Steve Spurrier, Jr. - A Coaching Journey

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Steve Spurrier, Jr. to be Named Offensive Coordinator/Associate Head Coach
Apr 18th, 2013 by Bob McGivern

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Steve Spurrier, Jr., the son of legendary head coach Steve Spurrier, is likely to become the new offensive coordinator and associate head coach of the UMass football team, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Spurrier will take over for Mike Kruczek, who left UMass in January to coach high school football in Florida.

Spurrier brings 19 years of coaching experience to Amherst. For the past eight seasons, Spurrier has coached under his father at the University of South Carolina, coaching wide receivers while adding recruiting coordinator and co-offensive coordinator to his title for the 2012 season. Prior to his stint at South Carolina, Spurrier coach with Arizona, the Washington Redskins, Oklahoma and Florida. During his time as an assistant, Spurrier has coached All-Americans and Pro Bowlers such as Sidney Rice, Alshon Jeffrey, Laverneus Coles, Rod Gardner and Mark Clayton.
 
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By MATT VAUTOR
@GazetteUMass
Tuesday, August 6, 2013

SPURRIER STARTS - New offensive coordinator and associate head coach Steve Spurrier, Jr. joined the staff late in the spring, but Monday marked his first opportunity to work with his new team.

"There is a lot of work to be done. I'm still learning the team and they are still learning about me. But they have a great attitude and the rest of the staff has been very helpful. I'm looking forward to developing those relationships as we progress throughout the camp," Spurrier said.

Because he did not join the staff until late in the spring, Spurrier is trying to learn the team's offensive terminology, rather than expecting the players and coaches to learn his.

"That area has been challenging. We have used the same terminology at almost every stop. Adjusting it to what we are doing here has been a challenge, but its one that I embrace. It will take some time but we'll all get on the same page."

Spurrier has spent most of his 19 seasons as an assistant working under his famous father, Steve Spurrier. Steve, Jr. has been on his father's staff at Florida, Washington (NFL) and South Carolina. He's now branching off on his own to chart his own path.

"My dad has been a huge influence for me. Everything that I know about football I owe to him. It was tough to leave (South Carolina). We've been together for so long. But its a great opportunity for me and I look forward to creating my own legacy. If I can have half the success that (my father) has had, I'll be pretty happy."

Head coach Charley Molnar has been impressed with what he's seen of the younger Spurrier.

"You wouldn't know he's missed any practices," said Molnar. "He's grasped everything that we are trying to do and is already teaching it to the kids on the teams. He's really embraced everything that we are trying to do. Just having that name (Spurrier) earns him a lot of respect. But his knowledge of the game and how he interacts with the coaches and players really is what stands out. He's a "football guy". There's no doubt about that."

Molnar said he's given Spurrier more authority than former offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek.

"I allow him to set the structure day-to-day and what's going to be on the agenda. That's something that I would normally do but I thought that it was important for him to establish his authority with his coaches and he's done a great job with it."

Spurrier said that he's excited about the offense's potential.

"We have some talented young men here. Some really smart football players. My job is to put them in a position to be successful. I think that we can have success immediately. There doesn't need to be a lot of growing pains."

UMass won only one game a year ago in their first full season in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Minutemen were outscored by nearly 28 points per game a year ago and managed nearly 200 yards less per game on offense than their opponents. Spurrier said he expects that to change this year.

"We have to get better at moving the ball and converting first downs this year. The team last year put their defense in a bad position far too often. We have to control more of the clock and be more efficient on third down. That will be the key for us improving as a team this year."

Molnar called plays for the UMass offense last year but said he is surrendering that duty to Spurrier this year.

"I'm an offensive coach. That's what I've always done. But I have responsibilities to the team. That's why I brought Steve in. He's learned from one of the best coaches in the history of this game. He will get every opportunity to impart that knowledge on this team and begin his own legacy here."
 
