Steve Spurrier Comments on South Carolina's Domestic Violence, Drug Policies

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is willing to show some leniency for certain violations or rules a player may commit or break. He absolutely has a zero-tolerance policy for domestic abuse and striking women, however, as he told Mike & Mike on Tuesday morning, per Robby Kalland of CBS Sports.

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I have had that rule I think every year I've been at South Carolina, so 10 years, and we have lost two players. I tell the team when they first arrive on campus, all the freshman know right now, if you ever hit a girl, punch a girl, whatever, you're finished. You can go somewhere else, transfer somewhere else, but you're not going to be on our team.

That's just a rule I have, a personal rule. Some other coaches don't have it. They think they'll give a guy a second chance, but we don't have second chances for that.

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Those comments mirrored his remarks about domestic violence last week during SEC media days, when he noted that he dismissed two players in the past for hitting women. But those players weren't stars, so the dismissals didn't become national stories.     

But Spurrier also shed a bit of light on his policy for marijuana offenses, telling Mike & Mike, "You can smoke pot and get lectured on it—three pots and you're finished—and we have our rules for all our other things. We haven't had anything happen [with domestic violence] in about eight years now, so I think it's a good rule and if you enforce it it's really helpful."

His stance on domestic violence is particularly relevant in football circles given the increasing incidents tied to football players in recent years, namely at the NFL level. But it is also a topic at the center of the college football world right now, as former Florida State quarterback De'Andre Johnson—who was dismissed from the team after video surfaced of him striking a woman at a bar in June—and current running back Dalvin Cook are facing battery charges for allegedly striking women.

Spurrier's candor about his lack of tolerance for domestic violence makes him an excellent example for other coaches at both the college and NFL level, especially as this issue continues to be such a pressing one within football culture.