Steve Spurrier is no longer stalking the sidelines at the University of South Carolina. He left that job earlier this month, though he made it clear that he wasn’t retiring.

“First of all, I’m resigning. I’m not retiring,” he said at his final press conference. “Get that part straight. I doubt if I’ll never be a head coach again, maybe I’ll coach a high school team or something. So don’t say I’ve retired completely from coaching. Who knows what will come in the future.”

So, just for fun, let’s take the man at his word and try to guess where he’ll turn up next.

Here are five possibilities, ranked in descending order of possibility:

TV work — Spurrier is a natural for television work. Whether it’s ESPN’s “College GameDay” or as a color analyst, Spurrier’s charm and wit would improve any network that brought him on.


This, for me, is Spurrier’s most likely move. He’s 70 years old, so a limited travel schedule (think a college football version of Jon Gruden) and some light TV work will likely be appealing — and lucrative — for the Head Ball Coach.

A consultant role — It’s hard to imagine Spurrier staying out of the game completely, and he’s made plenty of friends in the coaching ranks through the years. It’s possible that a few of them will want Spurrier to come watch a few practices, work with the quarterbacks and make a few suggestions.

It will be everything he loves about coaching without any of the stress that usually comes with it.

Nothing — I think you have to leave retirement on the table as an option. He’s financially set, loves to play golf and has 12 grandchildren. It’s not likely that he’ll be terribly bored. So, I’ll slot retirement behind TV work and part-time consulting, but ahead of …

High school coaching — Would there be a more interesting story than Spurrier running an offense at a high school somewhere? Would he yank quarterbacks at the drop of a visor? Would the local press ignore the head coach or follow him around for quotes? Can you imagine him speaking at a booster club dinner, or riding a bus to a game on Friday nights? I don’t think it’s terribly likely, but it’s fun to think about.

A return to college coaching — I don’t think he’ll ever be a college head coach again. Unless he does what Barry Alvarez does as AD in Wisconsin — serve as interim coach for a bowl game during a coaching change for, say, Duke, Florida or South Carolina. I just don’t think he wants to deal with the grind of being “the guy” at a major program anymore. But if his son gets a head job somewhere, I could see him stepping in as offensive coordinator.

As usual, Spurrier has us all guessing about his next move. Whatever he winds up doing, you can be sure it will be entertaining.