This article was originally published with Dawgs247 on October 13, 2015 and can be found here. 

ATHENS — Some coaching legends have trademarked looks. Vince Lombardi displayed a gap-toothed smile and glasses. Paul “Bear” Bryant’s head housed a houndstooth hat. Steve Spurrier had a hat style he made all his own.

“The visor, man,” Mitchell said about his memory of Spurrier. “That’s it. I wasn’t a big sports fan when he was dominating the game. I caught the tail end of his career, but his reputation will stand forever.”

Spurrier announced on Monday he was hanging up the visor for the last time as South Carolina’s head coach. The decision ends Spurrier’s 11-year run at South Carolina and caps off 23 years as a head coach in the Southeastern Conference.

Defensive tackle Sterling Bailey echoed an answer similar to Mitchell’s.

“The thing I will remember about him the most is when he would get frustrated and just throw his visor on the ground,” Bailey said. “That’s one memory I’ll always have for him.”

Bailey elaborated that there was more to Spurrier than the visor. Even though Spurrier’s heyday as a player was well before Bailey was born, he mentioned his time as a quarterback in Florida and how it translated into his coaching style. Despite his status as an opposing coach, Bailey called Spurrier’s style something you see “once in a lifetime.”

Playing against a Spurrier-led team his one thing. Coaching against the Head Ball Coach year after year, however, is an entirely different circumstance.

Mark Richt had his fair share of showdowns against Spurrier over the years. The two faced off regularly when Richt was Florida State’s offensive coordinator and Spurrier coached Florida. It reached a new level when Richt landed at Georgia after the 2000 season.

Richt’s Bulldogs faced Spurrier once while he was at Florida then 11 times during his run as Gamecocks head coach. Spurrier walked away with a 6-6 record against Richt.

Richt explained that his early exposure to Spurrier’s fun-and-gun offenses at Florida influenced what he did with the Seminoles.
“Some of my memories of [Spurrier] is just watching his offenses play,” Richt said. “As a young coach, you watch offensive football and you learn, and you steal ideas. I can’t tell you how many times we would watch film of what they were doing and decide to put it in there at Florida State over the years.”

Richt explained that he got to know Spurrier on a personal level due to the Heisman Trophy. Richt coached two Heisman winners at Florida State in Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke as well as a runner-up in Casey Weldon. Since Spurrier won the Heisman at Florida in 1966, he always attended the ceremony in New York. The time together let Richt get to really know Spurrier.

As much as Spurrier is painted as a total thorn in opponents’ sides, Richt explained that was not always the case. When Richt’s wife Katharyn had a cancer scare in 2006, Spurrier was quick to pick up the phone to provide well wishes. As heated as the rivalry between their two teams was, it was clear that some things were more important than football.

Despite Spurrier’s competitive nature and propensity to irritate coaches and fans alike, Richt had nothing but well wishes for his former adversary.

“I just want to thank him for the job he did all those years,” Richt said. “Hopefully, he enjoys his retirement or whatever he’s calling it right now. We wish him and his family the very best.”