StevieInferior Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-spurrier05jan05,0,2397281.story?coll=sfla-sports-headlines CRESCENT BEACH · Steve Spurrier says he "definitely" will not coach this year and isn't certain whether he'll be on the sidelines again following his failed NFL run with the Washington Redskins that ended Tuesday with his resignation after two losing seasons. "Who knows if the fire and passion will hit in a couple years? I don't know if that's going to happen," said Spurrier, whose 2003 team went 5-11 and lost 10 of its final 12 games. "That's why you very seldom hear me use the word `never.' I don't know. What I do know is that I'm out for a while, and I think that's best for all concerned." As for those rumors, or wishes, about a triumphant return to Gainesville in the wake of a second straight 8-5 season under Ron Zook and humiliating bowl defeat? "They can stop talking about that," Spurrier said Saturday. "They have a good coach. They need to stay the course and get behind him." Spurrier's final game with Washington was a 31-7 blowout loss to the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 27. The next day, at his season-ending news conference, Spurrier told the media he "planned to" be back with the team in '04 and that changes could be expected. Spurrier then left for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation in Florida. Tuesday, he was playing golf in St. Augustine while his resignation was being faxed to Redskins Park. Saturday, he was rubbing sun block on a tanned body under gorgeous skies outside his Crescent Beach condominium. "People think I'm going to coach again. I don't know. I'm definitely not going to for a year, probably not within two years, and maybe not again," said Spurrier, 58, whose stints with the USFL Tampa Bay Bandits, Duke, Florida and the Redskins have spanned the past two decades. "I've been a head coach the last 20 years. Name me a coach who's been doing it for that long. Bill Parcells? Dick Vermeil? Those guys took some years off. Joe Paterno and [bobby] Bowden are about the only ones I can think of." He shrugged. "I was ready for a break." Spurrier could not get the the Fun 'N Gun offense that was so dynamic at Florida -- where the Gators won six Southeastern Conference titles and the '96 national championship -- to translate to the NFL. The body language of the former Gators icon was one of a beaten-down coach with a team that was talented enough to lose close ones (six by a combined 16 points) and inept enough to get blown out (58-7 in the last two home games). After an '03 season that left the Redskins with the second-worst record in the league, team owner Daniel Snyder and Director of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato were set to insist Spurrier clean house on a coaching staff that was the most inexperienced in the pros and featured a half-dozen assistants he brought with him from Gainesville. Instead, Spurrier figured it was better for everybody to go. That meant walking away from the $15 million remaining on a record five-year, $25 million contract he signed in January '02. "It just wasn't working, that's all," Spurrier said. "I've said many times, we didn't do a very good job as coaches there. "The players didn't play great, either. "That was our record. So it was going to be a lot easier to get new coaches than a whole new team." Spurrier confirmed that his resignation package ties him to the team for the remaining three years of his contract. "If, for some reason, an NFL team would hire me, [the Redskins] would be compensated," he said. "But that's not going to happen any time soon." The former coach and his wife, Jerri, have decided to return to their home at Leesburg, Va., and let their youngest son, Scotty, finish his last two years of high school there. They also will split time at their homes at Gainesville and Crescent Beach. "That's the plan," Spurrier said. This one, without question, will work better than the last. The Orlando Sentinel is a Tribune Co. newspaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 "It just wasn't working, that's all," Spurrier said. "I've said many times, we didn't do a very good job as coaches there. "The players didn't play great, either. "That was our record. So it was going to be a lot easier to get new coaches than a whole new team." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Made Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Did spurrier just say the players didn't play great or did the author? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Hog Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 "If, for some reason, an NFL team would hire me, [the Redskins] would be compensated," he said. "But that's not going to happen any time soon." You got that right Steve! (and its has nothing to do with you not being interested in coaching in the NFL). :rotflmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Hog Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 :stfu: Idiot !:mad: Quitter ! :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BD Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Oh crap. This means he's STAYING IN LEESBURG?!?! Wow. BD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Won't his kid be tormented going to school in Va? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 What a disappointment. We all had high hopes...although a small seed of doubt was planted in my mind once he stated the job could be done during normal working hours. He performance nurtured that seed until a whole tree of failure rotted my mind...damn. I am grateful he didn't try for another year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Originally posted by BD This means he's STAYING IN LEESBURG?!?! Who's up for an egging? :rotflmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGator Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 This board is approaching the juvenile at warp speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Spurrier fan, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba9497 Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Originally posted by JerseyGator This board is approaching the juvenile at warp speed. too much hate for reasonable thought:doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGator Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Definitely a Spurrier fan who was disappointed with him. But calling someone a loser (and well beyond that) because he doesn't win with a young team over the course of two years is juvenile IMO. I think he tried much harder than his reputation would indicate. He's had rough times at Florida, but I don't ever recall his wife interjecting to this apparent extent. I don't ever recall a football coach being as consistently attacked by the media before, during and I'm sure after DC as Spurrier was/is. I saw Don Shula a few weeks or months before he was fired by the Dolphins. He looked scared to death and had a bodyguard with him. It's just a game people. If Spurrier - Heisman Winner, College NC winner, 10-year steady NFL backup QB, not divorced, winner in USFL, winner at Duke, earner of ten million over the last two years - qualifies as a loser on this board, please send me your resume. I'd like to hire you. Parcells, for all of his success, is divorced and has had significant health problems. I bet he regrets some of his methods in the NFL in his early years. I bet Spurrier will be back as an OC in a year or two. He has a lot of admirers still in the