SC hall of fame enshrines Steve Spurrier, fresh off Morgan Wallen concert gig
Steve Spurrier’s enduring legacy shone through again over the weekend, when the 81-year-old college football legend fist-bumped and hugged country star Morgan Wallen.
“I knew a little bit about (Wallen),” Spurrier said Monday. “I heard about him just this year — two or three months ago. ... He’s a great guy, too. Got a chance to meet him backstage.”
Typically, the moment with the biggest chance of going viral at any Wallen show surrounds the guest(s) with whom he chooses to walk to the stage. Much like a boxer walking into the arena before a title fight, with theatrics and pomp, Wallen’s walkouts are meant to get the crowd juiced up — which is often made easier because he typically picks local celebrities to make guest appearances.
When Wallen did a show in Knoxville in 2024, Volunteers’ legend Peyton Manning, dressed in a full UT uniform, walked out with Wallen. Last weekend in Gainesville, where Wallen did back-to-back shows, former Heisman winner Tim Tebow walked out on the first night. The Ole Ball Coach came out for the finale.
Sixty years after he won the Heisman Trophy at Florida, and thirty years after he coached his alma mater to a national championship, Spurrier is still a star. He is still employed at Florida under the title, “Ambassador,” which means he is on the payroll just to be Steve Spurrier. And, well, being Steve Spurrier isn’t a half-bad gig.
Monday, Spurrier — who’s been elected to no fewer than a half-dozen halls of fame — went into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, honored for his time leading the Gamecocks’ football team.
“I love coming back to South Carolina,” Spurrier said just hours before his induction. “Shoot, I got hired here when I was 60 — won my first game at age 60 and had the opportunity to achieve things that never happened before. That’s something I get a kick out of.”
Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks tenure
Spurrier took over South Carolina in 2005 and took the Gamecocks’ football program to heights it had never reached, highlighted by the program’s best four-year span. From 2010-13, South Carolina football went 42-11, finishing as an AP Top-10 team in the latter three seasons.
Despite abruptly retiring late in the 2015 season, his 86-49 record leading the Gamecocks is, by far, the best mark of any USC coach.
And, along the way, there were those firsts: First win over Florida since 1939. First win against Tennessee in Knoxville. First 11-win season. First time beating the No. 1 team in America. On and on.
The best moments of South Carolina football, the reason current head coach Shane Beamer can talk about the Gamecocks competing for championships with a straight face is because of what Spurrier did.
Only one thing seems to eat at him.
“We did not win a conference title, which I wish we could have,” he said. “And we had teams very capable. Any of those four (from 2010 to 2013) could have done it, but we had the one loss somewhere along the line that prevented it from happening.”
As much as Spurrier is still associated with Florida, it is clear he still has a fondness for South Carolina. He still comes to Columbia a few times a year, and often at least once for a football game.
While in town for the hall of fame induction, he drove by the South Carolina football practice facility, which is named in the honor of Spurrier and his wife, Jerri, and features an exhibit describing the success of Spurrier.
“It’s always fun to look back at the achievements — the good times we had,” Spurrier said.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 6:30 AM with the headline "SC hall of fame enshrines Steve Spurrier, fresh off Morgan Wallen concert gig."
