Coaches Hot Seat Prediction and Analysis of 2012 Season: South Carolina Gamecocks and Steve Spurrier
Coaches Hot Seat Prediction and Analysis of 2012 Season: South Carolina Gamecocks and Steve Spurrier
South Carolina Gamecocks
Head Coach: Steve Spurrier
Years at South Carolina: 7
Hot Seat Position: #114
Overall Coaching Record: 197 – 75 – 2 (.719)
Overall Won/Loss Record at South Carolina: 55 – 35 (.611)
Overall Conference Record at South Carolina: 29 – 27 (.518)
2011 South Carolina Record: Overall: 11 – 2 – SEC: 6 – 2
2012 South Carolina Schedule & Coaches Hot Seat Predictions
Aug 30 – at Vanderbilt – W
Sept 8 – East Carolina – W
Sept 15 – UAB – W
Sept 22 – Missouri – W
Sept 29 – at Kentucky – W
Oct 6 – Georgia – W
Oct 13 – at LSU – L
Oct 20 – at Florida – W
Oct 27 – Tennessee – W
Nov 10 – Arkansas – W
Nov 17 – Wofford – W
Nov 24 – at Clemson – L
Number of Cupcake Teams Played by South Carolina in 2012: 2 (UAB, Wofford)
Coaches Hot Seat 2012 South Carolina Predicted Record: 10 – 2
Coaches Hot Seat Analysis: Is it really possible that Steve Spurrier will be coaching his 8 th season at South Carolina in 2012?
YES, 2012 will be Steve Spurrier’s 8 th season in Columbia and when one considers that the Ol’ Ball Coach “only” spent 12 seasons at Florida (which seems like a lot more!) there is the very real chance that Stephen Orr Spurrier at the young age of 67 will match or exceed his 12 seasons at Florida with the Gamecocks and that is something none of us here at Coaches Hot Seat would have ever predicted.
Most of us here at Coaches Hot Seat were young boys when the name of Steve Spurrier first entered our brains when the Young Ball Players was then the punter and backup QB to John Brodie during 9 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers (1967 – 1975)…
…and although our fathers thought a lot of Spurrier’s toughness and passing ability we can honestly say that we don’t remember a lot of detail about Steve’s time with the 49ers, but the team did make three straight playoff appearances 1970 – 1972 and the Niners moved into the their “plush” new home Candlestick Park in 1971 which can now be easily identified as a DUMP!
The first time we saw Steve Spurrier in person as adults was 20 or so years later when a Florida-alum friend of ours that a couple of us here at Coaches Hot Seat lived next door too in Jacksonville, Florida when we were serving in the US Navy took us down to Gainesville for a Florida practice in the preseason camp before the 1990 college football season and what a Helluva sight that was to behold.
Yes, we had followed Spurrier’s coaching career with the Tampa Bay Bandits and with Duke football, but what we saw in Gainesville on that very hot day in the heat of the August in the Sunshine State was a practice unlike any we had ever been involved in or seen before because the focus of Spurrier’s practice seemed to be on some very specific fundamentals that he wanted his players to learn, the QB position in particular, and what was missing was the kind of meat-grinder practices with coaches going crazy that we had experienced in high school and college and had come to almost hate.
Yes, this was something much different entirely that was saw in Gainesville in August 1990 and besides the overall tone of the practice there was something else that jumped out at us almost immediately and that was the football was ALWAYS in the air and the balls were bring thrown all over the place and as we saw all of this going on we looked at each other and said something like….
“Oh, Damn this is going to be great fun!”
…which Robbie Andreu captured perfectly in an news article for the Sun-Sentinel in September 1990 in a preview of Spurrier’s first game at Florida against Oklahoma State:
Old, New and Blue: Spurrier Era Opens, Robbie Andreu, Sun-Sentinel, September 8, 1990
“Blue jerseys, grass and Florida`s most cherished football hero return to Florida Field today.
After nine months of planning and great anticipation, the curtain rises on the Steve Spurrier era when the Gators open the 1990 season against Oklahoma State (4 p.m., Florida Field, sellout expected, no TV).
Although Spurrier has tried to remain low-key about his return to UF, he realizes he is about to be swept up in the emotion of the moment.
“This is special,” Spurrier said. “The atmosphere will be a tremendous feeling for everyone involved. Something new is happening, and you can`t help but get excited.”
The old — as much as the new — excites the UF faithful. To them, this is the beginning of a nostalgic trip, a return to long-lost Gator traditions. The things that once represented UF`s most successful era are back — grass, blue jerseys and Spurrier.