NFL. He ran the best offense in the modern era of college football for many years. The NFL game isn't much different, according to Rex Grossman and likely others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Originally posted by JerseyGator earner of ten million over the last two years Errr earner of ten million? When did he earn any of that money? Just curious. Originally posted by JerseyGator The NFL game isn't much different, according to Rex Grossman and likely others. If it isn't different, why didn't Spurrier succeed at the NFL? Face it, the game is different, like it or not. Spurrier is a great college football coach, and an absolutely awful NFL coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGator Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Find me a coach with as many injury problems at QB and RB this year that made it to the playoffs? There isn't one. Spurrier should not have given into the players and kept Edwards as DC. But he's certainly not the first coach to do this, especially given the Skins turnover at the position. Does anyone recall the Johnson Cowboys, who won with minimal discipline and maximum talent (as well as generous refs on their home turf). They were called "South America's Team" by the media because of all their drug problems etc. Yet they won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 cry me a river Spurrier lied to everyone here in Washington and went back to Florida knowing damn well what he was going to do. Since he didn't see fit to address the media and fans where he worked for the past 2 years to announce his decision, who gives a rat's ass what he has to say now? this guy lost all credibility. he ran away with his tail between his legs because he couldn't take the pressure. first pro coach I have seen do something like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Right, but you avoided my questions. When did he earn ten mill? When he couldn't find the challenge flag to throw onto the field? When his system got our up and coming quarterback mauled and beaten to a freakin pulp? I don't understand how even a Spurrier fan can have any type of argument for Spurrier... No, he may not deserve threats and that type of thing, but he deserves all the criticism he gets. When you agree to become a coach at any level, you should know that you will have great times and awful times. You sign on expecting that. Defend his college years all you want, but don't attempt to defend his effort to rub salt in the already opened Redskins wounds and expect to get us to understand your point of view. Most of us never will, it's a moot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 there is nothing that can be said that erases 12-20 that is the one thing we can be sure happened the past 2 years, all the rest about who did what on personnel and who screwed over whom behind the scenes is just speculation. Spurrier's camp says that the team let Wuerffel and Kenny Watson go without his concurrence. Does anyone really think these players would have turned this thing one way or another? Once again, 12-20 folks The worst winning percentage for a Redskins coach since the early 1960's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGator Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Maybe we should hire Ms. America as the next football coach. Apparently looking good in DC is all that matters, forget the lack of offensive skill position talent on the field. After all, isn't Snyder the Communications expert. I've never seen fans so concerned with press conferences in any sport. I watched Parcells for years in NY press conferences. He wasn't exactly your professional master of ceremonies in his early years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Originally posted by JerseyGator Find me a coach with as many injury problems at QB and RB this year that made it to the playoffs? There isn't one. What about last year when he had Stephen Davis and a healthy trio of his hand-picked QB's all year long? What's your/his excuse then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeSkin Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Spurrier is a loser! HA! IN YOUR FACE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Originally posted by JerseyGator Maybe we should hire Ms. America as the next football coach. Apparently looking good in DC is all that matters, forget the lack of offensive skill position talent on the field. After all, isn't Snyder the Communications expert. I've never seen fans so concerned with press conferences in any sport. I watched Parcells for years in NY press conferences. He wasn't exactly your professional master of ceremonies in his early years. First off, is Ms. America can discipline players, she's ten times the coach Spurrier is. Second of all, you once again managed to avoid both of my questions. Starting to believe you don't have an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 JerseyGator, you amuse me Spurrier decides Wuerffel and Matthews will be his qbs and wants to trade Ramsey to Chicago because his holdout 'is a distraction'. He concurs with Cerrato that Davis is expendable. He puts together Jacquez Green and Reidel Anthony and decides he doesn't need any more help on offense in 2002. And you are now crying he wasn't given any talent to work with? :laugh: :laugh: Who in the hell did Spurrier unearth and develop here? The evidence from what I can gather is that Snyder and Mendes in 2002 were the ones enamored to take Ramsey, the club's only qb with legitimate talent since 2000. Gardner was drafted by Marty. I also gather Laveranues Coles was a Snyder/Cerrato targeted acquisition. So, once again, who did Spurrier bring along for us? Ramsey will develop faster under Fassel or Green than he did under Johnny College Mr. Gator says he needs to recharge his batteries..............hopefully he will recharge his cell phone batteries as well when he is waiting word on his next job :laugh: :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGator Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Again, where is the established talent in that trio of QB. By trio, I guess you mean Matthews, Wuerrfel and Ramsey. I hear others blaming Spurrier for not wanting Ramsey (wanted to trade him for an OL). Which is it? You can't blame him for wanting Ramsey and not wanting Ramsey? Oh, the hype. Parcells is one of the relatively few coaches that has won on multiple teams. Seifert, Ditka, Reeves, Belichek, Holmgren, Marty have lost plenty of games with different teams. Coaching can only do so much. I'm paraphrasing a Vermeil statement in recent years. Hasselbeck + Canidate (third stringers at best on other teams last year) does not equal playoffs with a first year DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 no but being given a top 5 defense with Marvin Lewis as the DC in 2002 should have netted more than 7 wins if Spurrier had been sensible enough to bring in NFL capable performers instead of going back to his Swamp roots and bringing in the baby Gators :laugh: Spurrier didn't do anything positive here. He got Ramsey beaten up behind an audible crazy system that nobody thought could work, including his own players. You could see the lack of confidence when these guys were being interviewed after the losses. Spurrier is no different than Lou Holtz, Bud Wilkinson or Dan Devine, all college coaches that got scorched in the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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