South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier announced Monday that he will return to the Gamecocks for the 2015 season. Despite being ranked ninth in the preseason rankings and coming off a 11-win campaign; South Carolina limped to a disappointing 6-6 finish and dropped their final contest to Clemson for the first time in five years. Spurrier, however, made his intentions clear that he will fulfill the remainder of his contract ending in 2016.
“I’m in. I’m in,” Spurrier told The State newspaper of Columbia. “We had some down times and some of this, that and the other, but we’ve got a lot of good players on the way. Give me two or three more. I used to say four or five, now I’m down to two or three. I mean, I could get in a car wreck, but I’m definitely planning on being back.”
Even though it has been a down year in Columbia, Spurrier has done a great job rebuilding the program. Since taking over the program in 2005, he has posted a record of 83-45, including four bowl victories. Before this season, he led the Gamecocks to three straight 11-win seasons which was never done before in their school’s history.
Still, the team remains bowl eligible and is currently awaiting which Bowl they are assigned to play in. Many analysts project the Gamecocks to be invited to the Birmingham Bowl against the Memphis Tigers- a far cry from previous Bowl appearances. South Carolina will need to improve in the next couple of years if the program hopes to maintain their current direction, but it appears they will be without the ole ball coach sooner than many expected.
Don’t expect to the Gamecocks to be down for long, as they are primed to have another great recruiting class under Spurrier.
*Section Photo credit to Streeter Lecka, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Jeremy Brevard, USA Today Sports.
