12 Iconic Quotes From Steve Spurrier Trolling Rival Schools

Steve Spurrier is a college football legend. The national championship winner is the all-time winningest coach at two SEC programs in Florida and South Carolina. He also made notable contributions at Duke.

Spurrier coached for 26 seasons at the NCAA level. He made a lot of people mad in the process.

Some of that was due to success on the field. Spurrier was 228-89-2 in his career, winning six SEC titles with the Gators and being named co-ACC champion in his final year with the Blue Devils.

Much of the disdain, though, came from his off-the-field banter. The coach has never been one to hold back when at the podium.

“I’m not one to say, ‘no comment’ whether I am right or wrong, but especially if I am right,” he once said of his brazen demeanor. That outspokenness showed at every stop.

12 Iconic Quips From Steve Spurrier

Spurrier’s jabs could be in reference to a number of things, from his own team’s outlook, to recruiting, to personal accomplishment, and even work-life balance.

The most memorable ones, though, were aimed directly at opposing rivals. On this list, we’ll relive some of his most iconic moments in which he trolled his opposition. We’ll start during his days in Gainesville with a jab at Florida State.

“Free Shoes University”

In 1994, Spurrier needled Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles on recruiting success. It came amid a scandal that involved sports agents providing impermissible benefits to players, including cash and after-hours shopping sprees at Foot Locker.

“You know what FSU stands for, don’t you? Free Shoes University,” he sarcastically quipped after the story broke.

“We’ve always suspected,” Spurrier said. “They’ve beaten us four out of five years in recruiting. They always tell their fans that the reason they out-recruit us is because they outwork us. Well, that’s their story.”

Spurrier went 5-8-1 against the Noles in 14 matchups at UF. He believes he was at a bit of a disadvantage due to Florida State’s recruiting practices.

“Can’t spell Citrus without U-T”

Steve Spurrier went 8-4 against the Vols while at Florida and 14-10 over the course of his entire career. Having grown up in Tennessee, his hatred for the program was on display on numerous occasions.

In the mid-90s, he won four straight games with Peyton Manning on the other sideline. Those wins cost the Vols championship opportunities. Tennessee played in the Citrus Bowl in ’95 and ’96, winning both. Manning returned for his senior year in 1997.

Spurrier famously said, “You can’t spell Citrus without U-T,” while also jabbing the quarterback for spurning the NFL to become a “three-year star of the Citrus Bowl.”

“Playing UGA that 2nd game”

Spurrier took over at South Carolina in 2005. At the time, the Gamecocks opened the SEC season against Georgia on the second weekend of most every year.

That changed in the 2010s when a scheduling move pushed the game to midseason. Spurrier joked about the Bulldogs’ tendency to see early season suspensions.

“I sort of always like playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended,” he said in 2012. The Gamecocks would go onto win that year’s matchup, 35-7.

“Alabama scholarships”

Spurrier’s Florida teams were dominant in the SEC, representing the Eastern Division seven times in his 12-year stint. Five of those championship game appearances involved matchups against Alabama.

The Gators went 3-2 in those contests, but still never had much luck recruiting the Yellowhammer State. He blamed the Crimson Tide’s shady recruiting tactics.

“In 12 years at Florida, I don’t think we ever signed a kid from the state of Alabama. Of course, we found out later that the scholarships they were giving out at Alabama were worth a whole lot more than ours.”

Iconic Steve Spurrier Quotes: “The real tragedy”

A fire broke out in an Auburn library, destroying 20 books. Spurrier used the moment to trash talk the Tigers.

“The real tragedy was that 15 books hadn’t been colored in yet,” he joked.

Spurrier went 10-8 versus Auburn over his career including a 10-3 mark at Florida. He was unable to beat the Tigers in his final five tries at South Carolina.

“No Vanderbilts in the NFL”

Not even the Commodores were safe from Spurrier’s jeering. After a failed stint in the NFL, he spoke on the difficulty of the schedule.

He did so in true SEC fashion, picking on the conference’s weakest link. “There are no Vanderbilts in the NFL,” he said upon returning to the college ranks.

Spurrier posted a 17-2 record against Vandy, but he’s still the last South Carolina coach to lose to the Commodores.

“Death Valley”

At Florida, Spurrier’s main rivals consisted of Georgia and Florida State. We’ve already heard a few barbs thrown the way of the Bulldogs and Seminoles.

At South Carolina, the Head Ball Coach turned his focus to Clemson. He took the opportunity to troll the Tigers’ home field moniker before a November matchup.

“Most of our guys have never been to Death Valley. LSU’s stadium is the Death Valley, isn’t it?” he said. “Or is there another one? There’s two of them. That’s right. There’s two Death Valleys.”

Spurrier went 6-4 against the Tigers, with three wins in Death Valley.

“Pretty cars”

One of Spurrier’s top players at South Carolina was Jadeveon Clowney. The defensive end landed All-America honors before becoming the No. 1 pick the NFL Draft.

In one of his three college seasons, he ran into some minor trouble having been stopped for speeding near campus. Florida State somehow caught a stray in the head coach’s response.

“I didn’t know Jadeveon’s car that could go that fast. He doesn’t have a pretty car like those FSU guys used to drive.” Despite the trash talk, Spurrier lost his only game against the Seminoles while in Columbia.

“14th time in Neyland”

Before a matchup against Tennessee in Knoxville, Spurrier noted that it was his 14th time coaching in Neyland Stadium. He used that statistic as a slight against fellow trash talker Lane Kiffin.

“Will be the 14th time I’ve coached in Neyland Stadium,” he said before the contest. “I’ve coached there more than some of their head coaches.”

Kiffin, of course, famously coached one season with the Vols before bailing for USC in the middle of the night. While Spurrier posted a career record of 13-8 against Tennessee, he lost his only head-t0-head matchup against Kiffin.

Iconic Steve Spurrier Quotes: “Ray Goof”

Ray Goff coached at Georgia from 1989 to 1995. He was 1-6 against the Gators, and 0-6 against Spurrier.

When asked about beating the Bulldogs for a seventh straight time, the Head Ball Coach replied, “Is Ray Goff still coaching there?”

“Ray Goof,” as Spurrier once referred to him, would not be around for a seventh straight loss. Florida won the ’96 matchup in Jacksonville 47-7 despite that absence.

“Cartwheels”

South Carolina was picked to win the SEC East in 2014 but finished the campaign at 7-6, Spurrier compared the Gamecocks’ season to that of SEC rivals Arkansas and Tennessee, who both finished with identical records.

“There are people in Knoxville and Fayetteville doing cartwheels for 7-6,” he joked, deflecting on the failure to reach expectations.

The jab prompted replies from both Bret Bielema and Butch Jones, who each shot down the coach’s claims of a celebratory offseason. Even in defeat, he could get under his opponents’ skin.

“If I made schedule”

In the past, the SEC implemented a schedule that included multiple permanent cross-divisional opponents. One of Florida’s annual matchups came against LSU, typically a top contender in the conference.

When discussing scheduling difficulty, he offered a hilarious suggestion that referenced rival Georgia’s yearly slate. Ole Miss caught a massive stray in the quip.

“You think I make the schedule? If I made the schedule, Georgia would be playing LSU and we’d be playing Ole Miss.”

The Rebels were mediocre during Spurrier’s stint at Florida, failing to post a 10-win season. Spurrier would’ve preferred to face them over the Tigers on an annual basis.