“I think people are glad to see the old Florida traditions coming back,” Spurrier said.
Spurrier will downplay his return. When the Gators take the field before kickoff, Spurrier will be at the back of the line.
“I`m not a frontrunner. Our captains will lead us onto the field,” Spurrier said. “I`ll come on at the end, bringing up the rear.”
Once on the sideline, Spurrier will not take even a moment to revive memories of his playing days. He will be looking ahead, as a coach.
With Florida starting a new quarterback, sophomore Shane Matthews, Spurrier will have no time for nostalgia.
“Most of my thoughts are going to be on getting our quarterbacks (Matthews and junior Kyle Morris) ready to play. That`s what I can do to help this team the most,” Spurrier said. “As far as me returning, this shouldn`t be a special game. I plan on coaching a whole bunch of games here.”
“My mind isn`t going to be on the past, it`s going to be on this team.”
In one regard, Spurrier will be no different than most of the 72,000-plus who come to Florida Field today. He`s eager to see how his much-publicized offense performs.
“We`ll find out how good we are,“ Spurrier said. “Right now, we just don`t know.”
Although the offense has struggled throughout fall drills, Spurrier seemed to be gaining confidence in the offense in the final practices this week.
“I`ve got a good feeling about this offense,” Spurrier said. “The plan is to be wide open, and hopefully we`ll be able to do that.”
The leader of Spurrier`s offense is a quarterback (Matthews) whose only previous college experience was two plays — both handoffs — late in last season`s lopsided UF win over Louisiana Tech.
“I think Shane`s going to be a game player for us. He`ll be a little better when the whistle blows,” Spurrier said. “It`s Shane`s game, and I think he`ll give a good account of himself. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”
(What was Robbie Andreu 15 years old when he wrote that column on Spurrier’s first game with the Gators!)
A few weeks later we returned to Gainesville, Florida on September 8, 1990 to see Steve Spurrier’s debut as the head coach of the Gators against Oklahoma State and the Final Score was:
Florida – 50
Oklahoma State – 7
Wow!
Yes, that was a Helluva start for Spurrier and the Gators, but our Florida-alum neighbor traveled with the Florida football team in Week 2 to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Damn if Spurrier and the Gators didn’t beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa to come out of the gate 2 – 0 and on to a 9 – 2 season in 1990 and as they say in the history books the rest is SEC Conference and College Football History.
Part of Steve Spurrier’s history is that as the Ol’ Ball Coach enters the 2012 season he has 197 total wins in stops at Duke, Florida and South Carolina in 22 seasons and with 3 more wins Spurrier can join a pretty exclusive club of coaches that have achieved that 200 win plateau…
List of college football coaches with 200 wins, Wikipedia
As for the matter at hand and the 2012 South Carolina football schedule the biggest game of the year for the Gamecocks may very well be that opening matchup against Vanderbilt in Nashville to open the ’12 college football season, because if South Carolina can get a win over Vandy in the opener they will have a good chance of being 5 – 0 when Mark Richt and his Bulldog show up in Columbia on October 6.
South Carolina has a very challenging schedule in 2012…BUT…Spurrier has a very talented football team that can beat every team it plays in ’12, even LSU in Baton Rouge on October 13, and the task at hand for Spurrier is to see if his most talented Gamecocks team can surpass what South Carolina has achieved in the past two seasons including a trip to the SEC Championship Game and records of…
South Carolina 2010 – 2011
Overall: 20 – 7
SEC: 11 – 5
Will the Ol’ Ball Coach have South Carolina back in Atlanta for the SEC Championship come early December?
YES, in our opinion and if the Gamecocks get a few breaks and things fall the right way Spurrier might just have South Carolina in a position to get into the Bogus and Un-American BCS title game and that would be a Helluva thing to watch…BUT…first things first and the first thing is Vanderbilt in Nashville on a Thursday evening in late August which is a terrific way to get the 2012 season kicked-off!
Hell, we may just have make a trip to Music City in late August to see the Ol’ Ball Coach kick-off the 2012 season and checking the website for our favorite hotel in Nashville, The Hilton Nashville Downtown (which is walking distance to all the country music bars which is a MUST!), there are still some rooms available and how the Hell could it get better than the city of Nashville, SEC Football, the Ol’ Ball Coach and ESPN in town to open the 2012 college football season?
It can’t get any better is the answer to that question!
2012 Coaches Hot Seat Team and Coach Predictions, Coaches Hot Seat
Coaches Hot Seat Number of CUPCAKE Opponents Teams Are Facing In 2012, Coaches Hot Seat
