When Steve Spurrier was hired as head football coach at the University of Florida in 1990, it isn't likely anyone could have predicted what was going to take place during the first half of the decade of the '90s. Prior to his arrival, no Florida team had captured an official Southeastern Conferencechampionship in 56 years as a charter member of the league. Spurrier became the first coach in league history to capture three outright conference crowns in his first five seasons (1991, 1993 and 1994), and joined the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant as the only coach in SEC history to win three straight outright league championships (1993-95). His four outright SEC titles already ranks third best in league history, trailing only Bryant (11) and Ole Miss' John Vaught with six. Florida is 44-6 in SEC games over the last six seasons, a winning percentage of .880 - tops among league schools during this period and by far the best in SEC history for any coach who has coached a minimum of five years in the conference. Prior to 1990 no Gator team had ever won more than nine games in a season. In six seasons, Spurrier-coached Gator teams have won at least nine each year, surpassing that total four times:
1991 (10 wins), 1993 (11), 1994 (10) and 1995 (12).
His overall record of 61-13-1 in the past six seasons ranks as the third-best win total in college football during the 1990's and his winning percentage of .8201 second best among any SEC head coach in history (minimum of five years in the league).
The Gators are one of only two teams in the nation to finish the season ranked in the AP Top Ten Poll in each of the past five years (1991-95) and one of only four teams in the country to win at least nine games each of the six seasons of this decade.
Prior to his arrival in 1990, Florida had finished a season ranked in the AP Top Ten Poll just three times. Spurrier coached Gator teams have already that distinction five times.
Florida has had the SEC's best record five of the last six seasons (6-1 in 1990, 7-0 in 1991, 8-1 in 1993, 8-1 in 1994 and 9-0 in 1995), producing five bowl appearances, including four major bowl appearances highlighted by a 1995 national championship contest vs. Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.
Florida has won the SEC Eastern Division championship in all four years of league divisional play - 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995.
Spurrier's teams have been ranked in the AP national poll in 99 of the 100 weeks he has been the Gator head coach, including the last 99 straight. They have ranked in the Top 10 Poll in each of the last 52 weeks, including a number one ranking in seven of the first nine weeks of the 1994 season.
He is the first coach in Florida history to defeat arch-rival Georgia six consecutive seasons.
Spurrier has been voted SEC Coach-of-the-Year four times, 1990, 1991,1994 and 1995, an honor he captured in the Atlantic Coast Conference as head coach at Duke University in 1988 and1989.
His nine-year collegiate head coaching record of 81-26-2 (.752) is sixth-best in the nation amongactive coaches. His overall head coaching record, counting three years in pro ball, is 116-45-2 (.718%).
In Spurrier's initial season at the Gator helm in 1990, his team went 9-2, finished fifth in the nation on defense and 10th on offense while setting 14 single-season records.
In 1991, the Gators won 10 games for the first time, beating seven league foes by a margin of 226-74 and producing the best conference record in their history (7-0) and the best by any SECschool since 1977.
That team set seven new school records, three SEC marks and finished the season ranked ninth in the nation in total offense and fourth in passing. They led the SEC and were sixth in the nationin rushing defense. The Gators' 5,028 yards of total offense was a school record at that time.
They finished the regular season ranked third in the nation and dropped to seventh after losing to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
In 1992, the young Gator team started the season 1-2 and bounced back to win seven of its lasteight games to win the Eastern Division title and advance to the first-ever SEC championshipgame. A heartbreaking loss (28-21) to eventual national champion Alabama in that contest wasfollowed by a 27-10 victory over N.C. State in the Gator Bowl for a final record of 9-4 and anAP ranking of10th.
The 1993 offense set eight SEC records and 15 UF marks while ranking fourth in the nation in scoring (39.3) and passing yards (339.3 ypg). They were seventh in total offense (476.6 ypg) and averaged a TD once every 15 snaps. Defensively, UF was ninth in the nation in rushing defense.