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UMass Picked to Finish Last in MAC

August 10, 2013

ESPN.com released its official Conference Outlook predictions today and the media giant picked UMass to finish dead last in the Mid-American Conference for the second-straight year. The Minutemen finished 1-11 a year ago including a 1-7 record in conference play. Big things are expected from the UMass football team this year in head coach Charley Molnar's second season. The addition of Steve Spurrier, Jr. as the team's offensive coordinator and associate head coach adds to the expectations. Another last place finish for the Minutemen would not be received positively in Amherst.

The website also ranked UMass 122nd out of 126 Football Bowl Subdivision teams grading them as a D+ in every category but special teams where they received a B- (OVR: D+, OFF: D+, DEF: D+, ST: B-).
 

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UMass pulls off stunning upset of Wisconsin in season-opener at Madison

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UMass' Jordan Broadnax scores on his lone carry of the game to put the Minutemen up 21-3 late in the third quarter.
MADISON, Wis. - The talk from the coaching staff all offseason was about how this UMass football team would be different from the team that finished 1-11 a year ago. That talk was met with some skepticism, especially among those in the media. Outside of a few coaching changes, what was really so much different about this team? This was just the same story by another head coach trying to drum up support for his bewildered team. Or was it?

UMass head coach Charley Molnar and his coaching staff answered the critics and gave an ardent one-finger salute to the pundits who picked against them with a shocking 24-15 win over the Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.

Take that smart guys!

The UMass defense was probably the biggest story as they held the bigger, stronger, faster Badgers to just three points through the first the first three quarters of play. The Minutemen defense not only forced two key fumbles on back-to-back drives in the first half but held the Wisconsin offense to just 4-of-15 on third down conversions. In fact, UMass actually outgained the Badgers 439-375 holding Wisconsin to just 106 yards rushing.

The UMass offense under new coordinator Steve Spurrier, Jr. was equally impressive. Quarterback Mike Wegzyn was efficient with the ball completing 17-of-27 pass attempts for 243 yards and a touchdown. Most importantly, he did not turn the ball over. Wegzyn was also the team's leading rusher as he tallied 93 yards on just five carries. Halfback Matt Carini added 79 yards on 18 carries to go with a touchdown as the Minutemen surprisingly outrushed the Badgers 196 to 106. Senior Ricardo Miller was the team's leading receiver hauling in five passes for 109 yards.

UMass will return home this week (and hope that they don't wake up and realize that this was just a dream) and host Maine next Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
 
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Minutemen show no week 2 letdown and cruise to an easy 33-7 win over Maine.

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UMass' Ricardo Miller escapes from several Maine defenders late in the third quarter to put the Minutemen up 20-0.
FOXBORO, Mass. - We are only two game into the 2013 college football season and the University of Massachusetts has already doubled their win total from a year ago. Saturday, the Minutemen thoroughly dominated the Maine Black Bears on their way to an easy 33-7 win improving their record to 2-0.

Mike Wegzyn led the attack on offense again as he completed 19-of-28 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns. Wegzyn did struggle early, however, and threw three interceptions on the day.

Matt Carini paced the offense on the ground as he racked up the first 100-yard game of his career compiling 119 yards on 23 carries. Shawn Campbell may have had the biggest impact on offense as he grabbed two passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns.

Next week UMass will head back out on the road as they travel to Manhattan, Kansas to face the 18th ranked Kansas State Wildcats. This will be another test for the Minutemen to see just how far they have improved from last year.

 
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Fairy tale ends in Manhattan as UMass gets clobbered by Kansas State

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Kansas State defensive back Ty Zimmerman celebrates a third quarter interception thrown by Mike Wegzyn (No. 11).

MANHATTAN, Kan. - A shocking upset of Big 10 power Wisconsin and a thorough beating of FCS competitor Maine had many fans in the Northeast imagining a fairy tale season for the UMass Minutemen. That fairy tale ended quickly though as Kansas State did their best Lady Tremaine impression and smacked Cinderella back into reality with a 52-28 win at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Daniel Sams led the potent Wildcat offense with 343 yards passing and five total touchdowns. UMass' Mike Wegzyn tried to keep pace with Sams an put up an admirable fight (328 yards and three total TDs). However, the Minutemen defense had no answer for the Wildcat attack and could never get the key stop needed to allow UMass to claw their way back into the game.

