Steve Spurrier to make guest appearance on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’

Richard Shiro | AP South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier speaks Tuesday during a news conference to announce he is resigning at the University Of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. Spurrier said he felt he needed to step down because he doesn’t believe there is accountability with players if they know the coach won’t be back next year.

Though Fisch’s time is tight leading up to a game, he may get to talk to Spurrier in person this weekend, as the “Old Ball Coach” plans to be in Ann Arbor on the ESPN “College Gameday” set this weekend. Although he is looked at as a short-term fix, Elliott deserves an opportunity to show if he has what it takes to become the Gamecocks’ next head coach. I’m sad our team is not better and it’s my fault. “I was shocked because I wasn’t ready for it. We kind of fussed about it for awhile”.

Any first-time head coach will discover various pitfalls in getting accustomed to being the lead guy, but Shawn Elliott’s in a more unique situation than most.

His final game coaching Carolina was overshadowed by a fight between USC and Clemson. “We’re going to have a few distractions, but how we get over those is going to dictate how we play on Saturday and I think we’ll be just fine”.

Fun ‘N Gun won six SEC Championships, seven if you count his first team that was ineligible due to NCAA rues violations committed by the previous staff. His team won the school’s first national championship. I think the team needs to hear a new message, a new voice, from another coach.

In his 26 seasons as a head coach at Duke, Florida and South Carolina, Spurrier compiled a 228-89-2 record. South Carolina was used to losing before he got there and Coach Spurrier changed the culture.

Spurrier’s decision ends a 16-year run for South Carolina football, which was led by two of college football’s all-time greats in Lou Holtz (1999-2004) and Spurrier. He’s second, behind Alabama coach Bear Bryant, in SEC wins, with 208.

Spurrier said this summer he planned to coach two or three more years, then extended that to four or five years when several recruits who had committed to South Carolina backed away before signing day in February.

South Carolina’s inconsistency on offense this season has surely frustrated Spurrier, a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at Florida who played for San Francisco and Tampa Bay in the NFL.

All three college programs Spurrier headed were struggling before his arrival. He has seen Florida, FSU and Miami all win national championships, and he covered Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Don Shula along the way.

His debut as interim coach comes Saturday, in a 4 p.m. home game against Vanderbilt (2-3, 0-2). I’m going to take our opportunity we have as a staff and we’re moving forward. “Tell him next time I’ll try to do better”.

“He brings such passion to the team”, said senior guard Mike Matulis. So Spurrier called Fisch multiple times from the road asking for directions and Fisch – on his wedding day – couldn’t figure out where his mentor landed.