South Carolina head coach Spurrier apparently did have a lot of things to get off of his chest.
During a hastily-called press conference on Thursday afternoon, Spurrier took aim at his critics, which have been plentiful this offseason after the Gamecocks slipped to 7-6 last season.
“I am sick of it,” Spurrier said. “I want to tell all of our Gamecock fans not to listen to the enemy. I guess we’ve won enough games now that we have enemies. Before I got to Florida, everybody used to like the Florida coach, but once we started kicking everybody’s tail, then there were critics saying I was arrogant or I couldn’t recruit because I couldn’t get along with anybody. I remember the Atlanta paper wrote that I couldn’t sustain (success with the Gators) and one of the writers over there wrote in our paper (in Columbia) that we were on the decline.”
Spurrier also made mention that USC Board of Trustees member Chuck Allen had written him and said that the university was thinking of naming the playing field at Williams-Brice Stadium after Spurrier, who with an 84-45 record has won more games than any coach in the history of South Carolina football.
“I told him to wait five or six years and maybe I will be done by then,” Spurrier said. “Age is just a number. Your success depends on your ability to mentally and physically perform your job. (USC team doctor) Jeff Guy said that I think and move around about like a 55-year old. If I can’t call the plays and all of that and am fumbling around, then yes get somebody else in here, but it is not to that point.”
Spurrier also took aim at Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson’s comments that he would never lose to South Carolina. Watson led the Tigers to a 35-17 win last season as a true freshman, snapping a five-game losing streak for Clemson in the series.
“We will be looking forward to all the games and also to that Clemson game,” Spurrier said. “That guy said that he would never ever lose to us again, so we are looking forward to playing that one. Maybe this rivalry will get back to where it was a couple of years back.”
Spurrier added that he believes the Gamecocks will have a “dang good team” in 2015 and that he and the entire coaching staff and players are fired up.
Stay tuned for additional coverage of Spurrier’s press conference.
During a hastily-called press conference on Thursday afternoon, Spurrier took aim at his critics, which have been plentiful this offseason after the Gamecocks slipped to 7-6 last season.
“I am sick of it,” Spurrier said. “I want to tell all of our Gamecock fans not to listen to the enemy. I guess we’ve won enough games now that we have enemies. Before I got to Florida, everybody used to like the Florida coach, but once we started kicking everybody’s tail, then there were critics saying I was arrogant or I couldn’t recruit because I couldn’t get along with anybody. I remember the Atlanta paper wrote that I couldn’t sustain (success with the Gators) and one of the writers over there wrote in our paper (in Columbia) that we were on the decline.”
Spurrier also made mention that USC Board of Trustees member Chuck Allen had written him and said that the university was thinking of naming the playing field at Williams-Brice Stadium after Spurrier, who with an 84-45 record has won more games than any coach in the history of South Carolina football.
“I told him to wait five or six years and maybe I will be done by then,” Spurrier said. “Age is just a number. Your success depends on your ability to mentally and physically perform your job. (USC team doctor) Jeff Guy said that I think and move around about like a 55-year old. If I can’t call the plays and all of that and am fumbling around, then yes get somebody else in here, but it is not to that point.”
Spurrier also took aim at Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson’s comments that he would never lose to South Carolina. Watson led the Tigers to a 35-17 win last season as a true freshman, snapping a five-game losing streak for Clemson in the series.
“We will be looking forward to all the games and also to that Clemson game,” Spurrier said. “That guy said that he would never ever lose to us again, so we are looking forward to playing that one. Maybe this rivalry will get back to where it was a couple of years back.”
Spurrier added that he believes the Gamecocks will have a “dang good team” in 2015 and that he and the entire coaching staff and players are fired up.
Stay tuned for additional coverage of Spurrier’s press conference.
