Steve Spurrier is back in college football, at least to some extent.
Steve Spurrier has a new job at Florida, and that’s pretty great
The Head Ball Coach returns to Gainesville in a new role.
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The former Florida and South Carolina (and also Duke, technically) head coach has signed on with the Florida athletics department as an “ambassador and consultant,” the program announced Friday morning.
The Head Ball Coach was in charge in Gainesville from 1990 through 2001, spent a few disappointing years with Washington in the NFL, then ran South Carolina from 2005 until the middle of the 2015 season, when he up and left.
The HBC has a long history with Florida, having played quarterback there from 1963 until 1966. That Spurrier was a first-round draft pick as a Florida QB in 1967 is a testament to just how long he’s been connected to the program. He had a lot of success once he returned to coach there, punctuated with a 1996 national title.
So, what’ll Spurrier be doing in his new role? The Gators’ official release on his hiring was light on details, including his compensation. In the context of major college sports, “ambassador” sounds a lot like “fundraiser,” and “consultant” sounds like offering advice whenever Jim McElwain’s football staff asks for it, which might not be often.
“I will try my best to promote and assist in any way I can to help the Gators to continue to be one of the very best athletic programs in America” Spurrier said in a Florida-released statement. “I admire what Coach McElwain and his staff accomplished last year. I’m anxious to watch the Gator football team as they strive to be the best in the SEC and the nation in the years ahead.”
It sounds like the HBC’s got only good feelings for South Carolina, the team he says he’ll root for “every game but one, just as I did when I pulled for Florida to win every game but one as the Gamecock coach.”
Florida announced in June it was naming its playing surface after Spurrier. He’s also got a book coming out at the end of August, in which he’ll hopefully issue some sick burns to as many SEC programs as he can fit.
As all this is going on, that he’ll be back at Florida is a generally fun and good thing, no matter how Spurrier’s actual duties shake out.
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