Gators Ambassador Steve Spurrier, better known as the Head Ball Coach, is returning to the sideline. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Gators Ambassador Spurrier Has New Coaching Job
Saturday, April 7, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter
Steve Spurrier is joining the Alliance of American Football as a head coach but will continue to serve as ambassador to UF Athletics.
Former Gators head coach Steve Spurrier, who returned to his alma mater in 2016 as ambassador for the athletic department, is going back to the sideline as a head coach in the newly formed Alliance of American Football that will debut on Feb. 9, 2019 on CBS.
The league announced the addition of Spurrier on Saturday morning as head coach of the Orlando franchise.
Just announced on @CBSThisMorning: A new professional spring football league called @TheAAF reveals Orlando, Florida will be their first host city with college football Hall of Famer @SteveSpurrierUF set to coach. pic.twitter.com/i7beToJha5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 7, 2018
The good news for the Gators is that Spurrier is remaining at UF as ambassador and will take a break in the spring when the season kicks off to focus on his coaching job.
"I know Coach is excited to have the opportunity to coach football again for a couple months out of the year. He will take some time away from his duties while he coaches but will remain on our staff and continue to serve as an ambassador for the Gators after the season,'' Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said. "We couldn't be happier for Coach and Jerri and look forward to seeing him on the sideline again."
Spurrier last coached in 2015 at South Carolina, where he spent 11 seasons and finished as the school's all-time winningest coach.
In a previous return to UF in 1990, Spurrier retooled the Gators into one of the nation's elite programs over the next 12 seasons, leading Florida to its first national championship in 1996.
"The new rules I really liked. Two-and-a-half-hour games, 30 seconds in between plays and the fans want to see that," Spurrier said Saturday on an appearance on CBS News. "In life, we all need a challenge."
Spurrier's name surfaced last month as a potential candidate to coach in the new league, co-founded by Charlie Ebersol and includes former NFL All-Pro receiver Hines Ward as executive of player relations.
The eight-team league will play a 10-game regular season and the games will be available on a free app and on CBS and CBS Sports Network.
Spurrier appeared with Ebersol and Ward on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to discuss his latest sideline gig.
"It's a fine line between who makes a team and who doesn't in the NFL. We don't have a minor league of professional football," Spurrier said. "Those players get a chance to continue playing even if they don't play at the highest level and then maybe someday they play well enough to go to the highest level."
Spurrier, who won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as Florida's starting quarterback, finished his UF coaching career as the school's all-time winningest coach and is one of only four members of the College Football Hall of Fame to be inducted as a player and a coach.
Shortly after Spurrier's return to UF, the school honored him by renaming the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Steve Spurrier-Florida Field.
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