South Carolina's Tough Challenge of Replacing Legendary Steve Spurrier

It's never easy to replace a legend, and South Carolina is about to find out just how difficult it is.

Head coach Steve Spurrier abruptly resigned Tuesday as the head football coach of the Gamecocks, and co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Shawn Elliott stepped in to lead the program on an interim basis through the end of the season.

"It was only two years ago we were 11-2 and were ranked No. 4 in the country, but we slipped, and it's my fault, I'm the head coach and I'm responsible and it's time for me to get out of the way and let someone else have a go at it," Spurrier said, according to South Carolina's official site. "Shawn will bring some energy, enthusiasm and passion that our team will accept."

After Elliott, who will athletics director Ray Tanner turn to?

I tossed out some possible candidates in the video above, but what's a near-certainty is that Tanner's job is going to be incredibly difficult.

Stepping in for one of the greatest coaches of all time is never easy. Ray Perkins followed Bear Bryant at Alabama and went 32-15-1 from 1983-1986 before Bill Curry took over for the 1987 season.

Adjusting to a new coach when the old coach was so familiar was quite a difficult task for Perkins.

"We didn’t use the same playbook, we didn’t use the same practice schedule, and I’m sure I made a few decisions that weren’t real popular decisions,” Perkins told the Daily Collegian's Andrew Robinson in 2011. "They were what we believed and how we believed in doing it. But I understand how people can get stuck on some things. That’s life, that’s part of success and part of moving on to the next generation."

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

Getting past the Spurrier generation will be tough.

The former Head Ball Coach led the Gamecocks to three straight 11-win seasons from 2011-2013. Prior to those, the Gamecocks had just one double-digit win season (1984) in its history.

Ever.

Spurrier brought South Carolina out of anonymity and into prosperity for the first time in a century of football. A century. 

How? 

As David Cloninger of The State noted, his personality brought South Carolina into the national conversation, kick-started the program to keep up in the SEC's facilities arms race and created a culture of winning in Columbia.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

More than anything else, the program benefited from his ability as a coach on the field; an in-state recruiting base that produced generational-type players in running back Marcus Lattimore, corner Stephon Gilmore and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney that gravitated to the program; and an SEC East that was average at best with Tennessee's struggles, Georgia's inconsistency and Florida's slide.

As Bomani Jones of ESPN Radio noted on Twitter, it's going to take a special man to follow in Spurrier's footsteps.

The confluence of those events are not likely to be repeated, which means that the new head coach—whoever it is—is not only going to have to be Spurrier's equal to appease the fanbase and administration, he's going to have to be much better.

That's going to be tough considering the program's place in the SEC.

It's safe to say that, since they don't play in the SEC West, the Gamecocks live in the more desirable neighborhood.

Will that last, though?

Mary Ann Chastain/Getty Images

First-year head coach Jim McElwain has led his Florida Gators to a 6-0 record so far this year after two seasons of mediocrity under former head coach Will Muschamp. They're a game up on Kentucky with the head-to-head tiebreaker in hand, and two games up on the rest of the pack midway through their conference schedule.

Georgia is still loaded with talent and, despite some recent setbacks against Alabama and Tennessee, will at least be competitive within the division as long as head coach Mark Richt is running the program.

After spinning its wheels ever since Phillip Fulmer resigned following the 2008 season, Tennessee finally looks like it has some upward momentum. Head coach Butch Jones has been recruiting his tail off and, despite losing three two-touchdown leads this season, finally broke through the glass ceiling on Saturday by storming back from a three-touchdown deficit and stunning Georgia 38-31.

I mean, come on, even Kentucky has passed South Carolina at this point.

The new coach isn't going to have a clear path to national relevance like the one that opened up for Spurrier starting with his only SEC East title in 2010. 

Does South Carolina have staying power in that kind of landscape? We simply don't know because we haven't seen the new-look Gamecocks program in an SEC East that is more of a power than a punchline.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of CFBStats.com. 

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.