CSS: 10 Years to go...

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Spurrier's reloaded, has Gators in his sights

By Mike Bianchi

The Orlando Sentinel

Posted July 11 2006

DAYTONA BEACH · Ten more years of being confused and conflicted.

Ten more years of mixed emotions and split allegiances.

A decade more of deep-seated dilemmas for University of Florida fans who don't know whether still to revere him or start to revile him.

"I feel like I can coach for 10 more years, and that's the plan," South Carolina coach/Florida icon Steve Spurrier said last week, where he showed up as a fan to watch NASCAR's Pepsi 400. "This is what I need to do, and this is what I love to do."

Wait a minute. Isn't one reason a faction of fans didn't want Spurrier to return as UF's coach is because they thought he'd be a short-timer? Remem-ber the common refrain: "He's only going to coach for three or four more years, and then he'll go to Crescent Beach and play golf."

Now this. Now Florida's worst nightmare: Spurrier -- rested and rejuvenated and "in better shape than I was 20 years ago" -- trying to turn the stadium he named The Swamp into a parched piece of scorched earth for the next 10 years. He's already 1 for 1in dashing UF's dreams. When his Gamecocks beat the Gators last year for the first time since 1939, it ruined Florida's chance to win the SEC Eastern Division title.

Don't think he didn't relish it. And don't buy this hooey about how Spurrier is rooting for the Gators in every game but one. That's what he's supposed to say, but you'd better believe there's a part of Spurrier that loves seeing his old school struggle without him? It's human nature. We all want to be missed.

If you don't believe it, read on. When Spurrier is asked why he still gets such a positive reaction among Florida fans, he says: "I've been fortunate. Since I've left, they haven't won an SEC [title]."

Oh, how it must torture Gators to hear Spurrier refer to them as "they." To an entire generation of nouveau 1990s Florida fans, Spurrier is the program. They weren't around for the bad years and only remember the good. Many fans and former players still pull for him. In fact, the wife of a former UF player informed me recently, "We're Gator grads who root for South Carolina. And we're not alone."

The duality and the dilemma of it will come to the forefront this season when Spurrier will make two trips to Florida Field. He'll be there for the season opener Sept. 2 when UF will commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Spurrier's 1996 national champions. He returns Nov. 11, when he and his Gamecocks will try to turn the Gators into chicken feed.

What are Gator fans to do? Cheer him for building their program or jeer him for trying to tear it down? Adore him for filling The Swamp or abhor him for trying to drain it?

Spurrier says he hopes he'll be cheered at the '96 reunion and "treated like all the other guys on the team." But when he returns in November, all bets are off. If he gets booed, Spurrier says, "It won't bother me one bit."

It likely will inspire him and drive him and make him want to beat the Gators that much more. You know what Spurrier has said in the past, right? "I want the other team to hate me, because that means we're beating them."

So don't believe him now when he claims "I'm not the enemy" of the Gators. Don't believe him when he says, "South Carolina is not the enemy of Florida. Georgia's the enemy. FSU's the enemy."

Sorry, Spur Dog, not buying it. Don't deny it, you want to beat Florida more than any other team on your schedule. And Florida coach Urban Meyer needs to beat you more than any other team on his schedule. That makes you the enemy.

For 10 more long years, Gator Nation will be tortured and tormented.

Mike Bianchi is a columnist for The Orlando Sentinel, a Tribune Co. newspaper.