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College football

On the wrong side

The Ol' Ball Coach, now across the field from the Gators, evokes varied and conflicting emotions.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published November 12, 2005

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[Getty Images]

Coaching South Carolina today, longtime Florida coach Steve Spurrier, who also won a Heisman Trophy as UF's quarterback in 1966, stands between the Gators and a shot at the SEC East title.

	[AP photo]
	Then Gators quarterback Steve Spurrier was awarded the 1966 Heisman Trophy, which was sealed by his game-winning field goal against Auburn.

They've known it was coming for 11 months, but now that it's here, emotions are running high for Florida fans.

Fifteen years after Steve Spurrier returned to his alma mater, nine years after he led that same Florida program to its only national championship, Spurrier will reunite with the Gators again.

In a way that seems unthinkable.

As the opposing coach.

And it's not just any reunion.

If Florida can defeat South Carolina today and Auburn defeats Georgia, the Gators would earn their first SEC East title since 2000.

A Spurrier victory would give South Carolina its first win over the Gators since 1939.

Whether you're a longtime Florida fan or one who has been on the bandwagon only a short time, there's a conflict of interests - on both sides.

Players on both teams have said all week they're approaching it as "just another game." Spurrier has said it. Florida coach Urban Meyer keeps repeating it, too.

"I don't think it will be as big a type deal as people would think it would be," Spurrier said. "As I've said many times, when you're the play-caller, the offensive coach, usually your mind is on the next play, trying to find a good play, trying to get your quarterback to maybe audible and hit a guy. So my mind is just on play-calling and trying to help our team play the best we can against Florida. I think that's mainly what I'll be thinking."

"Ya'll have got to realize I'm not the first coach that ever coached against his alma matter. Pat Dye coached at Auburn, and they played Georgia every year for about 15 years he was there. I know he didn't coach there, so it was probably a little different there. This happens a lot around the country."

In fact, Spurrier coached against the Gators in 1979 when he was an assistant at Georgia Tech. But to say this is similar?

Fans, boosters and former players know different. And choosing a side isn't so easy.

Changing allegiance

John Reaves played quarterback at Florida from 1969-71, then played under Spurrier with the Tampa Bay Bandits and coached with him as an assistant with Florida. His son David is an assistant coach at South Carolina. Spurrier is a good friend.

Today, his allegiance will be with his son and his friend.

"I'm pulling for the 'Cocks, I have to tell you," Reaves said. "My son is there. Steve's been great to me. I love the Gators, but just right now, I'm pulling for the 'Cocks this weekend. I'm going Garnet and Black. I might even put some war paint on."

Reaves isn't taking the game lightly. He knows what's at stake for the Gators. But he's also intrigued by what Spurrier has been able to do in such a short time at South Carolina.

"Who would have thought the Gamecocks would be in the position they are now with all the players they lost and NCAA sanctions?" he said. "They are playing a bunch of walk-ons. God bless 'em. I've always said Steve does more with less. My son says they have a walk-on guard, walk-on tight end, walk-on tailbacks, freshmen tailbacks. He said, "We're just out there praying to survive,' and then they win four SEC games in a row, two on the road at Tennessee and Arkansas. That's hard for anybody."

No wavering

Ray Graves coached Spurrier at Florida, but for him, either you're a Gator or you're not.

"You can say I have mixed emotions, but certainly I'm a Gator," Graves said.

In Graves' mind, he isn't the only one sorting through his personal feelings this week. He believes Spurrier is, too.

"I think he's going through a few emotions, too, because I know he's still a Gator at heart," Graves said. "Tommy Shannon and I were talking at the Vanderbilt game (last weekend) and he said, "What are you going to say to Steve?' I said, "Well, he's one of the best friends I've got or ever had. But I'm a Gator. So may the better team win.' "

Graves fears a close game and worries that Florida's multiple injuries to key players may be a factor.

"It's a challenge. Florida is kind of crippled up right now, and that's not good," Graves said. "I think it's going to be a good ballgame and I'm just going to sit there and watch. ... (South Carolina) will have some plus-marks there if they can pull this one out. But I still am a Gator, so I'll have to put that first."

Friendly foes

Allen Trammell is a former teammate of Spurrier and remains one of his closest friends. In a parking lot while tailgating recently, Trammell said he expects today to be tough for Spurrier.

"It's going to be hard on Steve," he said. "Steve's a Gator, still. He loves the University of Florida. It's going to be very difficult to play against Florida and he knew that early on coming in. And we've talked about that. But he's going to do his job."

Trammell, now a vice president for Wachovia Insurance Services in Orlando, said Spurrier knew what he was getting into when he took the job - right down to the NCAA sanctions and what it would take to rebuild.

Their friendship has spanned decades, but today it takes a back seat.

"I want to beat him. He knows that," Trammel said. "Quite honestly, I want to beat him good. Every time we play golf he wants to beat me good, and I want to beat him good in the football deal. It's no different."

Loyalty beyond expectation

Florida graduate Sharon Stern grew up in Sumter, S.C. Her sister is a South Carolina alum. Most often, Stern thinks fondly of the Gamecocks. She always thinks fondly of Spurrier.

