Spurrier says he isn’t finished yet

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SEC football teams.

HOOVER, Ala. — Steve Spurrier is having fun again, and the 68-year-old isn’t ready to slow down.

The ninth-year South Carolina coach said at SEC media days Tuesday he was in a low-stress job and that he wanted to coach several more years.

“Burnout is not something I’m going to get,” Spurrier said.

There’s a direct correlation between Spurrier’s joy for the game and his team’s ability to contend.

South Carolina has 31 victories in the past three

seasons. This fall South Carolina’s loaded roster, including All-America defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who was timed at 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash last week, and a pair of dependable quarterbacks in Connor Shaw and Dylan Thompson, has the Gamecocks believing they can capture their first SEC championship.

“We’re sort of knocking at the door,” Spurrier said. “But we need to win those crucial games and see what happens.”

When the Gamecocks averaged seven victories per season in 2005-2009, Spurrier said he hadn’t earned the right to crack his wit, which had been legendary during his 12-year run at Florida, which produced five SEC championships and the 1996 national title.

Spurrier’s initial intention was to stay at South Carolina long enough to break the school’s all-time victories record of 64, which he did when the Gamecocks beat Clemson last season for their fourth consecutive victory over their in-state rival.

Now, with a 66-37 record at the school that had 11 losing seasons in the 20 years before his arrival, Spurrier is yukking it up with reporters at media days and eager to spur the Gamecocks to their first SEC crown.

“Yeah, I was hoping to be here eight to 10. Now I’m hoping to be here nine to 12, something like that,” Spurrier said, when asked whether he could envision staying longer at South Carolina than he did at his alma mater, Florida.

“I have an excellent coaching staff. I’ve got guys that can recruit, coach, do everything. It’s not a stressful job for me as maybe some coaches have.”

Spurrier said burnout isn’t an option “unless we go real bad.”

Real bad doesn’t compute with Spurrier teams.

He took over the Gamecocks in 2005 after Lou Holtz had gone 16-19 the previous three seasons. Spurrier’s 6-6 record in 2007 has been his worst in Columbia, S.C.

His past three teams, with the Gamecocks building outstanding recruiting classes largely based on great in-state talent like Stephon Gilmore, Marcus Lattimore, Alshon Jeffery and Jadeveon Clowney, have muscled their way into SEC East contention, including their first SEC Championship Game appearance in 2010.

South Carolina fans, some of the most loyal in the nation, are now wondering if the Gamecocks can finally claim that elusive first SEC title.

“One of the main things he said when he recruited me, when I committed, was he wanted me to be a part of a team that’s doing things for the first time,” Shaw said. “That’s why he came here, to build this program, and the fans and the players are starving for it. We haven’t won our SEC championship yet, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Connor said his senior season is “Atlanta or bust,” referencing the site of the SEC Championship Game.

“The last two years we’ve been 11-2 and I think if we step up and make it to that next level, we’ll compete for the SEC championship,” senior receiver Bruce Ellington said.

The Gamecocks have beaten their arch-rival Clemson four seasons in a row and SEC opponent Georgia the past three years. However, Georgia has rebounded from its early loss to South Carolina the past two years to represent the SEC East in the conference title game.

“It’s frustrating to beat them, and then they’re the team that ends up in the SEC Championship Game,” Shaw said. “It’s just because we haven’t sealed the deal. We haven’t finished.”

With players like Clowney, who came in as the No. 1-ranked player in his signing class of 2010 and has a chance to be the first player taken in next year’s NFL Draft, the Gamecocks are armed to face the best teams in the country.

“I’m hungry about getting to Atlanta,” Clowney said. “I know it’s the big stage, so if I get there, it’s the next step to getting to the national championship.”