Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier is a former American football player and coach. Spurrier served as the head coach of three college and two professional teams, including significant tenures at the University of Florida and the University of South Carolina. He also had a standout college football career and spent a decade playing professionally in the NFL. After retiring from coaching in 2015, Spurrier now serves as an ambassador and consultant for the University of Florida's athletic department.

Spurrier is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he won the Heisman Trophy in his senior season of 1966 and was a consensus All-American in both 1965 and 1966. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986 and later as a coach in 2017, making him one of four members to be inducted as both a player and a coach. Spurrier was drafted in 1967 by the San Francisco 49ers, and played mainly as a backup quarterback and punter from 1967 to 1975. In 1976, he joined the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the team's starting quarterback for most of their inaugural season.

After retiring as a player, Spurrier returned to the college game in 1978 as an offensive assistant at Florida, then served as the quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech in 1979. In 1980, Duke University head coach Red Wilson hired him as his offensive coordinator. In 1987, he returned to Duke as the head coach, leading the team to an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship in 1989 with his innovative "Fast Break" offense. During his tenure in the United States Football League, he coached the Tampa Bay Bandits to a 35-19 record.

In 1990, Spurrier returned to the University of Florida to become the Gators' head coach. Over the next twelve seasons, he led Florida's program to its first six Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships and its first consensus national championship in 1996. In 2002, Spurrier briefly coached the NFL's Washington Redskins, implementing his offensive vision at the professional level.

In 2005, he took over as the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, achieving three of the four 10-win seasons in the program’s history, as well as the school’s only 11-win seasons, top-10 poll finishes, and its only SEC Championship Game appearance. On October 12, 2015, Spurrier announced his resignation as South Carolina's head coach. He participates in various events, offering insights on leadership, team building, and sports strategy.