After clicking on an article about how poor old Steve Spurrier almost quit at the end of this 7-6 season ( after three straight 11 win seasons ) with South Carolina I read on down in the article and discovered the following: "Even with the down season, South Carolina still beat rivals Florida and Georgia. Spurrier is now 15-5 over his last five seasons against the Gamecocks' top four rivals -- Clemson, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. The Gamecocks' bowl victory was their fourth straight, which is one more than they had won in their entire school history when Spurrier arrived in 2005. "There are still a lot of positives, but we also know we performed very poorly for a lot of this season," said Spurrier, whose 10-5 record over the last three seasons against teams finishing in the final AP Top 25 poll is the best in the SEC."
That's impressive! How many SEC championships is that? How many National Championships? Just wondering?
KP, I think what is meaningful here is what has Spurrier done with the program he is running as opposed to how it did before him. I have never expected him to win a National Championship at S. Carolina, but he has far exceeded what was accomplished by anyone else there.
Bill that is illustrated pretty well by this statement: " The Gamecocks' bowl victory was their fourth straight, which is one more than they had won in their entire school history when Spurrier arrived in 2005."
MCG, Bill, I just get a kick out of statements like the above. It's kind of like moral victories. Moral victories are really not victories at all. They are losses. In the above quote, why pick the last 3 seasons? Hey if that's what the Spurrier fans want to celebrate, then fine, I don't really have a dog in that hunt. I'm not sure, Gamecock fans are celebrating much. I work with a lot of folks in the Charleston area and they are not happy. 8)
Kp... given the level of competition in the SEC over the past three years for Steve to have the best record against the top 25 final rankings out of all of those SEC teams at a school like South Carolina is pretty remarkable.... and surprising to me. That said.... I get that SC fans want an SEC Championship. I'm just not sure who they will get that can do that at South Carolina.
kp, the only statement I make about Spurrier and S. Carolina is that he has them at a level they were only able to dream about before. I am not surprised there are fans who aren't happy, particularly after this last season. But when he leaves I think the Gamecocks will be hard pressed to stay at, let alone exceed what Spurrier has done. And also once he went there he stayed very loyal to them. Regardless he is one of my favorite Gators and I still miss him.
You know that is an interesting question. Why is it harder at South Carolina than at other schools? Clemson has done it. Georgia has done it. Tennessee has done it. Why can't South Carolina?
That's a good question about South Carolina. But didn't Clemson almost "buy" success with first Charlie Pell and then Danny Ford? Clemson really hasn't done as much as South Carolina has in recent years anyway. The Georgia/Tenn recruiting base and reputation has traditionally been much much stronger than SC. Holtz then Spurrier gave SC some recruiting clout but before that the Gamecock's rep wasn't squat.
Good grief kp it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Spurrier has done a good job at S. Carolina but if it fits your agenda then have at it. You very much surprise me though.
I don't have an agenda, I just am not that impressed with what Spurrier has done at SC. If you don't want to discuss it then we can stop. I don't have a real dog in the discussion. He did great things at Florida, and I understand that y'all love him, but South Carolina is just a middle of the conference team. They won the east one year and that is good but so far that is the highlight and their prospects are not that great...are they? I'm not trying to poopoo on anyone's guy but I don't know, when MCG comes on with some obscure stat about winning more games against top 25 teams in the last three years that any other team in the SEC, it just doesn't seem to be that significant. Hey he beat Alabama, that's something. 8)
That's just it Kp.... what Spurrier has done is beat teams that South Carolina never were used to beating in their history and that includes winning bowl games. When SC lines up with Spurrier on their bench they are quite capable of beating anyone on their schedule and for SC that's a pretty big accomplishment. So from the way you comment I assume that you think Nick Saban would have 2 or 3 SEC titles at SC by now. I don't agree with that opinion.
I gotta agree with KP. You can't look at SCAR now and compare it to the SCAR of the past. They benefit so much from their membership in the SEC. They have it so much better in so many ways these days. That's not to say what he's done is bad, but he could do better.
Without first Holtz and then Spurrier to give them credibility the Gamecocks wouldn't be a whole lot different than Ky. or Vandy football wise in the SEC.
kp, ok you don't have an agenda. However I have a lot of trouble understanding yours and Corey's approach. There are many ways to measure greatness or just plain competence. One is how many championships you win, however there is another and that is how you do in a situation where you are not likely to win a championship but what you do compared to what is expected at that school. In my opinion, for what its worth, S. Carolina will slip back in the pack in the SEC when Spurrier leaves. While they did improve under Holtz it was nowhere near were they have come under Spurrier. Another thing that Spurrier has done is stay at S. Carolina and build the program when he could have left. Whatever you and Corey are certainly entitled to your opinion and I have no desire to get involved in some of the back and forth postings as I have in the past. Terry, I am 100% onboard with your opinion as so often in the past and I imagine future.
Terry, I'm not saying that all, if that is what you mean. Spurrier took Duke from doormat to conference championship before going to Florida and we all know how that turned out. All I'm saying is that South Carolina is probably having the best run in their history and they just finished at 7-6. MCG, I have no idea how Saban would do at South Carolina. If you and the fans of South Carolina are happy with those results then that is all that matters and if the object is to beat more top 25 teams than anyone else in the last 3 years :?: then South Carolina is already at the top. 8)