By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

I read recently that retired coach Steve Spurrier is in discussions to become an analyst with the SEC Network. I don’t know about you but having the ball coach breaking down SEC football games will be a must for this writer come football season.

Can you see the ball coach at Auburn on a game day talking about all of the new books in the AU library?

Spurrier in Knoxville covering the Vols reminding Vol-nation that you can’t spell Citrus Bowl without UT.

Can you imagine Spurrier doing a where are they now segment with Ray Goff? Hey coach, I know I put you out to pasture but you rebounded nicely in the chicken finger industry.

Steve Spurrier revolutionized the SEC when Florida hired him prior to the 1990 season. Florida a founding member of the SEC in 1933 had never won an SEC football title prior to his arrival. UF became a national football power in the 1990’s and has, perception wise, remained there for the last 25 years.

Spurrier left UF after the 2001 season with a 122-27-1 record with 6 SEC titles and the 1996 National Championship. After a brief stint in the NFL the ball coach resurfaced in Columbia, South Carolina in 2005 and won a school record 86 games with three straight 11 win seasons from 2011-13. The ball coach won 86 games at South Carolina that alone qualifies one as great.

The critics ride Spurrier because he retired in the middle of the 2015 season. I could care less he earned to right to do whatever he wanted to do.

Now in his retirement die hard SEC fans would love to get a weekly dose of the sharp Spurrier sarcastic quick witted humor every weekend during football season.

Can you see Steve in Jacksonville breaking down a UGA/UF game getting under the skin of the Dawgnation in attendance?

If there is ever a Mount Rushmore of SEC Coaches built Steve Spurrier will most definitely be included along with Bear Bryant and Nick Saban. The great debate in SEC land is who would be the 4^th figure on the mountain.

Being a UGA lunatic there was a time in my life where I despised Steve Spurrier but over time you come to respect the coaching genius the man really is.

Nobody in the history of college football could adjust his offense on the fly like Steve Spurrier. He could dissect an opposing defense like no other and if he had the talent he had at UF at his disposal then you could not stop him.

I remember after a 38-7 mercy ruling of UGA in 1998, Spurrier was asked by the whiney UGA media at the time why he ran a reverse up big late for a TD. His answer was classic Spurrier “well we had the play in the playbook and our job is to score and their job is to stop us”.

I hope both sides can come together and make this deal a reality. Steve is woven into the fabric of the SEC. He is a primary reason the SEC brand is what it is today. Make it happen SEC Network you’ll never regret it.

Can you see Spurrier covering a UF/FSU game in Tallahassee talking about Free Shoes University? The marketing folks at Foot Locker are probably trying to line up the ball coach for a commercial shoot now. Heck he made Foot Locker millions in the 1990’s with the free pub he sent their way.

How many former SEC Football coaches hold the record for most career wins at Two SEC Schools?

Hope to see you on Saturday mornings real soon Coach.