"Field Looks Nice, Elliot."

"Field Looks Nice, Elliot."

By: Bradley Stewart

       Thursday, November 18, 2004. This was  the day legendary college football coach, Lou Holtz announced his retirement from coaching football.  At the time, Holtz was coaching the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 6-4 record. This announcement came five days removed from South Carolina's embarrassing 48-14 loss to the Florida Gators and just two days prior to the Gamecocks' away, rivalry game against the 5-5 Clemson Tigers.  South Carolina would go on to fall 29-7, but the game became known for the infamous 'Clemson-Carolina Brawl'.  Just two days later, Holtz officially retired from coaching.  The following day, South Carolina announced Steve Spurrier as their next head football coach.  The Gamecocks were invited to participate in a bowl game that season, but declined for the involvement in the brawl.  

      Spurrier was an experienced, high-energy coach and had fared well in his previous endeavors.  Steve's first head coaching position was at Duke, where he went for 20-13-1 in three seasons.  Spurrier left Duke for the Florida Gators' coaching job, where he had won the Heisman Trophy during his playing career.  In the 'Old Ball Coach's' twelve years in Gainesville, the Gators never had less than nine wins in a season.  During a tenure that saw him win six SEC Championships and one National Championship, Spurrier went 122-27-1, including a very impressive 87-12 record in conference play.  The now veteren coach took his talents to the NFL, where he went 12-20 in two years as the head coach of the Washington Redskins.  

       Steve saw immediate success with his new ball club, finishing tied for second in the SEC East, but failing to win their bowl game that season.  Spurrier would finish 8-5 the following season, which included a 44-36 Liberty Bowl win against Houston.  For the next three seasons the Gamecocks would hover around the .500 mark for both overall and conference records.  During that span, Carolina went 0-2 in bowl games.  2010 seemed to be the breakout year for South Carolina.  The Gamecocks started 3-0, but fell against the then seventeenth ranked Auburn Tigers.  The Gamecocks seemed to get their act together for their next game against then ranked number one, Alabama Crimson Tide, winning by two touchdowns.  Carolina would go on to finish 9-3, while winning the SEC East.  The Gamecocks would get another shot against Auburn, but failed to take advantage, instesd getting pummeled 56-17.  South Carolina would then lose in the Chick-fil-a Bowl to Florida State, making it four consecutive seasons without a bowl win.  For the next three seasons, Carolina would go on to finish 11-2 every year, but failied to win their own division once.  However, they won three bowl games in those three years and were heading in the right direction.  South Carolina finished 8th, 7th, and 4th in those past three years, respectively.  2014 began a new era in College Football.  The first ever College Football Playoff took place.  A system designed in South Carolina's favor, benifiting teams with strong records and tough schedules.  The Gamecocks would not even be in the Top-25, by the end of the season finishing 7-6, with a Independence Bowl win over the Miami Hurricanes.  

       It was Monday, October 12, 2015, when South Carolina kicker, Elliot Fry, walked into Williams-Brice Stadium.  The first thing he saw was Coach Spurrier just standing on the field and staring at the stadium.  It was then Elliot would walk over to the Steve Spurrier, then in the middle of his 11th season as the Head Coach of South Carolina.  The only thing the Coach would say to Elliot was, "Field looks nice, Elliot."  That day, Coach Spurrier would tell his team about his plans to retire. The next day, Spurrier officially resigned from the position of the Head Ball Coach.  Although he is retiring his position, his nickname will continue with him.  "I'll just be the former Head Ball Coach now," said Spurrier.  Steve will finish his career, assuming he will not coach again (although he has not ruled out that possibility), with 228 career wins, good enough for 45th in College Football histroy.Spurrier's ageless face has been the topic of many discussions throughout the years, as he has been known to say some very funny and to-the-truth things you will never hear a college football coach say.  At the end of this article, I will leave you with some of his best quotes:

When asked about Geroiga,

"I don't know. I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended."

"I do feel badly for Arkansas. That's no fun getting your butt beat at home, homecoming and all that."

"You know what FSU stands for, don't you? Free Shoes University."

"Well the second half we did a lot of good things on defense, we moved the ball pretty much offensively. We just couldn't score down there."

"Too bad about Connor Mitch. I think he was diving for that ill-advised option play and separated his shoulder...so it looks like he's out."