Steve Spurrier in South Carolina: Is the Fun and Gun Gone Forever?

There were always two things you could count on from Steve Spurrier in the SEC.  One was an interesting comment or two worth reporting that ended up becoming locker room material for an opponent, and the other was a high powered, high scoring offense—his signature "Fun and Gun."

Steve may still have produced a couple of notable zingers since coming back to the SEC, usually at Tennessee's expense, but the fun and gun seems to have set like the sun, and has never risen again.  Why has this happened, and will it ever rise again?

Perhaps Spurrier overestimated his marquee name with recruits.  Top quarterbacks wanted to go to a marquee program and school, not play for a guy with a history of jerking QBs at a moment's notice and playing for a school which now has the reputation of, "They have a decent defense, but the offense sucks."

Name value means a lot on the recruiting trail, but the perception of your team being in a position to challenge for national television exposure and big game wins means more.  The NFL did nothing to help Spurrier's name on the recruiting trail, and no recruit from today can name the last time South Carolina was relevant.

And therein lies the problem.  Spurrier is just attracting the big armed, Joe Montana smart kind of kid that he can fit in with his fun and gun offense.

Not that Spurrier is one Danny Wuerfuell away from the SEC East Championship, but clearly finding a QB capable of not only comprehending and downloading all this man can offer, but executing it as well has been a problem in the four years he's been there.

Four years is a lifetime to rebuild a program in the SEC.  It has hurt him that he was forced to rebuild this team at the same time Florida, Georgia, and, up to last year, Tennessee were all doing so well in his division.  But if you asked anyone who followed football closely, no one would have thought that his fourth season would be a 7-6 campaign.

Four years of 6-6 and 7-6 seasons is a lifetime to recruits who remember that during their whole high school careers Steve Spurrier was just a so-so coach at a middle of the pack school that is looked at as the red headed stepchild of the SEC. 

School officials and fans are glad that he's taken them to three out four postseason bowls, but they expected so much more from this hire. 

Spurrier once joked that "you can't spell Citrus without UT." 

He also said, "I know why Peyton came back for his senior year: he wanted to be a three-time Citrus Bowl MVP."

Since Spurrier has never taken South Carolina to a bowl as big as the Citrus, the joke is now on the other foot.  Has he lowered his own expectations? 

Quotes like, "Our stadium seats over 80,000, and we sell all of our tickets," and "But at some point, we've got to have disciplined play and have got to coach better. I'm not putting it on the players. We've got to coach them to tackle and block better. It's as simple as that. If we can do those things, we'll have a chance," show the lowered expectation and goals.

Spurrier may soon be frustrated enough to hang it up and simply spend his days playing golf (his other passion) and perhaps doing a little television commentating. 

Hey, if Lou Holtz can use South Carolina as a spring board for a good job, why not Spurrier?