching tips and theories that he used himself along with inspirational quotes he shared with his players. Spurrier inherited a team under
NCAA investigation for the second time in five years. He successfully steered the program away from the previous scandals and led the Gators to the best record in the SEC in his first year, though they were declared ineligible for the league title due to NCAA probation handed down during the season. Building on the success of Spurrier's first year, Florida finally captured their first officially recognized SEC title in 1991. Spurrier used a two-quarterback offense, rotating quarterbacks
Doug Johnson and Noah Brindise in and out of the game, confusing the Florida State defense and its veteran coordinator,
Mickey Andrews, and giving Spurrier more time to counsel his quarterbacks on the sidelines without having to use time-outs. in contrast to the ball-control, rush-oriented offenses that were traditionally played in the SEC. His innovative offensive schemes forced many coaches in the SEC to change their offensive and defensive play-calling. While his offensive style used a more wide-open passing game than the SEC was accustomed to, Spurrier was also able to utilize a constant group of talented running backs. Many of them would later go on to have success at the NFL level, including
Errict Rhett,
Fred Taylor,
Terry Jackson, and
Earnest Graham. Spurrier and his Gators accomplished a number of memorable feats during his twelve seasons in Gainesville (1990–2001), including: • Won one national championship (
1996), and played for another (
1995). Soon after becoming head coach, he insisted that the artificial turf then in use at the stadium be replaced with natural grass, and the "Swamp" remains a natural surface field today. His rivalry with the
Tennessee Volunteers and their coach
Phillip Fulmer became highly publicized, as Spurrier would gig the Volunteers after the Gators' wins over Tennessee, saying that "you can't spell '
Citrus' without 'UT,'" a reference to the Citrus Bowl, which at the time had the contractual right to select the second-place SEC football team. He also said of
Peyton Manning, Tennessee's quarterback, "I know why Peyton came back for his senior year: he wanted to be a three-time Citrus Bowl MVP!" Before Spurrier returned to coach his Gamecocks against the Gators in 2006 and 2008, his most recent visits to Gainesville were on September 2, 2006, to take part in the Gators' celebration of the 10-year anniversary of their 1996 championship season, and on September 30, 2006, when he was one of the first four inductees into the
Gator Football Ring of Honor, alongside
Danny Wuerffel,
Emmitt Smith, and
Jack Youngblood. At both appearances, Spurrier received standing ovations from the crowd. When he was inducted into the Gators' "Ring of Honor", Spurrier humbly announced to the sell-out crowd at
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium: "I'd just like to thank coach
Ray Graves for bringing the skinny kid from Tennessee to the University of Florida." Additionally, in 2016, the university added his name to the playing surface at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium; it is now Steve Spurrier-Florida Field. Spurrier has not let his affection for the University of Florida get in the way of a budding Florida-South Carolina rivalry, however. In 2005, his Gamecocks upset the Gators 30–22 in
Columbia, costing the Gators a shot at the
SEC championship. And in November 2010, he coached South Carolina to a 36–14 victory in Gainesville (their first ever on Florida Field) in a game that decided the SEC Eastern Division title.
Washington Redskins (2002–2003) Ten days after Spurrier resigned his position at the University of Florida, he became head coach of the NFL's
Washington Redskins. Spurrier's five-year, $25 million contract with the Redskins was the most lucrative coaching contract in the history of the NFL at the time. The Redskins went 4–1 in the preseason (including a 40–10 win in Tampa against Spurrier's last professional team, the Buccaneers) and won the first game of the regular season 31–23, with
Shane Matthews throwing for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns against the
Arizona Cardinals. However, subsequent opponents were able to slow Spurrier's offense, mainly by using disguised
blitzes to disrupt the passing game. By the end of the season, the Redskins were ranked 25th (out of 32 teams) in scoring offense and finished with a 7–9 record. It was only Spurrier's second losing campaign in 18 years as a head coach, the first being his first year at Duke. In
2003, the Redskins started 2–0 but finished 5–11, with several close losses coming down to the 4th quarter. The offense was a bit improved, but the departure of
defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis to become the head coach of the
Cincinnati Bengals saw the defense fade from 5th in scoring defense during the previous season to 24th in 2003. The team as a whole faded late in the season, and were outscored 85–31 over their last three games. Spurrier resigned on December 30, 2003, choosing to walk away from $15 million still owed to him over the remaining three years of his contract. In a statement released by the team, Spurrier said "I apologize to Redskins fans that we did not reach a level of success that we had all hoped... It's a long grind and I feel (that) after 20 years as a head coach there are other things I need to do. I simply believe this is the right time for me to move on because this team needs new leadership." Spurrier's disappointing tenure as an NFL head coach has been heavily scrutinized and analysed. During his first season in Washington, Spurrier brought in several of his former stars from Florida, including quarterbacks
