GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- When they came back in 1990 and fell in love all over again with the University of Florida and its passionate fans, they embraced their roots and embarked on a 12-year journey that redefined the landscape of UF Athletics.
Jerri Spurrier has kept a memento from that return on a desk at home all these years, a magazine story titled
Coming Home. How does
Coming Home II sound to the wife of former Gators head coach Steve Spurrier?
"You don't really have to talk about it,'' she said. "You don't really have to make a decision. It's just the right thing to do and you know it."
Florida Athletic Director
Jeremy Foley announced Friday that the Head Ball Coach is returning to his alma mater as Ambassador and Consultant to the UF Athletic Department. Spurrier's duties include serving as a mentor to UF coaches, as a representative at Gator Booster functions, as a bridge between former players and the school, and other roles yet to be determined.
The 71-year-old Spurrier, who stepped down as head coach at South Carolina late last season and has faced regular inquiries about his future plans over the past several months, was waiting on the right opportunity to present itself.
When Gators head coach
Jim McElwain and Foley talked with him informally recently about an ambassador role, the idea intrigued him. It became a reality when talks turned serious over the past week.
Jerri and Steve Spurrier at UF in the 1960s. (Getty Images file photo)
"This was really something I wanted to do and I was really searching for the right time to do it and I think it's now,'' Spurrier said. "I'll try to help out any way I can there. I'm not coaching. I want to make it clear that in no way am I a coach. I'm just sort of a spectator.
"I will say this: Coach McElwain is not a big ego guy at all. He suggested that whenever I was done coaching to come around a little bit and see if I can help the Gators in all sports."
Once the Spurriers, who celebrated their 50-year wedding anniversary earlier this month, discussed their options the answer was orange-and-blue clear.
It was time to return to Florida after spending the last 11 years in South Carolina, where Spurrier took over as head coach in 2005 and built the Gamecocks into a perennial contender in the SEC and led the program to the SEC East title in 2010.
Spurrier is no longer a head coach, but he wants to share the lessons he learned over his career to hopefully help others.
"I think it's important to be on a team,'' he said. "Since I was 7 years old, I have been on a team almost every year except some of my in-between coaching years. It's a wonderful feeling and certainly everyone that is a Gator, whether from attending the University of Florida or because they grew up simply loving the Gators, that's their team.
"It's really special to have a team. I am certainly looking forward to being on the big Gator team now and contributing any way I can. I think we all need a team to be on."
Spurrier arrived at UF for the first time in 1963 as a freshman quarterback from Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn. Three years later he became the school's first Heisman Trophy winner and his place in Florida folklore was secure.
However, he returned 26 years ago as Florida's head coach and promptly won his first 23 home games, establishing the Gators as one of the nation's elite programs. Florida claimed its first national title in 1996 and by the time Spurrier resigned to become head coach of the Washington Redskins after the 2001 season, he had a 127-22-1 record and 68-5 record at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which he nicknamed "The Swamp" in 1992.
Spurrier's Fun N' Gun offense revolutionized college football and dominated the SEC as the Gators remain the only school in the conference to win four consecutive SEC Championship Games from 1993-96.
UF historian
Norm Carlson, a close friend of Spurrier's and the former sports-information director for the Gators, had a first row seat during Spurrier's playing career and coaching career.
The news of his return thrilled Carlson.
"I think it's where he should land,'' Carlson said. "He's the only guy who has ever won a Heisman, coached a Heisman and won a national championship at the same school. That's going to be hard to top. He is the No. 1 hero we have ever produced. He has always represented himself well in his love for the Gators. He is where he belongs. He is a Gator coming home."
Steve Spurrier returned to UF this spring to watch the annual Orange & Blue Debut. (Photo: Matthew Ramirez for UAA)
Spurrier is ready to get started.
He plans to visit UF over the weekend and open the latest chapter in a life that has been very public and very successful for more than 50 years.
The opportunity to reconnect with so many old friends and former players has him excited about the future.
"My offseason has been a little similar to most except no football,'' he said. "That's the only thing. I had done that long enough. I really did not miss it and I really felt like there had to be an end to being a head football coach. And then this opportunity came up.
"It will be a lot of fun. When you go through a football season and a football career with so many players, you develop a special bond that lasts a lifetime."
The same can be said of the bond between Spurrier and Gator Nation.
The Spurriers met at UF. They came back years later and created so many memories for so many people. And now they are home.
"It really is home. It's hard for both of us not to be part of a team,'' Jerri Spurrier said. "And we've always been Gators wherever we've been. It's very exciting."
