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Spurrier spars with conference commissioner

By ANTONYA ENGLISH

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 2, 2001

HOOVER, Ala. -- Eleven years later, Florida coach Steve Spurrier still is bitter about the 1990 SEC championship taken away from the Gators because of probation and says a playoff system is the only way to decide a true national champion.

He made a point of letting SEC commissioner Roy Kramer know his feelings Wednesday. With reporters at the SEC Media Days, Spurrier was in rare form, taking shots at Kramer (who was there) and the Bowl Championship Series.

Spurrier entertained the audience most with jabs at Kramer, the originator of the BCS, who stood directly in front of him at the other end of the room.

"In the SEC we have a way to have one winner," he said. "We don't have co-champs in football anymore. But in all the other sports we have co-champs, tri-champs, and two years ago we had quad-champs in basketball. How come you (Kramer) can't find a way to have one winner in all those sports, but all those sports have a way to have one national champion? But in football we still could have two."

Spurrier was asked whether he'd like to be commissioner. "No, no way," he said. "I may retire before he does."

MITCHELL STILL OUT: Clearwater defensive end Clint Mitchell remains on scholarship at Florida, Spurrier said, but he has not been allowed to participate in the team's preseason workouts.

Mitchell has been suspended for the first six games and faces a possible sexual assault charge in Gainesville. Florida Attorney Bill Cervone is awaiting final interviews of several UF students before making a decision on whether to prosecute.

THREE CHEERS FOR THE JEEP: After an accident this summer, Florida free safety Todd Johnson is lucky to be starting preseason practice next week.

Johnson, the only defensive player to start all 13 games last season, was hit from the rear by a truck traveling 70 mph on a Sarasota bridge. His Jeep Cherokee spun across a concrete median, went airborne and landed on the driver's side. The Jeep had $10,000 worth of damage and took nearly a month to be repaired, he said. Johnson was not hurt.

QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE, PART I: Spurrier said quarterbacks Brock Berlin and Rex Grossman are entering next week's fall preseason practices even.

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