THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502030635
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
As an NFL quarterback, Steve Spurrier earned dubious fame as the leader of the expansion 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They were the 0-14 stragglers whose coach, John McKay, when asked his opinion of his team's execution, responded, ``I'm in favor of it.''
Spurrier loves to use that line on the speaking tour, which brought him to the 50th annual Norfolk Sports Club Jamboree as the featured guest Thursday night.
Those Tampa Bay days could be another reason why Spurrier, for five years the hugely successful coach at the University of Florida, his alma mater, said he has no interest in returning to the pro game. Zero and 14 can give you a bunch of bad memories.
``Every now and then I'm asked, `Do you want to coach at the next level?' '' Spurrier said Thursday afternoon. ``And I say, `Well, I noticed last Sunday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had 38,000 at their game, and we have 84,000 every game we play at home.' I think maybe I'm at the next level, the biggest level.
``I'd probably make a little more money, but they pay me pretty good. I'm pretty fortunate to have the job I've got.''
And despite Florida's persistent trouble with intrastate rival Florida State, the school has to feel fortunate to have him.
The Gators are 1-4-1 against Florida State under Spurrier - 1-7-1 in their last nine meetings - including a haunting 31-31 tie last November and a 24-17 loss in the Sugar Bowl last month.
But when it comes to the Southeastern Conference championship, Florida has all but hammerlocked that baby since Spurrier's arrival from Duke in 1990.
Spurrier's high-performance offense - born at Duke, where he was 20-13-1 from 1987 to 1989 - has carried Florida to the SEC title in 1990 and 1991 and now two years running. Only Alabama, the national champion in 1992, has kept Spurrier from going 5 for 5 - though Florida's 1990 title is unofficial because of previous NCAA sanctions.
As a whole, the championships are what have made the Gators' Florida State failures more endurable, Spurrier said. Even the one in November, when Florida took a 31-3 lead into the fourth quarter and was stunned by the Seminoles' 28 consecutive points.
``They came back and tied us and then beat us in the Sugar Bowl, so we got about what we deserved, not holding a 28-point lead,'' Spurrier said. ``I don't lose any sleep over that. You don't get a ring for beating them, but you get a ring for winning the conference championship. You get the memory of a lifetime. That's the biggest for me.
``Yeah, we'd like to beat them, but you can't beat everybody in life. They don't beat Miami very often, and we're not beating them very often. But fortunately, we're beating everybody else.''
With no national titles, Spurrier is a solid third in his state behind Miami and Florida State. That does not erase the reality that Gator football has never had it so good.
The Gators are 49-12-1 under Spurrier, with at least nine victories each season. Not only had Florida never won an official SEC title before Spurrier, it had never won as many as nine games so many years in a row.
His offenses consistently rank in the nation's top 10 in yards and touchdowns. Still, Spurrier said it isn't hard to fend off the interest he fields each year from NFL general managers.
``The teams that have called me in the past have asked if I'm interested in talking about the job. I've said, `No,' '' said Spurrier, 49, who in the mid-'80s coached the Tampa Bay Bandits for three seasons in the now-defunct United States Football League.
``Now, if somebody wants to offer a job, you can always listen to that. No one's ever thrown a deal at me that I couldn't refuse, put it that way, but I don't expect them to anytime soon. And there's a good chance I would refuse it, anyway.''
Spurrier, who was born in Miami Beach but moved to Johnson City, Tenn., at 12, said he likes his Florida lifestyle too much. So many warm days on the golf course, and so much structure to college coaching, in terms of recruiting days allowed, practice time, etc.
``The NFL guys seem like they're all trying to outwork each other. They practice year-round,'' Spurrier said. ``So the lifestyle of a college coach I think is better for me than as a pro coach, because they have rules that keep everything in place.''
He is a vocal advocate of changing one rule, though, and installing a Division I playoff system. But Spurrier doesn't see it happening.
``If the NFL started operating like college football, everybody would laugh,'' Spurrier said. ``What if they said, `OK, we'll let the sports writers vote and the 49ers, you won your division, you'll play the AFC East winner in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl.
``We can't be right and everybody else in the world wrong, can we?'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
NFL teams may want Steve Spurrier to coach, but he says he's happy
with the college game - the real ``biggest level.''
by CNB