Former Gators quarterback Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier at the 2016 Gators season opener when Spurrier's name was attached to Florida Field. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
The HBC in His Domain: Spurrier Eager to Open New Season
Tuesday, February 5, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
Share:
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Steve Spurrier had concluded a month-long stay in a San Antonio hotel for his first training camp as head coach of the Orlando Apollos less than 24 hours earlier.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Alliance of American Football, an eight-team professional football league that debuts on Saturday with four games.
FOUNDERS: TV/film producer Charlie Ebersol and longtime NFL executive Bill Polian.
WHO: Orlando Apollos, Birmingham Iron, Memphis Express, San Antonio Commanders, Atlanta Legends, Salt Lake Stallions, Arizona Hotshots and San Diego Fleet.
WHEN: Season opens Saturday and runs through April 27, which is final day of the 2019 NFL Draft.
HOW TO WATCH: To introduce the league, the Orlando-Atlanta game is on CBS at 8 p.m. Saturday. CBS Sports Network, the NFL Network and the AAF's website are other outlets where games will be broadcast.
Refreshed and with a bounce in his step Friday morning, Spurrier hosted a pair of visitors in his office at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Spurrier was back at the Swamp to conduct some business in his role as Gators Ambassador and to attend Saturday's basketball game at Exactech Arena against Kentucky.
The conversation quickly turned to Spurrier's other job.
"Have you been drawing up some new ball plays?" he was asked.
"Oh yeah, got some right here,'' Spurrier replied, reaching toward a folder on his desk.
Of course he did.
Spurrier is back in the game that made him famous, 53 years after he became a national figure by winning the Heisman Trophy as Florida's record-setting quarterback. On Saturday night at UCF's Spectrum Stadium, the Apollos host the Atlanta Legends in the Alliance of American Football's debut.
In some ways, Spurrier's latest head-coaching gig is akin to his first.
On Nov. 22, 1982, at the Tampa Hilton, a 37-year-old Spurrier was introduced at a jammed press conference as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits. Spurrier's mentor at UF, Ray Graves, was in attendance, as were New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and Chet Simmons, commissioner of the United States Football League.
Following a decade in the NFL as a player and brief stops at Florida, Georgia Tech and Duke as an assistant, it was Spurrier's turn to finally call the shots.
"We're going to put together an exciting team,'' he announced. "We'll try to throw the ball around a lot. I like to play wide-open football."
Spurrier then did exactly that, winning over Tampa Bay fans with a prolific offense nicknamed "Bandit Ball" and directed by former Gators quarterback John Reaves. The Bandits served as the USFL's model franchise during their brief existence from 1983-85 and became more popular than the NFL's Bucs in their hometown.
Half a lifetime later, the 73-year-old Spurrier returns to the sideline for the first time since he resigned in the middle of the 2015 season at South Carolina. He has a renewed vigor following his longest stretch since those Bandits days without being a head coach.
"I'm trying to operate about the same way I did back then as far as calling the plays, coaching the quarterbacks every day and being the head coach,'' Spurrier said. "I missed it ever since I was sitting up in the box watching the Gators play. If a person's in good health and he's blessed with some ability -- I think I've certainly been blessed with an ability to coach and I don't think I've lost that. So, when this opportunity came up, I thought it was something that I not only had to do, but wanted to do. It's the right thing to do."
Steve Spurrier during a scrimmage in San Antonio with his newest team, the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football. (Photo: Courtesy of Orlando Apollos)
Since returning to his alma mater in 2016 as ambassador for UF Athletics, Spurrier has remained active and visible in the community. However, by late last fall, lower back pain from the wear and tear of his playing career made it painful for Spurrier to stand up straight or walk without discomfort.
He underwent surgery near the end of football season to be ready for the start of his season. Spurrier jumped right into rehab and soon resumed his daily workout schedule and trips to the office. By the time the Apollos' training camp opened last month, Spurrier was noticeably moving around much better and in good spirits.
He took along several familiar faces to Texas, including former Gators Willie Jackson (receivers coach) and Lito Sheppard (safeties coach), youngest son Scott to coach tight ends and David Reaves, son of John, to serve as quarterbacks/running backs coach.
In the team's only scrimmage in training camp against the Mike Martz-led San Diego Fleet, Spurrier's competitive juices took over in a 31-28 victory.
"That almost seemed like a real game,'' he said. "I hadn't called plays in about three years."
He realized how much he missed it. Winning was nice, too.
Spurrier has reminded those inquiring about his Orlando debut that he is 5-0 at his other stops in season openers: Tampa Bay beat Boston in the USFL, Duke beat Colgate, Florida beat Oklahoma State, Washington beat Arizona in the NFL, and South Carolina beat UCF.
When Spurrier stepped down at South Carolina in midseason, he felt the Gamecocks needed some new blood, that it was time for him to move on. He left as the program's all-time winningest coach the same way he departed UF during the Fun 'N' Gun blast from 1990-2001.
Still, in October 2015 at his goodbye press conference in Columbia, S.C., Spurrier foreshadowed where he is this week: leading the Apollos in practices at Camping World Stadium to prepare for Saturday.
"Don't say I've retired completely from coaching,'' Spurrier said then. "Who knows what will come in the future."
That future is here. On the visiting sideline, the Atlanta Legends. On the other side, a legend: the Head Ball Coach. Fittingly, the Apollos have an orange-and-blue color scheme.
"You never know what's going to happen in a game,'' he said. "Personally, I feel sort of like I did when we opened with Oklahoma State here, first game way back in '90. There will be some jitters. We're going to play 10 games, hopefully two playoff games, and try to win the Alliance championship."
As if there was any doubt, the HBC is still in it to win it.