The Wildcat defense was also quite impressive despite the passing performance of Wegzyn. Minutmen backs combined for just 28 yards rushing and UMass frequently found themselves in 2nd-and-long and 3rd-and-long situations. Wegzyn did an admirable job but was able to go just 3-for-7 on third down attempts.

One bright spots for the Minutemen was the continued emergence of receiver Ricardo Miller. A transfer from Michigan, Miller has quickly established himself as a premier receiver adding seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown to his season totals (17-277-2).

While UMass gets to return home next week, it isn't necessarily a reprieve as they will host 17th ranked Vanderbilt at Gillette Stadium on Saturday.
 

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UMass is competitive but falls again, this time to 17th ranked Vanderbilt

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Vanderbilt's Steven Clarke celebrates after a fourth quarter pass intended for Rob Blanchflower falls incomplete.
FOXBORO, Mass. - All good things come to an end. That's how the saying goes at least. As it relates to UMass football, their improbable 2-0 start has had the shine rubbed off of it somewhat. The Minutemen have lost their last two games, albeit to ranked opponents in both games.

The good news for UMass is that they rebounded from a dreadful game against Kansas State to play competitively with the 17th ranked Commodores. UMass even had several opportunities to win the game but were unable to convert several key third downs. Numerous drops by Minutemen receivers did not hep their cause.

Quarterback Mike Wegzen had a much better game than his stats indicated (25-of-47, 284 yards, one touchdown, one interception). Wegzen had at least seven dropped passes by his receivers, three of which came from slot receiver Elgin Long. Tight end Rob Blanchflower also had two drops but also had a season-high nine receptions for 97 yards.

Halfback Jordan Broadnax filled in nicely for injured starter Matt Carini posting a season-high 146 yards rushing on 22 carries including one touchdown. Broadnax will need to continue that production to keep UMass competitive as the head into conference play.

Next week the Minutemen will be back out on the road as they travel to Kentucky to take on conference foe
Bowling Green.

 

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Season headed in the wrong direction for UMass after third-straight loss

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UMass' Mike Wegzyn is sacked in the second quarter and fumbles. Bowling Green would recover and go on to score.
BOWLING GREEN, Kent. - We can all forget the win over Wisconsin to start the season now. That was obviously an aberration. Things are going downhill quickly for the UMass football team.

The Minutemen opened the MAC conference schedule on Saturday and were dominated defensively, a trend that has taken from through the past three games. Quarterback Mike Wegzen had by far
his worst performance of the season completing 27-of-45 passes for 293 yards and four interceptions. Wegzyn did throw two touchdown passes but the interceptions really hurt the team. UMass receivers also dropped seven passes for the second consecutive game.

The lone bright spot on offense was Tajae Sharpe who caught a season best six passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. Sharpe also caught every ball he got his hands on and is becoming a reliable receiver for UMass. Receivers Elgin Long and Ricardo Miller, two of the more productive Minutemen receivers on the year, combined for three drops between them.

UMass will get another opportunity to swing the momentum back in their favor for the season as they host Miami Ohio next weekend. Both teams head into the game at 2-3 on the season.
 

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My dynasty reports got derailed when I went on vacation. We'll fast forward to where I am at now.
 

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MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2014​

Steve Spurrier, Jr. joins Cal as offensive coordinator

BERKELEY, Calif. - A year ago at this time, the University of Massachusetts football team was coming of a 1-11 season. A large part of the problem was the offense. Previous offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek had left the team and head coach Charley Molnar was left searching for a replacement.

Enter Steve Spurrier, Jr.

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The son of legendary head coach Steve Spurrier was persuade to leave his father's side on the South Caroli sideline and join Molnar at UMass. What transpired was an epic turnaround.

The Minutemen improved from 1-11 to 9-4 including a bowl win and finished the season with the nation's fifth best offense statistically.

