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| This University of Florida photo was used in Who's No. 1? |
All week people have been
sharing their favorite Spurrier zinger from over the years (mine is “You can’t spell Citrus without UT”), and
he’s already considered a slam-dunk for the College Football Hall of Fame.
But
as for his place in history, here’s a look using the same process I utilized
for my book Nick Saban vs. College Football:
We’ll start with his
championships as a head coach:
1 National (1996)
1 ACC (1989)
6 SEC (1991, 1993–1996,
2000)
8 SEC Eastern Division
(1992–1996, 1999–2000, 2010)
Among active coaches he’s
just one of seven coaches to have won a national crown.
Active coaches national
championships
Nick Saban 4 (3 at Alabama,
1 LSU)
Urban Meyer 3 (2 at Florida, 1 Ohio State)
Larry Coker 1 (Miami)
Jimbo Fisher 1
Les Miles 1
Steve Spurrier 1 (Florida)
Bob Stoops 1
When the Gators won the
crown in 1996, they faced six ranked teams, and three in the top 5. That’s
about average. The record is eight by Les Miles and LSU in 2007, and four by
Joe Paterno and Penn State in 1982.
Here’s the updated
Saban-Spurrier comparison chart I used in the book. Note that I’m not including
the percentages and ratios that go with it because we’re midway through a
season and that would thrown them off a little (and if you have no idea what
I’m talking about you’re just going to have to buy a copy).
Nick Saban vs. Steve Spurrier
(Statistics through six games of 2015 season)
Category Saban Spurrier
Seasons 20-x 26
Consensus national
championships 4 1
Record in BCS title games 4-0 1-1
Record in conference title
games 5-1 5-3
Top five finishes 5 7
Top 25 finishes 12 16
Overall record 182–60–1 228-89-2
Percentage 75.1 71.8
Losing seasons 0 1
Bowl record 8-8 11-10
Percentage 50.0 52.3
Conference titles 6 7
Conference record 110-41-1 142-61-1
Consensus All-Americans 25 16
First-round draft picks 22 17
Record against ranked teams 58-38 64-57-1
Percentage 60.40 52.86
Record against top 10 teams 29-18 27-34-1
Percentage 61.70 44.35
Spurrier will go down as one
of the few coaches who had a winning record against Saban, 3-1. His Florida
juggernaut beat him twice at LSU, and they split two games at Alabama.
“This guy is probably one of
the best college football coaches over a long period of time, winning at
various programs from Duke to Florida to South Carolina,” Saban said this week.
“Not always in great situations for college football and we're certainly going
to miss him.”
Here are a couple of update
charts from the book:
Consensus All-Americans, active coaches
(Through 2014 season)
Nick Saban 25
Bob Stoops 23
Steve Spurrier 16
Urban Meyer 10
Bill Snyder 10
Les Miles 9
Mark Richt 8
Frank Beamer 6
Brian Kelly 3
(Note: Mack Brown had 25)
First-round draft selections, active coaches
(Through 2015 NFL Draft)
Nick Saban 22
Steve Spurrier 17
Les Miles 14
Bob Stoops 13
Mark Richt 12
Urban Meyer 11
Frank Beamer 8
Brian Kelly 4
Bill Snyder 2
First-round draft picks, all-time
(Minimum 15 years, through 2015 NFL Draft)
Joe Paterno 33
Bobby Bowden 32
Woody Hayes 27
Nick Saban 22
Mack Bown 21
Lou Holtz 20
Tom Osborne 19
Paul W. “Bear” Bryant 18
John McKay 18
Steve Spurrier 17
Frank Leahy 16
Barry Switzer 16
Ara Parseghian 14
Les Miles 14
Bo Schembechler 13
Bob Stoops 13
Mark Richt 12
… and a couple of charts I
haven’t had a chance to update yet:
Record against ranked opponents, active coaches
(Through 2013 season)
Bob Stoops 50-23 (68.49)
Urban Meyer 25-12 (67.57)
Jimbo Fisher 9-5 (64.29)
Nick Saban 51-35 (59.30)
Brian Kelly 15-11 (57.69)
Les Miles 40-31 (56.33)
Steve Spurrier 63-52-1 (54.74)
Mark Richt 34-31 (52.31)
Frank Beamer 43-50-1 (46.28)
Mack Brown 45-61-1 (45.52)
Bill Snyder 21-42-1 (33.59)
Record against top 10 opponents, active coaches
(Through 2013 season)
Urban Meyer 12-5 (70.59)
Nick Saban 25-16 (60.96)
Bob Stoops 18-13 (58.06)
Jimbo Fisher 4-3 (57.14)
Les Miles 16-17 (48.48)
Steve Spurrier 26-31-1 (45.69)
Mark Richt 11-16 (40.74)
Brian Kelly 2-6 (25.00)
Mack Brown 11-32 (25.58)
Frank Beamer 7-32 (17.95)
Bill Snyder 4-29 (12.12)
Winning percentage against top 10 teams (minimum 20
games)
(Through 2013 season)
Frank Leahy 86.54
Nick Saban 61.36
Paul W. “Bear” Bryant 58.77
John McKay 57.69
Barry Switzer 57.14
Bob Stoops 58.06
Woody Hayes 52.08
Les Miles 50.00
Darrell
Royal 46.25
Bobby Bowden 46.39
Tom Osborne 45.76
Bud Wilkinson 44.64
Steve Spurrier 45.69
Bo Schembechler 42.31
Ara Parseghian 41.67
Mark Richt 39.13
Lou Holtz 38.57
Joe Paterno 38.16-z
Shug Jordan 36.36
Mack Brown 25.58
Frank Beamer 17.95
Bill Snyder 12.12
z- Without NCAA penalties,
Paterno’s percentage was 42.7
Finally, Spurrier’s record
against teams ranked No. 1: 2-4.
As for the historical
context, in the book I had as my Mount Rushmore of college football coaches:
Paul W. “Bear” Bryant, Knute Rockne, Bobby Bowden and Nick Saban.
My second team, if you will,
was Frank Leahy, John McKay, Tom Osborne and Bud Wilkinson.
I also had a Mount Rushmore
of the game’s pioneers featuring Fielding Yost, Walter Camp, Pop Warner, and
Howard Jones (although Amos Alonzo Stagg is certainly deserving as well).
Two more names have to be
added: Joe Paterno and Urban Meyer. Since the book was published Paterno’s had
his vacated wins restored and Meyer won his third
national title. Where those two fit is a topic for another day, but they’re
clearly in the mix.
So that’s 15 names already
and we haven’t gotten to Barry Switzer, Woody Hayes or Darrell Royal yet.
If this was going to be a top 25 list, and that’s probably the next step for me to take with this, Spurrier would likely be listed among Ara Parseghian, Robert Neyland, Howard Jones, Red Blaik, Bernie Bierman ... but he'd definitely be on it.
If this was going to be a top 25 list, and that’s probably the next step for me to take with this, Spurrier would likely be listed among Ara Parseghian, Robert Neyland, Howard Jones, Red Blaik, Bernie Bierman ... but he'd definitely be on it.
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