Steve Spurrier, who has coached a national championship team, won seven Southeastern Conference titles, garnered nine conference Coach of the Year awards, and won 72 percent of the college games in which he has coached, is beginning his eighth season as head coach at the University of South Carolina. Spurrier was introduced as Carolina's 32nd head coach on Nov. 23, 2004.

Coach Spurrier has compiled a 197-75-2 (.723) won-loss record in 22 seasons as a major college head coach, including a 55-35 mark (.611) at Carolina. He led the Duke Blue Devils to the 1989 Atlantic Coast Conference championship before returning to his alma mater, the University of Florida, as head coach in 1990. During his 12 seasons with the Gators, Spurrier's teams won seven Southeastern Conference championships, one national title and finished ranked in the nation's top 10 nine times. His record at Florida was an amazing 122-27-1 (.817). Spurrier, who won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback for the Gators, was also head coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins (2002-03). He returned to the college ranks in 2005 after a one-year absence from the sidelines.

In his first season at South Carolina, Coach Spurrier led the Gamecocks to a 7-5 record and a second-place finish in the SEC Eastern Division. In doing so, he posted a five-game winning streak, the 15th-consecutive year in which he has had a five-game winning streak, something no other coach in college history has accomplished. He was honored as the SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press after leading the Gamecocks to a school-record five straight SEC wins, their first win ever at Tennessee and their first win over Florida since the 1930s.

He came back with an 8-5 record in 2006, just the ninth time in school history that the Gamecocks posted eight or more wins in a season. The season was capped with a victory in the Liberty Bowl over Conference USA champion Houston. With that win, Spurrier matched Joe Morrison for the most wins by a Carolina head coach in his first two seasons in Columbia.

In his third season with the Garnet & Black, Spurrier's squad raced out to a 6-1 record and moved as high as No. 6 in the BCS rankings, before finishing the campaign with a 6-6 record. With 21 wins, he set the Carolina record for coaching victories after three seasons at the helm.

With a 7-6 record in 2008, Carolina returned to a New Year's Day bowl game for the first time since the 2001 season. The Gamecocks followed that up with another 7-6 record in 2009, their sixth consecutive non-losing season, the longest stretch in school history since 1928-34. The 2009 season included a win over No. 4 Ole Miss, only the second time in school history that Carolina has defeated a top-five team. His 2010 Gamecock squad posted several milestones en route to a 9-5 season, the biggest of which was the school's first SEC Eastern Division title and first appearance in the SEC Championship. The Gamecocks also defeated the nation's No. 1 team, Alabama, for the first time in school history, and finished the season ranked 22nd in both major national polls. He was named SEC Coach of the Year for the seventh time, his ninth overall Coach of the Year honor.

The Gamecocks continued to make history in 2011, winning a school record 11 games and finishing in the the top-10 in the final A.P. poll for the first time ever. The squad also won a school record six SEC games and defeated each of their Eastern Division rivals for the first time ever. Carolina capped the regular season with a win over Clemson, its third-straight over its Palmetto State rival, the first time that has been accomplished since 1968-70, then defeated Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl by a convincing 30-13 margin.

Over the past two seasons, the Gamecocks are a perfect 8-0 against their top rivals, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Clemson.

With 55 wins at Carolina, Coach Spurrier is just nine victories from matching Rex Enright's school record for 64 career wins.