Steve Spurrier stepped up to the podium with a familiar smile spread across his face – the same smile he wore in his days at Florida when he realized he had one more quarter remaining to add to his team’s 50-point lead.
“It’s good to be back,” said the 60-year-old coach, addressing more than 300 writers in the ballroom of the Hoover, Ala., Wynfrey Hotel, the site of the 2005 Southeastern Conference Football Media Days.
“It was a lot more fun hanging around the SEC than it was the other league (NFL) I was in a couple of years,” he said drawing a laugh.
Spurrier, who was 12-20 in two years with the Redskins, is just one of four new head football coaches in the SEC. The others include Urban Meyer at Florida, LSU’s Les Miles and new Rebel coach Ed Orgeron.
Before Spurrier spoke to the press, Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer told reporters that his reaction to Spurrier’s return was, “Oh crap.”
“We need to beat somebody first before those guys are going to worry about South Carolina,” Spurrier said, responding to Fulmer’s remark. “It’s a wonderful place and the fans there (at South Carolina) have been wonderful to their team. They haven’t received much in return, so we’re going to try to give them something to be proud of.”
South Carolina tight end Andy Boyd said he was “star struck” when Spurrier first met with the team. He remembers when he was a child watching Spurrier pace the sidelines in his visor, thrusting it into the air when something went awry.
“It is a real honor to play for a legendary coach like Coach Spurrier,” said Boyd of the man who led Florida to a national championship in 1996 and seven SEC Championships in his 12-year stint at his alma mater. “Over the spring we got to know him personally and bind with his philosophy.”
Spurrier’s reason for taking the South Carolina job was a simple one: He was “golfed out.”
“I am not good enough to play golf year around. I get tired of it real fast. Four months (of golf) is enough for me,” said Spurrier, who compiled a 122-27-1 record at Florida. “Then this opportunity popped up.”
Fulmer and Spurrier have traded cracks over the many years they have competed, but they can still speak highly of one another
“He brings a lot of personality to the conference,” Fulmer said. “He’s a great football coach, and he’ll make them (USC) very competitive, quickly.”
New Florida head coach Urban Meyer, who comes from Utah where he tallied a 22-2 record in his two years there, led the Utes to an undefeated 12-0 record last year and a No. 4 final ranking after beating Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. Before his hiring at Utah, he spent two years as head coach at Bowling Green where his teams posted records of 8-3 and 9-3.
“He has had an excellent track record,” Spurrier said of Meyer. “He’s done well. There’s no reason to think he’s not going to do well there.”
Coming from the Mountain West Conference to the SEC is a large step for Meyer, who said he will have to use more silent snap counts due to the crowd noise in SEC stadiums.
“I have coached on staffs when we have to get ready to maybe use a silent count once or twice a year,” Meyer said. “Every away game in the SEC, from what I have been told, you deal with noise issues.”
Combine his fast-paced offensive scheme with the immense talent at UF, and the Gators will no doubt be a contender for the SEC and National Championships. Florida is picked to finish second in the SEC Eastern Division behind rival Tennessee and is predicted to finish as high as No. 4 in the country.
“The style of game that we play, which is a fast, speed game, and the talent that’s in the program right now is conducive to what we do,” Meyer said.
Florida center Mike Degory, who attended Media Days along with fellow teammate Jarvis Herring, talked about the unexpected coaching change from Zook to Meyer.
“I have the utmost respect for both of them,” Degory said. “When a coaching change happens there is always a little bit of apprehension. We did not know what to expect, but from the day that he (Meyer) walked in, we knew that he was going to take us in the right direction.”
Les Miles was hired at LSU after former coach Nick Saban left the school to accept the head coaching position at the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Miles, the 2002 Big 12 Coach of the Year, led a struggling Oklahoma State program to national prominence over his four years at OSU, leading them to three bowl appearances in his final three years there.
“We had a nice spring. Felt like it was very productive,” Miles said. “I enjoyed very much getting around the State of Louisiana and meeting the people that support our program. It really gave me an impression that there’s a very special past that surrounds LSU Football.”
Miles, like Meyer, inherits a plethora of talent at LSU. The pressure of living up to the success of Saban will be resting on Miles’ shoulders as he takes over a team that is selected to finish as high as No. 2 in the nation and is unanimously chosen to win the SEC Western Division.
“I never really paid much attention to polls and pre-season predictions. I think it’s a compliment to the talent that’s on our team,” Miles said. “I don’t think talent in and of itself is the reason why you win championships. It will be a character and style and chemistry that’s developed through a season at LSU that will determine where we finish.”
Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom added a word of advice to the new coaches in the league, something he figured out after his first season with State.
“You better have a plan, and you better believe in your plan,” Croom said. “And no matter how bad you think it’s going to be, it’s going to be worse,” he added with a laugh.
Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron was another new face at Media Days. Orgeron, who is from Southern Louisiana, was the recruiting coordinator and the defensive line coach for the University of Southern California for the last seven years, helping guide the Trojans to last year’s National Championship. Orgeron has 20 years of coaching experience, but none as a head coach. He has been in charge of the defensive line at Syracuse and Miami.
“I think they love it,” Orgeron answered when asked how the players like his fiery style of coaching. “Most of the young men in the south were coached that way, and I think they like it.”
Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Willis said the intensity and competitiveness surrounding the Ole Miss program has been boosted by the new coach.
“The energy level is up from years past,” Willis said. “Everything is a competition, from the way we warm up to the last drill of the day during practice. It’s exciting.”
Orgeron, like USC’s head coach Pete Carroll, will be defensive coordinator as well as having head coaching duties.
“I install the defense,” Orgeron said. “I will be as hands on as you can imagine.”
David Cutcliffe’s exodus still lingers in the air. Only a year after one of the greatest football seasons in Ole Miss history, Cutcliffe was fired, leading to Orgeron’s hiring. Quarterback Michael Spurlock commented on the issue.
“It wasn’t expected by any means,” he said of Cutcliffe’s departure. “Coach Orgeron is more upbeat. You can tell he believes in what he’s saying.”