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Steve Spurrier set off social media earlier today when he announced, with little warning, that he was holding a press conference. Turned out, he was just upset about some things that were said about him in the media. But this being Spurrier, the press conference -- Periscope from @sportstalksc available here -- turned out some gems. Essentially, Spurrier was upset that people were suggesting he might retire soon.
Spurrier: Now that we went 7-6 people are bringing it up. He questions The State paper for running an opinion piece on it. #Gamecocks
— Ron Aiken (@RonAiken) July 22, 2015
Mentioning his record against Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Clemson. Magnificent
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
"They're talking negatively about me and South Carolina, and I'm sick of it"
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
"This is new for South Carolina. Somebody doesn't like your coach. And that's okay"
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
"Last time I'm talking about it, boys"
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
"We've got some enemies that write for the Atlanta paper. They cover the Bulldogs"
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
Spurrier quoting Attila the Hun. This is unbelievable
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
"I should have answered this way a week ago, but I hee-hawed around"
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
"What time's it gonna be on the news? I want to go home and watch it"
— Brandon Larrabee (@TeamSpeedKills) July 22, 2015
A few notes about this. First of all, this was not really for general consumption, but to (a) allow Spurrier to respond in his always thin-skinned way to a slight from a newspaper writer; and (b) to try to get rid of fears that any recruits might have about how long Spurrier will stay at South Carolina. It's likely to be more successful on the first count than on the second.
The truth is, no one -- including Spurrier -- likely knows how long it is that he's going to coach. It's not going to be a particularly long time, but the Head Ball Coach first said he would probably coach another four or five years roughly four or five years ago. When he recently modified that answer to two to three years, it was bound to cause some anxiety with recruits. Spurrier created his own monster here -- not the AJC or anyone else.
Asked today whether the talk circulating around him had hurt recruiting, Spurrier said no. The results from last year's class were not encouraging on that count. We'll see again soon enough whether Spurrier's remarks today were anything other than more false bravado.