The 1994 offense scored the most points (521)and touchdowns (69) of any team in SEC history, leading the conference, and finished second in the nation in scoring average (43.4 ppg). They were fourth in the nation in passing offense with 311 ypg and led the nation in TD passes with 43.
The Gator defense of '94 finished first in the conference and fifth in the nation in rushing defense (84.6 ypg) and 19th overall.
The 1995 season ranked as the most glorious in school history as the Gators posted a 12-1 record (most wins in school history), played for the national championship vs. Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, finished the season ranked second in the final AP Poll (highest finish in UF history) and won their fourth SEC title in the past five years.
Florida joined Alabama as the only school in SEC history to win three consecutive outright league championships (1993-95). The offense was even better than the record-breaking outfit of 1994 and was arguably the finest in the history of the SEC as it shattered the league record for average total offense per game (the Gators averaged 534 yards per game to break the league record held by the 1970 Auburn offense which averaged 485 yards a contest) while also scoring more TD's (74) and points (534) in league history. Spurrier's teams at Duke (1987-88-89) all led the Atlantic Coast Conference in total offense and passing and his Gator team in 1990 did the same. In 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1995. Florida led the league in passing.
Spurrier's offenses recorded the same results at the professional level in the USFL from 1983-85 with the Tampa Bay Bandits. The 1984 team was the first in pro history to produce a 4,000-yard passer and two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season. Quarterback John Reaves again passed for over 4,000 yards in 1985, one of only four QB's in pro history to accomplish this feat in back-to-back seasons.
The 1966 Heisman Trophy winner as Florida's quarterback, Spurrier started his coaching career as the Gators' quarterback coach in 1978. In 1979, he served as offensive coordinator and QB coach at Georgia Tech, and served in that same capacity at Duke from 1980-82 before moving to the USFL in his first head coaching job with the Bandits in 1983. He returned to Duke as head coach in 1987 and produced that school's first ACC championship in 24 years in 1989. Spurrier was born on April 20, 1945 in Miami Beach, Fla., son of Presbyterian minister J. Graham Spurrier and his wife Marjorie. The family moved to Johnson City, Tennessee, when
Steve was 12 years old.
At Science Hill H.S. in Johnson City, he was all-state in football, basketball and baseball and prep All-American in football in 1962. His baseball team won two straight state titles and in three seasons of pitching, he never lost a game.
At Florida, he guided the Gators to two major bowls in three seasons, eight come-from-behind wins in the final quarter and a glorious period still remembered fondly by Florida fans.
In the Sugar Bowl game following the 1965 season, Spurrier set six passing and total offense records and became the only player from the losing team to be voted the game's MVP.
The Auburn game in 1966 was the ultimate in Spurrier's knack of being in the right place at the right time under pressure. Heisman Trophy ballots had gone out the previous week and were due back in the week following. A record Florida Field press corps was in attendance.
Despite one of the greatest performances of his career (27 of 40 passing for 259 yards and one TD; five punts for an average of 46.9 yards per kick), the Gators remained tied with Auburn at 27-27 with just over two minutes remaining and had to attempt a field goal on fourth and long.
Spurrier took the responsibility for hitting the longer 40-yard effort, although he had not kicked a field goal since the opener that season against Northwestern. He kicked it through for a dramatic 30-27 victory.
Joe Durso of the New York Times called Spurrier a "Real-life Frank Merriwell." John Logue of the Atlanta Journal wrote, "Spurrier, with his hands tied behind his back and facing a firing squad, would be favored to escape."
He was the first round draft choice of the San Francisco 49ers in 1967 and played 10 years in the NFL, nine with the 49ers and one with the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Steve and Jerri Spurrier met while UF students and were married just before his senior season in 1966 at Florida. They now have four children - daughters Mrs. Lisa King and Mrs. Amy Moody and sons Steve, Jr., a Gator graduate assistant coach, and Scotty. They also have a grandson, Trey King.
