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NEWS FLASH: SPURRIER RESIGNS, ROCKS GATOR NATION ESPN.com University of Florida football coach Steve Spurrier has resigned, ESPN confirmed. Spurrier gave no reasons for his decision, but the Gainesville Sun reported on its Web site that Spurrier would make himself available for an NFL head coaching job. In the Orange Bowl earlier this week, Florida crushed Maryland 56-23. -------------------------------- Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote, "It's not true that life is one damn thing after another; it's one damn thing over and over..." That's apparently how Spurrier felt when he decided that 12 years as the Gators' head football coach was enough. In an exclusive interview with Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley about why he is resigning, the Gator head ball coach expressed frustration about "the years of doing that over and over", namely, finishing near the top year after year but not repeating the accomplishments of his first seven years at the Gator helm, during which he won five SEC championships and a national championship. During the next five seasons, he won only one SEC championship, despite winning 10 or more games four times, and saw his best chance of winning another national championship since '96 dashed by an underdog Tennessee team in the Swamp in the final game of the regular season, which had the Gators ranked # 1 in the nation at one point. Spurrier once wrote, "winning championships never gets old." But not winning them does. For Dooley's story, see EXCLUSIVE GatorBytes -------------------------------- GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard:
Congratulations/End of an Era Leave it to the Gators' head ball coach when it comes to timing, on this, Miami's day of glory, to announce his retirement. The details are not clear. A press conference is scheduled for 5:00 PM EST with AD Jeremy Foley. Spurrier will not be present. The speculation is that Spurrier will be going to Tampa Bay to coach the Bucs, something he almost did a few years ago, but changed his mind following an enormous outpouring of student and fan support. Since then, most thought that Spurrier seemed to have come to the realization that things could never be better in the pros than they are here in Gainesville at UF, where he is the highest paid college coach in the country, and is higher paid than most pro coaches. What's running through Spurrier's mind is anybody's guess right now. More later. In the meantime, let's get back to Miami and give the Canes their well-deserved due. Here is the final season issue of Sunshine State Scoreboard completed just minutes before the Spurrier story broke, left as it is... University of Miami University of Florida Florida State University Congratulations to the National Champion Miami Hurricanes for winning their FIFTH national title since 1983 making them not only national champs but the biggest dog on the porch here in Florida where the title has been brought home eight times in the past 18 years by Miami, Florida and Florida State. Many fans will remember that Sports Illustrated cover of September 5, 1988 entitled "Florida" depicting the state's three football superpowers. Nothing has changed, and judging from the wellspring of high school talent here in Florida that the three schools can draw from year after year, the state's pigskin hegemony shows no indications of ending anytime soon. This has been another banner year, too, for the SEC and the South as a whole. Three SEC teams finished in the top 10 AP rankings: UF, Tennessee and LSU. And five, including South Carolina and Georgia, finished in the Top 25, more than any other conference. Southern teams took 13 of the top 25 rankings, more than any other region of the country. But only one state, Florida, had more than two teams finish in the top 25, and two of them, Miami and Florida, finished #1 and #3. This pretty much wraps it up for Sunshine State Scoreboard until Spring practice. It was another exciting season and there's plenty to look forward to next season, like the renewal of the UF-UM regular season series that the Gators lead 25-24, which ended in 1987, and another run for the Heisman by Gator QB, Rex Grossman. The heat will be on Cane head ball coach Larry Coker to show that his stewardship is not a fluke, that not just anyone can win a national title at UM, which has had four different coaches win it. The heat will be on the Gator head ball coach, too, who saw his best chance of winning a second national title since '96 dashed by Tennessee, which also upended the Gators' quest of what many considered to be a sure repeat of the conference championship, which the Gators have won six times, finishing first seven times, under Spurrier. Spurrier who finished the 90s as the SEC's heir apparent to the legendary Bear Bryant and has already surpassed him in many categories must be wondering what it takes to win another national title, something the Bear won six times. But the heat is really on the Noles' head ball coach, who is coming off his worse season since 1986 when he went 7-4-1 and can no longer guarantee high school recruits an ACC conference championship ring, something the Noles had won every year previous to this season since joining the ACC in '92. And he may have some trouble convincing recruits of the Noles' long-term prospects, not that they are going to implode, but recessions don't just happen to economies, they happen to football programs, too, and FSU's high-rolling years may be over. But I am no soothsayer, and in no other human activity does hope spring more eternal than college football. For those of you who want to relive the season, Sunshine State Scoreboard is on the web at http://webenet.com/GatorBytes where you can get all the past issues and more. Check it out, and until later, no, I am not really an alligator, I am, GatorBytes
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