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'I'd like to be the underdog again'

Steve Spurrier says Florida's dominance helped spur his resignation after 12 seasons with the Gators. Now, he eagerly awaits a chance to coach in the NFL.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 8, 2002

GAINESVILLE -- In the end, the dominance that came to signify Steve Spurrier and the Florida football program became his undoing.

[AP photo] Former Florida coach Steve Spurrier answers questions Monday at his final news conference in Gainesville.

During a final news conference Monday afternoon at the university, Spurrier said a desire to pursue a career in the NFL and the burden of extremely high expectations surrounding the Florida program led to his decision to resign.

"I started feeling late in the season that maybe this would be as good a year to leave, retire or whatever you want to call it," Spurrier, 56, said. "I'd like to be the underdog again. ... There are a lot of underdog (NFL) teams out there, so hopefully the opportunity will come pretty soon. Being an underdog is a little bit more fun at times.

"It's almost a disgrace every time we lose. It's a relief when we win instead of (the feeling) we got when we weren't supposed to."

For nearly an hour Monday, an often jovial Spurrier took the spotlight at Florida one last time, thanking many of the coaches and athletic directors who have helped him along the way, and taking a few parting shots at his longtime rivals.

"I guess I'm supposed to cry a lot because that's what the FSU people say I do," said Spurrier, who won the Heisman Trophy at UF in 1966 and returned to coach his alma mater nearly three decades later. "I'm not really much of a crier. I don't get all choked up."

The beginning of the end came during a party during the summer when former University of Florida president John Lombardi told Spurrier he left UF because "10 years was enough as a university president."

"It sort of hit me: At what time is your tenure long enough? At what time have you had your run and when are you smart enough to say, "Hey, this is it,' " Spurrier said. "Somehow late in the year it started to hit me that this was as good a time to say goodbye. I was hoping, as we all were, that it would be after the Rose Bowl, but it didn't work out."

It was because things did work out so well for Spurrier and the Gators that being in the top job took its toll. Under Spurrier, Florida won six SEC championships and finished first in the standings seven times in 12 seasons. He is the only coach in the 20th century to win 100 games at a major college program during his first 10 years.

And Spurrier is one of only three coaches in major college history, and the only one in SEC history, to win at least nine games for 12 consecutive seasons.

Therein lies part of the problem.

"Some people say he can stay at Florida and win 10 games every year," Spurrier said. "Well it's not as easy winning 10 games every year as a lot of people think. Everybody has gotten a lot better than they used to be.

"The SEC wasn't quite what they are now in the early '90s. As most of you know, it was a running league -- run the ball and play defense. And now, all of a sudden everybody is pitching it all over the place and they are pretty good at it. There are a lot of good offensive coaches in our league now, and in the early '90s there weren't too many."

And then there were the expectations.

"Do you realize how big a favorite we are all the time?" Spurrier said. "It's nobody's fault. It's just the way it is. We are double-digit favorites over everybody. I guess we should be because we cover most of them or get beaten. One or the other. Any time we lose, it's us coaches, we screwed up."

Spurrier met privately with about 40 players Monday to explain his decision and assure them that Florida will remain a contender.

"I don't think anybody saw it coming," quarterback Rex Grossman said. "He just dropped the bomb on Gainesville really. Nobody really saw it coming. ... I know he is going to succeed at the next level, and I think everyone in here realizes that he is going to do well. ... He is going to have a great offense and he's a competitor. He's just not going to lose."

Spurrier admitted that he will miss the pageantry of the college game, complete with rabid fans and all the things that he disliked about it -- including the lack of a playoff system. But he said he is looking forward to the challenge that comes with coaching in the NFL.

"I'm intrigued to see if our style of offense, my style of coaching, can be successful at the NFL level," he said. "I need to find that out before I hang it up, before I call my last play. I think I'll get the opportunity here real soon."

Athletic director Jeremy Foley said Spurrier "brought us a program we could only dream of." Spurrier said he wants his legacy to include two things: that he was honest and a contender.

"I would like to be remembered as "His teams were always in the hunt,' " Spurrier said. "We were in the hunt. We didn't win them all, but we were up there fighting for it. It didn't work out all the time, but we came close about every time. I would like to be remembered as obviously a guy that never ever was charged with breaking any rules, which in 12 years we never were.

"And hopefully the players, once they leave here have hopefully learned something about how to be a good person and a good citizen, and they'll be successful when they leave here. That's what I hope happens, that our players say they enjoyed playing for me and the assistant coaches."

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