Steve Spurrier was famous for a number of things throughout his legendary career, but one of them was his penchant for swapping quarterbacks — anytime, anywhere.
If the Head Ball Coach felt a spark was needed from the position, he had no problem yanking his starter and giving the backup a shot.
It didn't matter if it meant benching a future Heisman Trophy winner like Danny Wuerffel, or if it took place mid-drive against a top-10 team.
If you weren’t getting the job done, Spurrier would find someone who would.
That’s exactly what he did Tuesday when he announced he would resign as South Carolina’s football coach — Spurrier benched himself.
"It’s time for me to get out of the way and let someone else have a go at it," the coach said at his resignation press conference.
And that’s exactly how he views it.
Despite the notion being circulated by some, the winningest coach in Florida and South Carolina history isn’t quitting on his team.
Sure, for a competitor who famously needled Tennessee with the line "You can’t spell ‘Citrus’ without ‘UT’" — a jab at the school’s routine appearances in the Citrus Bowl for finishing second to Florida in the Southeastern Conference — finishing out a season likely to end without a bowl appearance wasn’t appealing.
But this wasn’t about him.
This was about South Carolina, and how the school was better off without him.
Clearly, with the way things were going, this was the Head Ball Coach’s last season. But sticking around to finish it off and having doubts over his future would have killed the school’s recruiting, as it did the past few years.
It also wouldn’t have given the school much time to find his replacement, and in college football, a few weeks can make all the difference in finding a coach.
Announcing now that he would retire at season’s end wasn’t an option for Spurrier, either, as he would have lost all his "accountability" with the players for the rest of the year, as he put it.
No, he wanted to rip the band-aid off now, and he wanted to do so quickly.
Had Spurrier wanted, he could have spent Tuesday’s press conference joking and reminiscing over all the things he’s done in both Gainesville and Columbia. It’s easy to forget just how much he has accomplished.
In 12 seasons at Florida, the coach had fewer home losses (five) than the amount of SEC championships he won (six). Before he arrived, the school had never won an SEC crown.
He won at least nine games in all 12 years, won the 1996 national title and revolutionized college football with his innovation on the offensive side of the ball.
Then, after a failed attempt in the NFL, Spurrier took on the project of revitalizing the Gamecocks.
Spurrier would end up transforming a program that only had one 10-win season before his arrival and eventually take it to three-consecutive 11-win seasons from 2011-13.
What was once thought of as one of the jokes of the conference suddenly became a viable destination for the top recruits in the country under his reign.
Instead of dwelling on any of that, though, Spurrier repeatedly turned the focus away from himself and onto the school’s future, answering questions quickly and pointedly, longing to get out of the spotlight.
He didn’t think he was the man to lead South Carolina anymore.
And just like the rest of his coaching career, he wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger to remedy the situation.
It was time to go.
"Let’s get moving," Spurrier said, cutting off any further questions to end his time at the mic. "I’ve had enough here."
Follow Graham Hack on Twitter @graham_hack24
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier points to fans as he walks off the field after South Carolina's 42-35 loss to Auburn on Oct. 25 in Auburn, Alabama.