Today, the two won't mix.

"It's funny because I was kind of glad that he went to South Carolina because I'm for South Carolina most of the time, except when they are playing us. When it comes to (playing) South Carolina, Florida will always be my first choice."

Stern has been a Florida fan since 1978. Today she and Pinellas County Gator Club president Katie Zimmer will be sitting in the South Carolina section with tickets Stern's sister helped them acquire.

Two years ago they sat with her sister and realized how much South Carolina fans love their team.

"She's almost 10 years older, and we've never been to a game together until two years ago," Stern said. "She talked (trash) the whole time."

Her South Carolina-Florida roots run deep, but her Gator roots are stronger.

"I'll definitely cheer for Florida," Stern said. "I want Carolina to win when we're not playing them, but first and foremost I'm a Florida fan. Spurrier had his time here and there will always be a special place in our hearts for him, but we're always Gators first."

Situation not unexpected

Is anybody stunned that Spurrier is even in this situation?

Gordon H. "Stumpy" Harris isn't among them.

"I wasn't surprised at all that he took that job," said Harris, an Orlando attorney, Florida graduate and longtime Gator booster. "I knew when he said he wanted to coach again that he'd want to be in the SEC."

But Harris, 67, has been a Gator longer than he hasn't been one. A member of the big-money Bull Gators boosters, he is the epitome of the saying, he "bleeds Orange and Blue."

So today, Spurrier is just another coach.

"I've had season tickets for 49 years. I've been through the good times and bad," Harris said. "I like the good ones better. But I've always said: Coaches coach. Players play. Administrators administrate. None of that is my job. Mine is to be a fan. I don't make decisions about which plays are called and I don't play. I support the Gators period. Absolutely."

That's saying a lot coming from Harris. He and Spurrier were classmates at UF. He was at the Auburn game when Spurrier kicked the winning field goal that sealed his Heisman Trophy. To this day, when they run into each other, Spurrier always says "Hi, Stumpy."

And?

"Steve's a great coach and I have great admiration for him, but he's on the other sideline now," said Harris, who added that Spurrier looks a little funny in South Carolina outfits. "He's a fantastic coach, and he'll do everything he can to beat us. He's very competitive. It's not going to be easy."

Heart wrenching

The news that Spurrier had accepted the South Carolina job nearly crushed longtime Gator and Pinellas resident Barbara Bunting.

"I was devastated," she said. "The last person I want to see across the field is Steve Spurrier. It was very heart-wrenching for us. Very. I was like, "What are you thinking, Steve?' "

For years, Bunting's travel service, Specialty Charters and Events, has booked charter planes and bus trips for Florida fans to travel to games. When Spurrier was the coach, business was never better. So in some ways, Bunting owes Spurrier a lot.

Cheering for his victory? She doesn't owe him that much.

"I love Steve Spurrier. I miss Steve Spurrier. I want to beat him," she said. "He's such a sweetie. People don't really know him. But he's an adversary right now."

Bunting has been a Gator for 48 years, a fan since she was 18 years old. It's bad enough to have Spurrier on the South Carolina sideline, but there's more to add to her woe: a South Carolina win knocks the Gators out of SEC East championship.

""Everything rides on this game," she said. "It's such an emotional thing."

No love here

Florida sophomore linebacker Brandon Siler was somewhere around ninth grade when Spurrier left the Gator program at the end of the 2001 season.

He's never heard of "Free Shoes U" or "You can't spell Citrus without UT," two of Spurrier's most famous quips about opponents. The championship trophies on the wall, the Heisman Trophy in the case tell Siler a great deal about the former Gators coach. But it's all abstract.

"I heard he was a great coach," he said. "He did a lot of things here. I never played for him, I never met him, so I really don't know him and I couldn't tell you much about him. But from the things I see he's done, he was pretty good. Real good."

Love, but not today

For Spurrier's former players, there also are mixed emotions. Do you pull for the guy who gave you the chance to fulfill your dreams or for the university you love?

"He gave me my opportunity here and he did a lot for me," former wide receiver Chris Doering said. "And then he helped revitalize my career in the NFL when he took a chance on me with the Redskins. I have a lot of respect for him, but come (today), I'll have to cheer against him."

Following the legend

For Meyer, Spurrier's presence is a constant. The Heisman, the championship trophies. The jersey hanging in the south end zone of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He never has shied away from it, instead graciously acknowledging what his predecessor accomplished.

Make no mistake, the shadow still looms. A Florida win today would open a clear path to Meyer's future.

For his part, Meyer downplayed the importance of the coaches.

"I think I have expressed admiration for many coaches, and Coach Spurrier falls into that category," he said. "You saw what he did in the 1990s, and if you are a fan of college football and a fan of how people win like I am, then you admire that. That's as far as it goes.

"This is about 70 young men getting on a plane and flying to Columbia, S.C., in a tough environment and trying to compete for an SEC championship. Any talk about things other than that is unjust to our players, and any coach would say that. This is about getting the players ready to go and win a championship on the road."

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:55:15]