Danny Wuerffel and
Shane Matthews, leading to criticism that he played favorites. Also criticized was his decision to bring along most of his coaching staff from Florida even though they had little or no experience coaching professional football (the exception being Marvin Lewis, who was a veteran NFL coach). As the 2002 season progressed, an increasing number of philosophical, strategic, and player personnel differences began to cause a rift between Spurrier and the Washington front office, including team owner
Daniel Snyder. Snyder pushed for the drafting of
Tulane quarterback
Patrick Ramsey in the
2002 NFL draft, and though Spurrier said that he would not play Ramsey very much during his rookie season, the coach was pressured to use him by team officials, and Ramsey was starting by game 4. The quarterback position continued to be a source of friction, particularly when, over Spurrier's objections, the front office decided to release Wuerffel before the start of Spurrier's second season. Spurrier later said that he "knew it was over" when he "wasn't allowed to pick the backup quarterback". After retiring from coaching, Spurrier further reflected on his NFL stint in several interviews. In a 2016 appearance on the
Paul Finebaum Show, Spurrier reflected that the Redskins might not have been the best choice for his jump to the NFL. "I went to the team that offered the most money instead of the best situation", he said. And in 2015, he told
David Feherty that, "The owner and the personnel guys, they picked the team. I couldn’t even pick the quarterback the second year. So I knew it wasn’t going to work, but that's ok. I probably didn’t do a very good job, and the situation wasn’t what I was looking for, so it was time to move on." In an interview with
The Washington Post in 2019, Spurrier said of his time in Washington that "I did a lousy job. The
GM did a lousy job. He happened to be the owner, so who needed to go?"
South Carolina (2005–2015) Throughout the
2004 football season, various sources openly speculated about Spurrier returning to coach in the college ranks once again, preferably for a program located in the southeastern United States and even more preferably, somewhere in his beloved
Southeastern Conference. The University of Florida was in the process of taking applications for a new coach after Spurrier's successor at Florida,
Ron Zook, was fired following the 2004 season. The timing seemed perfect for Spurrier's return to the Gators and Spurrier initially said that he wanted to be considered for his old job, but later removed his name from consideration stating that "12 years at Florida was probably long enough." Soon afterwards, rumors began circulating that
South Carolina Gamecocks' Athletic Director, Mike McGee, was actively pursuing Spurrier and that Spurrier was considering the
Gamecocks' offer. Again, the timing was perfect and on November 22, South Carolina coach
Lou Holtz announced his retirement and, during his final press conference, hinted that Spurrier might replace him. The next day, months of rumors were put to rest as Spurrier was introduced as South Carolina's new head coach. Spurrier had signed a seven-year deal that paid him $1.25 million per year and the Steve Spurrier era began for the Gamecocks. In
2005, his first season as the Gamecocks' new head coach, Spurrier led his
South Carolina Gamecocks with newfound humility. The Gamecocks, who were not expected to have a winning season by most pundits, rattled off a five-game
SEC winning streak for the first time in their fourteen-year SEC history. Included among those victories were historic wins at Tennessee (16–15) – the program's first win in
Knoxville who South Carolina had not beaten since 1939. Two days prior to South Carolina's
2006 season opener, Spurrier announced that he would kick off the athletics department's capital campaign with a $250,000 donation over five years. Spurrier's Gamecocks opened the 2006 season with a 15–0 win over
Mississippi State in
Starkville, where he was 0–2 while coaching the Florida Gators. With the victory, he reached 150 wins for his college coaching career. On September 30, Spurrier was inducted into the
Gator Football Ring of Honor in a
pre-game ceremony in
Gainesville. Later in the season on November 11, Spurrier returned to "The Swamp" to face off against his former
Gators team, which was then ranked sixth in the
BCS rankings. Trailing 17–16, the Gamecocks had a chance to win with a 48-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the game. Trailing 28–14 in the third quarter, South Carolina scored seventeen unanswered points to lead 31–28. With only seconds remaining, Clemson's field goal attempt missed wide left and the Gamecocks celebrated their first victory over Clemson in five years. On December 2, 2006, amid speculation he was a candidate for head coaching jobs at
Miami and
Alabama, Spurrier received a contract extension through 2012 and a raise from $1.25 million to $1.75 million annually. Spurrier and the Gamecocks went on to defeat the
Houston Cougars in the
Liberty Bowl on December 29, and finished the season 8–5. Spurrier became the first head coach in Gamecock football history to take a team to a bowl game in each of his first two seasons. The
