My Conference Can Beat Your Conference by Paul Finebaum

Author:Paul Finebaum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers

Spurrier had been at South Carolina for two seasons when Alabama athletic director Mal Moore decided to fire Mike Shula in late 2006. The speculation immediately centered on Saban—who was coaching the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and had quickly issued a statement saying he wasn’t interested—and Spurrier.

I had a friend whose father had played for the Tide and who was himself a bigwig at the university. He called me shortly after Shula’s dismissal.

“Do you think Spurrier would be interested in the job?” asked my friend.

“I really don’t know,” I said.

“Would you call him for me? Would you call Spurrier?”

Spurrier and I had played golf together a couple times, had broken bread, and talked on a regular basis. But Steve is smart enough to leave some distance between himself and the media.

Meanwhile, I was in an uncomfortable place journalistically—in the middle of an evolving story that I was duty-bound to cover. I now knew that prominent and very influential Alabama people were interested in a back-channel conversation with Spurrier. But the only way I had known that—and the only way I would learn anything else moving forward—was to make the call to Spurrier.

So I decided to contact him. I called and left Spurrier a message: “There’s something interesting going on here. I don’t know if you’re out recruiting, but if you get a minute, call me back.”

Spurrier soon returned the call.

I said, “I don’t know if you’re interested in this or not—and obviously you don’t want me as a go-between—but I’m just telling you that Alabama has a lot of interest in you.”

Later, my Alabama contact called me and said the school was serious about wanting to hire Spurrier. If Spurrier would take the call, Moore would contact him that night.

So I called Spurrier back and relayed the information.

The next day Spurrier called and said he had decided to remain at South Carolina. He liked Columbia. His family had just moved there. He thought he was on the verge of making over the program.

I didn’t try to persuade him, but I did make the point that Alabama, even with its problems at the time, was still one of THE destination spots for a coach who loved winning as much as he did. A Bama at 80 percent was better than a South Carolina at 100 percent.

“Steve, I think Alabama could be a really good job,” I said.

“Nah,” said Spurrier.

A few days later, Spurrier signed a contract extension at South Carolina. (As a footnote, though, the Gamecocks didn’t turn the corner after that 2006 season. Instead, they went from 8-5 to 6-6, the beginning of a three-year stretch in which Spurrier lost six games in each of those seasons. During that same time, Alabama played in two SEC Championships and won a BCS Championship.)

Spurrier has it going now at South Carolina. His recruiting classes are strong. He beats in-state rival Clemson on a regular basis (and gigs Swinney like he used to gig Tennessee’s Fulmer). Now he needs to figure out a way to reach another SEC Championship Game (the Gamecocks were last there in 2010).

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