Spurrier Threatens To Leave South Carolina After Two Players Denied Admission

August 6, 2007 12:47 p.m. EST

Matt Aug - AHN Sports Writer

Columbia, S.C. (AHN) - Steve Spurrier is spittin' mad after the University of South Carolina denied academic entry this summer to a pair of recruits who signed with the Gamecocks last winter.

Wide receiver Michael Bowman of Wadesboro, N.C., and Arkee Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., were given the okay by the NCAA to enroll at the school, but were turned down by the university, drawing the ire of the football coach.

"I've got to apologize to two young men that we recruited. They qualified. They signed with us in February. They were denied admission to our school," Spurrier told The State newspaper. "Personally, I don't think that's the way you do business. I'm embarrassed that I and our coaches basically misled these young men into believing they were coming here."

Spurrier said he will leave the university if changes to admissions aren't made immediately.

"In my opinion, I still believe we made a mistake," Spurrier told AP on Sunday. "Hopefully, I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen, because I can't operate like that...I can't operate misleading young men."

Spurrier, under contract at South Carolina through 2012 after gaining his initial fame at the University of Florida, said he has discussed the matter with school officials, including university president Andrew Sorensen.

Spurrier said the college's admissions process will change, or else, "I have to go somewhere else, because I can't tell the young man that he's coming to school here [and then have the college deny his admission]."

Spurrier also denied that he or his coaching staff "oversigned" players during the last recruiting season, necessitating the dropping of Bowman and Smith.

"There's a perception out there that South Carolina oversigned and they're just getting rid of guys. And that's not true. That's not true on our coaching staff," Spurrier told The State. "We had a plan in place to grayshirt if they all qualified. And we were going to do that. As it turned out, we're not going to have to do that right now."

Spurrier is 15-10 over two years at South Carolina, following up a 12-20 mark over two seasons he spent at the helm of the NFL's Washington Redskins.

Spurrier racked up a remarkable 122-27-1 record at Florida from 1990-2001, the most wins for a Gator coach in school history. He led the Gamecocks to a 30-22 win over the Gators in 2005.

Screw that bastard.

I'm tired of schools being nothing more than life support systems for football and basketball teams anyway. These coaches think it's the school's obligation to admit any idiot athlete thay can somehow get to pass the absolute minimum standards to get into the college, while other students who worked their asses off for 4 years with the hopes of getting in and actually learning something get turned away every day.

While agreeing with you`r point AEN, I understand the jerks frustration.
He has to compete in the SEC and he won`t be able to without some marginal student athletes.