2007 football season, got off to a quick start winning at SEC rival Georgia early in the season as well as Louisiana-Lafayette and South Carolina State, and climbed into the top 10 in the national rankings. South Carolina stumbled down the stretch dropping the final five games, including a home loss in the season finale to arch-rival Clemson. The 6–6 (3–5 SEC) season record marked the first non-winning college season for Spurrier since his first season at Duke in 1987. . Spurrier won his 100th SEC game on October 11, 2008, coaching the Gamecocks to a 24–17 victory over
Kentucky. In his ten seasons as the Gamecocks' head coach, Spurrier has beaten each of South Carolina's traditional SEC Eastern Division rivals at least five times. They lost to Connecticut in the PapaJohns.com Bowl 20–7. Spurrier's Gamecocks won the SEC Eastern Division championship for the first time in school history in
2010, clinching the title with a convincing 36–14 victory at "The Swamp" over the Florida Gators. It was a season of firsts for South Carolina, including their first win at Florida, first win over a No. 1 ranked team (Alabama), and first time sweeping the November "Orange Crush" portion of their schedule with wins over Tennessee, Florida and Clemson. Following a 9–3 regular season and an appearance in the SEC championship game, Spurrier was named SEC Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches in the conference. The Gamecocks had another strong season in
2011, beating every opponent in the division. However, losses to Arkansas and Auburn cost them a return appearance in the SEC title game. With a 34–13 rout of Clemson, the Gamecocks won 10 games for only the second time in their 119-year football history. In the
2012 Capital One Bowl, the Gamecocks dispatched Nebraska 30–13 to win their school-record 11th game. They also finished eighth in the AP Poll and ninth in the Coaches' Poll—their first top-ten finishes in a major media poll in school history. In
2012 Spurrier led the Gamecocks to their second-consecutive regular season with double-digit wins—something no Gamecock team had ever achieved. The 2012 regular season culminated with the annual season-ending game against Clemson at Clemson's Memorial Stadium. Spurrier and his Gamecocks emerged with a fourth consecutive double-digit victory over the Tigers. That win was also Spurrier's 65th win with the Gamecocks, vaulting him past
Rex Enright to become the winningest coach in South Carolina's history. Spurrier led the Gamecocks to a thrilling 33–28 victory in the
2013 Outback Bowl against the winningest program in college football, the Michigan Wolverines. The victory elevated the Gamecocks to an 11–2 record for the second consecutive season. Additionally, by finishing 8th in the Associated Press poll and 7th in the Coaches poll, South Carolina finished in Top 10 of both polls for the second year in a row. During the 2013 season, Spurrier led his Gamecocks to a third consecutive 11–2 record. Only two other programs (Alabama and Oregon) have won 11 or more games each of the last three seasons (2011–13). During the season, the Gamecocks defeated three teams that finished ranked in the Top 10 in the final AP Poll (Missouri, University of Central Florida, and Clemson). The Gamecocks were the only team to accomplish this feat. They also became the first and only team to defeat two teams that won BCS bowl games. Following their 34–24 win over Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl, the Gamecocks were ranked 4th in the final AP Poll, setting a record for the program. This also marked the third straight year that the Gamecocks finished with a Top 10 ranking in the final AP Poll. While defeating Clemson, again, the Gamecocks ran their winning streak over their archrival to five games, which is the longest winning streak in the rivalry, for either team, since 1940. The 31–17 score marked the fifth straight double-digit margin of victory over their ACC foe. Also, for the fifth straight year, the Gamecocks defense held the Tigers to 17 points or less. They would go on to defeat Wisconsin in the Capital One bowl 34–24 and would finish the year ranked #4, their highest finish ever in a season. The 2014 Gamecocks endured a disappointing season, going 7–6 overall and 3–5 against SEC opponents, and finishing in fifth place in their division. With 4 losses and only 2 wins by the middle of the 2015 season, Spurrier announced to his team and staff on October 12, 2015, that he had resigned as head coach. He publicly confirmed his intentions at a press conference the following day. Spurrier reiterated that he was not officially retiring, but added he would probably never coach again. A popular tradition, started during the
Sparky Woods era at USC, occurs on the last Saturday of July when the
University of South Carolina athletics department hosts the annual "Steve Spurrier Ladies Football Clinic." Only female fans are invited to attend the clinic where football coaches and players discuss the X's and O's with fans who want to understand the game better. All attendees get a tour of the football facilities, and finish the day running onto the football field through the players' tunnel accompanied by artificial smoke and theme music in the same way the team does during the season. The event was hosted by Spurrier and his wife Jerri.
Orlando Apollos (2019) In April 2018, Spurrier was named the head coach of the
Orlando Apollos of the
Alliance of American Football (AAF), a new spring football league that was slated to begin play in February 2019. Spurrier was the first coach or player to sign with the AAF, as he thought the four to five month per year commitment made the new league a "perfect job" for him to get back into coaching, giving him an opportunity to finish his career on another winning note – "It's a
mulligan in life," he explained. ==After coaching==