January 4, 2002

11:04 AM

Steve Spurrier has resigned as Florida's head football coach. In today's other football news, Dennis Green resigned from the Minnesota Vikings today. Will Spurrier be coaching Randy Moss and Cris Carter in '02?
posted by Reggie452 (20 comments total)

permalink and he will be coaching in the NFL... I say Tampa.
posted by Vek at 11:14 AM on January 4, 2002

I say Carolina Panthers... As coach and GM - His ego is way too big to answer to anyone.
posted by Macboy at 11:18 AM on January 4, 2002

If he does end up coaching Tampa, don't be surprised if Tony Dungy ends up at Minnesota. Dungy has a lot of ties to Minnesota: used to be the Vikings defensive coordinator and played at the University of Minnesota.
posted by hootch at 11:30 AM on January 4, 2002

Dungy will end up in Minnesota, Spurrier will go to Tampa Bay. Randy Moss will still be the whiny, cry baby, overrated receiver he is and Cris Carter will hang up his boots...soon.
posted by lostbyanecho at 11:42 AM on January 4, 2002

I'd say Spurrier ends up in Tampa rather than Minnesota, although the latter would give him a chance to work with a player he barely recruited -- Daunte Culpepper -- even though Culpepper lived not more than 40 minutes from Gainesville. Intriguing, but Spurrier and his wife love Florida and its many, many year-round golf courses.
posted by thescoop at 11:42 AM on January 4, 2002

I dunno, but it's a good job not every football or soccer rumour is posted to the front page.

In other news, has Paulo di Canio signed for Man Utd yet?
posted by salmacis at 12:11 PM on January 4, 2002

what's so awful about a sports rumor, salmacis? you probably can't expect all FPPs to be your bag.
posted by moz at 12:19 PM on January 4, 2002

Dungy goes to Minnesota

Spurrier takes over Tampa Bay


Carter goes to the Raiders (he wants to play at least one more year, but not with Minnesota)
posted by da5id at 12:21 PM on January 4, 2002

moz: I'm a huge sports fan, and that includes American football and soccer. The trouble is that you could fill an entire blog with nothing but sports stories, so when you do a sports-based FPP, it has to be something a little bit different from the norm (such as like when England beat Germany 5-1 [smile]).
posted by salmacis at 12:26 PM on January 4, 2002

This is a little bit different. Dennis Green has been with the Vikes for what, 12 years? And Spurrier, well, I don't follow college ball...but it's been a while for him, too, right? And I know he has a fair amount of fame, cause I've heard of him.

And the local Tampa rumor is that Dungy would go to the Vikes if he goes anywhere...but he is probably staying put for at least one more year.
posted by taumeson at 12:32 PM on January 4, 2002

Hmm.. Randy might be whiny and a cry baby but I think any knowledgable football fan knows that he's certainly not overrated. He put up very impressive numbers this year even though Culpepper was out injured for almost half the season. He's still without question the most explosive player in the leauge. When he wants to be, of course. ; )
posted by Popstar at 12:35 PM on January 4, 2002

If Tampa fires Dungy, I think they're going to really regret it. Anyone remember what Tampa was like pre-Dungy? Trust me, the Redskins had 8 years of Norv-ass Turner and teams don't know how good it is when they've got a good coach.

The rumors about Spurrier going to Washington will probably start again, as Dan Snyder seems to looove the prospect of him as a head coach. My money is on him going to Carolina, though as he seems to love the south.

Dennis Green is a moron. He's gone from being a player's coach to tolerating anything from probably the worst crybaby in all sports. Plus, he keeps drafting offensive players when Minnesota's defense stinks up the place. Culpepper has started at least 11 games this year, not exactly out "half the season".
posted by owillis at 1:20 PM on January 4, 2002

Actually, I said "almost" and Dante did not finish the game against the Steelers. Although it should be mentioned that even when Dante was playing this year, he did not play well except for a few games and Randy was still able to put up great numbers. I don't like his attitude, but the fact of the matter is that he still gets it done on the field.
posted by Popstar at 1:35 PM on January 4, 2002

[lead sentence from the actual ap story linked from the espn front page blurb]

Florida coach Steve Spurrier resigned Friday, leaving the Gators after 12 years in which he turned them from losers into Fun 'N Gun winners.

so galen hall's 40-18-1 record from '84 to '89 is now classified as losing? talk about revisionism. sheesh.
posted by lescour at 1:53 PM on January 4, 2002

I was shocked when the Vikes announced thgat they weren't gonna fire Green in the first place. The Vikes have went from being a premier team to having the worst secondary in the league in less than 4 years.

I personally hope that Spurrier goes to the Vikes. The Moss- Spurrier dynamic would be highly entertaining.
posted by ttrendel at 2:04 PM on January 4, 2002

I'm a longtime (and therefore longsuffering) Vikings fan, and I'm sorry to see Denny Green go. He's been there 10 seasons, has six 10-win seasons, and he's 97-62 including the playoffs, which is one of the highest winning percentages among active coaches.

My initial reaction to the news was that it seems awfully harsh to force him out after one terrible season, and his first losing season. This season was going to be a struggle anyways after Robert Smith's retirement, and Korey Stringer's death last summer meant losing an All-Pro offensive lineman and was a huge emotional loss for the team.

However, maybe Green is like the Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox; great during the season, bad in the playoffs. Green took the Vikings to the playoffs almost every year, but they often didn't make it past the first round.

ttrendel: I think the Vikings decline is due more to their losing their all-All Pro offensive line over the last couple of years (Stringer was the last one) than to the defense, and losing Robert Smith (not affiliated with The Cure) made the offense one-dimensional and easy to defend. The defense has been consistently shaky the last couple of years, and not fixing that is probably one of the reasons Green's getting kicked out.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:21 PM on January 4, 2002

Good. Now I can start liking the Gators.
posted by catatonic at 2:40 PM on January 4, 2002

I think the Vike's downfall this year has a lot to do with Robert Smith retiring after last season. He was a very good runningback and receivingback, in addition to being a class individual.

If Spurrier coaches in the pros, he will find his tactics don't work on multi-millionaire, ego-maniac men in their late 20's to mid 30's. If you don't like Spurrier, this will be your chance to see him fail. If he does go to the pros, he will bomb out in two or three years.
posted by munger at 6:10 PM on January 4, 2002

I think Spurrier will stumble at first, but do well in the long run. The spoiled egomaniacs are already in college, they're just not getting their checks yet (UM and FSU are a different story). In a league where Tom Coslet, Norv Turner and Mike Riley have been head coaches - Spurrier's already ahead of them (especially Turner).
posted by owillis at 7:02 PM on January 4, 2002

Dungy is in the playoffs. Again. Fourth time in five years. He has the ultimate respect of his players, he is a drafting genius, and has the best winning percentage of any coach the Bucs have had before. I realize they haven't been to a Super Bowl yet, but I'd think that you wouldn't want to let a coach go that has taken you from punchline to playoffs.

My bet is that Spurrier goes to Jacksonville or San Diego. If, by some twist of fate, Spurrier winds up in Tampa, I will have to take actual time of work to re-assess my loyalties.
posted by goto11 at 8:17 AM on January 5, 2002