SEC legend and college football lightning rod Steve Spurrier made himself a hot topic this week.

After Saturday’s heavily-circulated postgame frustration following a loss to Tennessee, South Carolina’s all-time winningest coach admitted in an interview with The State newspaper on Tuesday that football “hasn’t been much fun” this season.

“The plan is to definitely be back here and so forth,” Spurrier told The State. “Just say that’s the plan. It hasn’t been as much fun (as the last four years) that’s for sure.”

Not exactly a resounding ‘I’ll be back’ from the 69-year-old Spurrier, who has said multiple times that he feels great and age won’t affect his decision to coach in the future.

You can bet wins and losses will, however.

Regarded in such lofty praise among Gamecocks fans and the media, Spurrier oftentimes is immune to criticism, a product of an illustrious college coaching career that’s included successful conference — and national — championship stops at Duke and Florida.

He’s struggling as just another one of the guys this season during a tumultuous 4-5 campaign, his worst record through nine games since a failed stint with the Washington Redskins in the early 2000s.

Spurrier’s never been OK with being average. It bothers him, keeps him up at night — a high-intensity thirst only quenched when his team’s back in the spotlight.

In a moment of cataclysmic proportions, how ironic would it be if a coach whose ego is nearly as large as the 35-by 80-foot banner plastered on the side of Williams-Brice Stadium calls it quits after a loss to his bitter rival on Nov. 29?

This isn’t how it’s supposed to end for a sideline leader who changed the direction of a perennial doormat in the SEC East. This isn’t how it’s supposed to end for the face of a program that now strikes fear as a nationally-ranked swing game on the schedule of opposing contenders.

If you coach as long as Spurrier has, you’re bound to experience highs and lows. College football has a cruel way of slapping you in the face with a dose of humility if you’re not careful. Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden and Mack Brown have all fallen victim at the end of their careers.

Not even Spurrier, a man of confidence in his team, coaching staff and most importantly, his ball plays, could have envisioned how this season’s unfolded at South Carolina, the exact opposite of nationwide projections for the Gamecocks.

Spurrier’s in danger of his second losing season ever, a strong possibility if South Carolina doesn’t upend Florida next weekend in Gainesville. The Gamecocks would be 5-6 heading to Memorial Stadium on Nov. 29 to battle a challenging opponent based on Clemson’s offensive prowess. It’s rivalry matchup that could close the book on a storied career in disappointing fashion.

Spurrier wouldn’t leave the coaching ranks after a loss, would he?

Struggling at Clemson in a non-competitive affair would create a nausea-inducing dilemma for one of the game’s elite, one far more disastrous than a couple last-second losses to Mizzou, Kentucky and Tennessee.

He’s always said he will leave South Carolina on his own accord and the vision of Dabo Swinney dancing on the opposing sideline would warrant some of those thoughts.

South Carolina’s most respected coach in school history, arguably across all sports, hopes to write a different script to the Gamecocks’ finish this season and return for his 11th campaign after an early-January vacation with Jerri and the family in Crescent Beach, Fla.

But the college football gods — how fickle they can be — and South Carolina’s in-state neighbor from the Upstate with a streak to break may have other plans.