10:05 pm | July 16, 2019 | Go to Source | Author: Pat Dooley
HOOVER, Ala. — As soon as he pulled off his headset after finishing an interview with Jacksonville radio station 1010XL, the horde descended on the SEC Media Days legend.
Steve Spurrier was back in Hoover after a four-year absence and the media members who had been snoozing through coach after coach jumped at the chance to interview the guy who used to be the star of this event.
Spurrier was here at the invitation of the SEC along with Herschel Walker and Archie Manning to premiere the showing of an eight-part documentary “Saturdays in the South” at the Lyric Theatre in Birmingham.
Spurrier went to 23 of these Media Days as a coach at Florida and South Carolina. This was his first one since 2015.
“It was only four years ago,” he said. “It hasn’t changed too much.”
That included Radio Row where Spurrier made the rounds to speak to different radio shows and other members of the media.
“I appreciate the SEC inviting me, Herschel and Archie,” he said. “I guess we lived some SEC days and so forth. Hopefully, we can do a good job of promoting the SEC and the upcoming season.”
Being at SEC Media Days with coaches and players going from room to room and making a stop at Paul Finebaum’s TV show didn’t fan any flames for the 74-year-old Spurrier to get back into the profession as a full-season coach.
He coached the Orlando Apollos to the best record (7-1) in the Alliance of America Football before the league went belly-up in the spring.
“Coaching was fun with those guys we had in Orlando,” he said, “but year-round coaching, I’m finished with doing that. I’ve had enough of it.
“I was fortunate to have a lot of good years at South Carolina and Florida. Coaching four months a year is my gig now if I do it again. IF I do it again.”
Spurrier appeared at Media Days a day after Florida coach Dan Mullen, taking the athletic department jet Tuesday afternoon and returning late Tuesday night.
He had high praise for the 2019 Florida team.
“Coach Mullen has a good team,” he said. “We’re capable of beating anybody. Hopefully, we stay healthy, some of those young linemen grow up fast. They can. They can.
“Dan doesn’t have a system where you have to protect for five seconds back there. Feleipe just needs to know where to get rid of it quickly at times and keep drives going that way.”
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