Steve Spurrier announced on Tuesday that he is resigning as South Carolina head football coach. The resignation is effective immediately.
On Sunday, Spurrier had started thinking about resigning and he told the team that he was stepping down Monday night. Spurrier felt that he needed to step down now because he believes that there’s no accountability with players if they know that the coach isn’t coming back. He said he was a recruiting liability, according to the Associated Press.
The resignation is a surprise since Spurrier said in July that he would stay at South Carolina for five or six more years, Sports Illustrated notes. South Carolina president Harris Pastides asked Spurrier to stay for the rest of the season, but he declined.
"First of all, I'm resigning and not retiring," Spurrier said. "I doubt if I'll ever be a head coach again ... but don't say I've retired completely. Who knows what will come in the future. My answer has always been the same ... If it starts going south, starts going bad, then I need to get out. ... It's time for me to get out of the way and give somebody else a go at it."
Spurrier became a coach in 1978 as the quarterbacks coach at Florida. In 1987, he became a head coach for Duke. He also coached in the NFL for two seasons for the Washington Redskins, going 12-20. This season was Spurrier’s 11th season at South Carolina and was 86-49 at South Carolina. He is 228-89-2 in 25 seasons as a head coach, according to ESPN. He was the SEC coach of the year nine times.
Shawn Elliot, South Carolina’s co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season. South Carolina is 2-4, 0-4 in the SEC and is seventh in the SEC East heading into Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.
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