Spurrier was given a lot of credit for the turnaround. His up-tempo, high-octane offense helped the team win several shootouts that a more slow paced, run oriented offense would not. It was an unexpected departure from the ball control offense his father ran and really set the younger Spurrier apart from his dad.

Now the departure from the elder Spurrier becomes even greater as Steve, Jr. comes to Berkeley to guide his high speed offense into the shootout happy Pac-12. There are offensive weapons on this Cal team that Spurrier did not have at UMass (or possibly South Carolina for that matter). Steve, Jr. has a lot of tools to work with as he continues to paint his own masterpiece apart from his famous father.
 
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014​

Spurrier looking forward to camp

Summer camp for the Cal Bears doesn't officially start until Sunday but new offensive coordinator Steve Spurrier, Jr. can't wait to get going.

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"I'm excited about this season." Spurrier said during a press conference Friday morning, "We had a good spring camp and I like what I saw from a lot fo the guys. I think we have the talent here to be very successful."

The "talent" Spurrier referred to likely includes quarterback Jared Goff, halfback Brendan Bigelow, tight end Richard Rodgers and a host of speedy receivers headlined by Chris Harper and Bryce Treggs.

"I was very impressed by the athleticism that we have here on offense." Spurrier lamented. "The talent that we have here allows us to do a lot of different things on offense. Things that we couldn't do at UMass and maybe even at South Carolina. This kind of reminds me of our 2000 team at Oklahoma."

That 2000 Oklahoma team was led by second-year head coach Bob Stoops and went 13-0 and won the National Championship. Spurrier was the wide receivers coach on that team.

"Obviously that was a great team and we had a great season. But I like what we have here. I think this group could do some really good things."

While the skill players are appealing for Spurrier, his offensive line is somewhat of a concern. The offensive line will be breaking in two new starters and each of the returning starters will be playing a new position on the line. While there is some talent up front, depth and experience will be a concern all season.

"I like what we have to work with on the offensive line. We have some guys learning some new spots and we don't have a lot of experience as far as them learning their new positions. But there is talent there and the guys are willing to work hard so that helps a lot."

Spurrier is looking to turn around a n offense that ranked among the 30 worst in the country a year ago. Goff beat out Zack Kline for the starting quarterback gig a year a go but then went on to complete less than 50% (42.9) of his passes and was sacked 40 times. Bigelow split time with Daniel Lasco and both wound up with fewer rushing attempts than Goff. Bigelow and Lasco managed a less than spectacular 4.8 yards per carry and managed only eight rushing touchdowns (all by Lasco). Harper led the team with 53 receptions but had only 648 yards and five touchdowns. The offense could never get into a rhythm and gave the defense a short field to defend far too often.

"Moving the ball and playing field position is critical to any team's success. Last year these guys had a hard time doing those things. This year the focus is on turning that around. We want to let our playmakers make plays. But we also have to be cognizant of picking up first downs. When you take too many shots downfield or try to get too creative that's when things can backfire."

Big plays were something that were lacking last year although not from a lack of trying. Treggs has world class speed and has been compared to former Cal star DeSean Jackson. Last year, offensive coordinator Tony Franklin would use a lot of short passes to Treggs and Harper to set up the deep ball. Goff far too often under threw or completely missed the receiver. The Bears longest pass play last year was a 68-yarder from Goff to receiver Maurice Harris. Those plays were rare though.

Head coach Sonny Dykes and his staff were fired after just one season (1-11).

Now Cal looks to former Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier to turn the program around and Nussmeier is leaning on Spurrier to reinvigorate the offense and make use of all of the weapons he has on offense.
 

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georgiafan Here's the first dynasty report I did on here. I didn't continue writing bc I thought nobody was watching (has over 5k views now lol). The offense went crazy at Cal and I want to say we were like 11-1, maybe 10-2. I'm pretty sure we had the #1 or 2 offense in the country and a couple of 1,000 yard receivers. I don't think I kept playing after that first season in Cal because I thought it was too easy and I didn't find competing for a National Title in my first season at Cal very realistic haha.
 
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