Spurrier dismisses rumors of impending retirement

COLUMBIA — It's November, so it must be time for the Steve Spurrier rumor mill to again churn.

Previously, presumed overtures from other schools were the scuttlebutt. This year? It's the 63-year-old Spurrier's supposed and imminent plans to retire.

"Who out there's retiring? They can't even get Joe Paterno to retire," Spurrier said Monday evening. "Somebody said the other day, 'How could coaches retire? They're getting way too much money to retire.' I do enjoy it. We do have a chance here; I'm convinced of that."

Ahem, Saturday's 56-6 loss at Florida notwithstanding.

"Not the way we played the other night, we don't have a chance," Spurrier said, "but hopefully that was just a bad, bad thing that happened."

The Web site collegefootballtalk.com, a relative of the fairly accurate and fairly reputable profootballtalk.com, first floated the idea of Spurrier's departure late Monday night.

The site cited "NFL sources."

"Somebody said someone put it on an Internet blog or something?" Spurrier said. "No, I've got a good three-year deal, I hope."

Plus, if Spurrier stays through the end of the 2011 season, he will keep an extra $1 million that was built this year into his contract as an incentive to stick around.

As part of the Internet report, an Atlanta-area defensive end prospect was referenced in saying he had a "feeling" that Spurrier might soon retire and that's why he was leery of coming to South Carolina.

"Well," Spurrier said, "that's better than a guy saying I would be interested in South Carolina, but I'm afraid Steve Spurrier's still going to be there. I said, 'That's a positive way to look at that.' "

Receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. not getting serious attention as his dad's successor at USC was said to be the main reason for Spurrier's change of heart about retiring, the site also said.

"Oh, no. Now you're really digging for untruths there," Spurrier said, chuckling. "He's on his own. If he gets a coordinator job somewhere, if he thinks that's best for his career, we'll certainly let him do that. ... No, there's nothing to that."

Spurrier has said he doesn't want to become a "figure" coach like Paterno or Florida State's Bobby Bowden. He said Monday he'll stop himself before he gets into his 70s.

Spurrier will be 64 in April.

"I've always said I feel like I've got a good four to five years left in me," said Spurrier, in his 19th year of college coaching. "And we are having a pretty good recruiting class, if it all comes together the way it appears to be. Let's give this thing four or five years and see what happens around here, is the way I'm looking at it."

Of course, there is a great variable in Spurrier's coaching timetable, he said with a laugh as he walked away from reporters.

"I tell you what, though. It's not a lot of fun coaching Garcia," he said of redshirt freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia. "That might send you out of here. It's a challenge."

Asked if that line hinted at Chris Smelley getting the nod for next week's Clemson game, he said, "(Smelley has) got the inside track."

Earlier, Spurrier was more coy about the position, one he'd been tinkering with play-to-play in the Arkansas and Florida games.

"We sort of know who's going to play, but we're going to keep it quiet so you guys won't know," he said. "We'll try to get one quarterback to see if he can take care of the ball and help us win the game, simple as that."

Injury report

Spurrier said injured Gamecocks such as RT Justin Sorensen (hip), CB Captain Munnerlyn (foot) and FS Akeem Auguste (hamstring) should be healthy by the time next week's game rolls around.

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com.