Steve Spurrier: A Biography;

Steve Spurrier is a former American football player and coach, having served as the head coach of three college and two professional teams. Spurrier was also noteworthy as a standout college football player, and he spent a decade playing professionally in the National Football League (NFL). Spurrier retired from coaching in 2015 and now serves as an ambassador and consultant for the University of Florida's athletic department. Spurrier was born in Miami Beach, Florida and grew up in Tennessee, where he was a multi-sport all-state athlete at Science Hill High School in Johnson City. He is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he was the Florida Gators' starting quarterback for three seasons. Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy in his senior season of 1966, and was a consensus All-American in both 1965 and 1966. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986. Spurrier was drafted in the first round (third overall) of the 1967 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, for whom he played from 1967 to 1975, mainly as a backup quarterback and punter. In 1976, the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded for Spurrier, and he was the team's starting quarterback for most of their inaugural season. After retiring as a player, Spurrier spent a year away from football before returning to the college game in 1978 as an assistant coach in charge of quarterbacks and wide receivers at Florida under head coach Doug Dickey. Dickey and his entire staff were fired after the season, and Spurrier served as the quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech in 1979 under head coach Pepper Rodgers, who was also fired after the season. At each of his first two coaching stops, Spurrier had been brought in to assist in semi-successful attempts to transition run-based wishbone offenses into more pass-oriented pro set attacks. In 1980, Spurrier was hired as the offensive coordinator at Duke University by coach Red Wilson, who gave him a free reign to design and run the Blue Devil's attack while also coaching the quarterbacks. Though his offensive squads were often less talented than the opposition, Spurrier's wide-open pass-based attack was able to generate both yardage and points and broke several school records during his three seasons at Duke, building his reputation as an innovative young offensive coach. In 1983, Spurrier accepted his first head coaching position with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League (USFL), making him the youngest head coach in professional football at 37 years old. The Bandits had a successful run, going 35-19 over three seasons, and Spurrier's "Bandit Ball" offense was popular with fans. However, the team folded along with the rest of the USFL after the 1985 season. Spurrier returned to Duke University as the Blue Devils' head coach in 1987. His Duke squads broke school and conference records for scoring and yardage that had been set during his tenure as offensive coordinator, and his 1989 Duke squad won the program's first conference championship since 1962 and most recent to date. On January 1, 1990, Spurrier returned to the University of Florida to become the Gators' head coach. For the next twelve seasons, he led Florida's program to unprecedented success, including Florida's first six Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships and first consensus national championship in 1996. His wide-open offensive scheme (nicknamed the "Fun 'n' Gun") continued to produce points at Florida, and his squads and individual players set numerous Southeastern Conference (SEC) and school records. In 1996, Spurrier became the first Heisman Trophy winner to coach a Heisman Trophy winner when Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel won the award.