Didn't need to have undefeated seasons either.
Let me put it this way, if we were in an era when you could see Tennessee beating them every year in Feb, with the relaxed attitude he took on that front, it would be an issue for a super crazy fanbase. I think Steve approached the sport in a healthier way than most, but we were talking about fanbases that by nature are not healthy.
Another thing that helped Spurrier there is that Florida didn't have all that much success pre-Spurrier. A coach at Florida today is going to be compared to Spurrier and Meyer just like a coach at Bama or tOSU is going to be compared to Bear and Saban or Woody and Meyer.
Per Wiki, Florida has won:
- 3 NC's: 96, 06, 08
- 8 SEC Titles: 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 00, 06, 08
Steve Spurrier started coaching them in 1990 prior to which their trophy case contained his Heisman trophy and not much else. No NC's, no SEC titles.
I don't think Florida fans had nearly the level of expectations back in 1990 that they have now. Think about that for a minute, Florida's first five SEC titles came in a six year period of Spurrier's 2nd through 7th years. Spurrier's Gators also had the best record in the SEC in his first year, 1990 but they were ineligible due to NCAA violations by the previous regime.
In Spurrier's first seven years as coach at UF they:
- Won five SEC titles
- Finished first but ineligible once
- Went to the inaugural SECCG and lost by a TD to the eventual NC Bama
- Won their first NC
That would be a wildly impressive first seven years at an already established "helmet" program. To do that at a program that had as little pre-1990 history as Florida did is just unbelievable.
The first two polls of 1990 were conducted before Florida played a game. They were unranked in both. On September 8, 1990 they hosted OkSU in a battle of unranked teams. That was the last time Florida fans watched their team take the field unranked until October 19, 2002.
From the dawn of the AP Poll in 1936 until Spurrier was hired UF had:
- 196 total AP appearances (29.3% of 670 polls)
- 58 top-10 appearances (8.7% of 670 polls)
- 1 #1 appearance (0.1% of 670 polls)
In Spurrier's 12 years they had:
- 201 total AP appearances (99% of 203 polls and the only two they missed were before they played a game)
- 177 top-10 appearances (87.2% of 203 polls)
- 24 #1 appearances (11.8% of 203 polls)
That changes expectations a LOT!