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In pressure cooker, UF is better off with Meyer

By Greg Stoda

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Steve Spurrier has his comfort zone, and Urban Meyer has his.

That those working environments are very, very, very different was on clear display this summer in Birmingham, Ala., when Spurrier and Meyer, in that order, showed up on consecutive days at the SEC pre-season mediafest.

Let's just say it was revelatory, and more than a little odd.

What it amounts to, really, is that Meyer is willing to deal with the discomfort of possible grand disappointment whereas it seems Spurrier no longer wants any part of such unrelenting pressure. One guy is just getting immersed in the cauldron; the other guy has had quite enough of that life, thanks.

It's the difference between Stevie Superior being long secure in his reputation while the verdict - in these parts, anyway - remains out on Meyer as Urban legend or myth.

Which is why Meyer is a better man for the job as coach at Florida than is Spurrier, who at this stage of his career is a real nice fit for the same gig at, oh, yeah, South Carolina.

My guess is Spurrier wouldn't be the UF boss today even if he hadn't quit the Gators after the 2001 season and even if the Washington Redskins - he calls it "that NFL deal" - hadn't happened. Spurrier grew weary of the Gator Nation's great expectations, which is a constant tension that Meyer embraces.

"Our goal is simple," Meyer said. "We need to become a great football team."

Now, there's a simple yet powerful declaration of purpose.

Spurrier?

He's embracing the notion that South Carolina winning more games than it loses "would be a good year." The Gamecocks went 7-5 with an Independence Bowl loss last season, by the way, and Spurrier was crowned King Palmetto in his first season on the grounds. It won't take anything appreciably better for him to remain glorified this season, either.

Spurrier, of course, won a national championship and a passel of SEC titles during his dozen seasons at Florida in a previous coaching incarnation, but doesn't seem interested in that kind of competition now.

"No. Noooo," Spurrier replied when asked if he thought South Carolina was being disrespected after beating Tennessee and Florida and finishing in a second-place tie with the Gators in the SEC East last year. "We deserve to be (picked) fourth until we prove we can hang with the big boys."

That's nothing if not handy cover, and also happens to serve the useful purpose of allowing Spurrier to be smug.

"That doesn't mean we have to lose to them ... as you know," he added.

Meyer, indeed, knows. South Carolina, rollicking on its own field, slapped a stinging 30-22 loss on the Gators last season, which was the low point of Meyer's first Florida season. Spurrier, who was a Gators hero as a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback long before he was their hero as a coach, nevertheless happily reminds everyone about how it was the Gamecocks' first win against Florida since just this side of forever.

The Gators recovered nicely from the defeat with a rout of Florida State and an Outback Bowl win to get to 9-3 (Spurrier, by comparison, was 9-2 in his first Florida season). But the loss to the Gamecocks still documents Meyer's introductory season with the Gators as much as a sweep of Tennessee, Georgia and the Seminoles does.

Meyer's second schedule at Florida begins Sept. 2 and - how's this? - Spurrier will be among the honored guests in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of UF's national championship.

"I feel a responsibility to come back and see the players," Spurrier said.

He just doesn't plan on sticking around past the middle of the first quarter. So much for romance.

"I did my thing there," Spurrier said. "It's history."

And a glorious history it is.

But the 61-year-old Spurrier isn't who the Gators need as leader, and he knew it before anyone else did back when he left them behind in the first place. He's happier building something new at South Carolina than he would be trying to maintain what he built at Florida.

It's the hungrier 42-year-old Meyer - he's succeeding Spurrier more than he's succeeding Ron Zook in every manner other than chronological order -who better suits the Gators these days.

"We play the best and expect to be the best," Meyer said. "I think we're going to have a hell of a team."

Never mind comfortable.