Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier forever linked by Augusta National, golf and South Carolina

Two things signal spring in the South: college football games and the Masters. Sometimes the two intertwine, like when Georgia streamed the tournament live on its video board during G-Day scrimmages. For legendary coach Steve Spurrier, his proximity to Augusta National Golf Club allowed him to achieve unique daily doubles while managing South Carolina.

“I used to go there a little bit when we were usually at spring football practice,” Spurrier told CBS Sports, explaining his 80-mile trek. “We would go from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., three hours, then come back at 4 p.m. to practice.”

It seems as improbable as an albatross for a major college football coach to escape during a spring training day to play a little golf, but Spurrier has always subscribed to working smarter, not harder.

“You can’t talk like that anymore because all the coaches want everyone to know how hard they worked,” Spurrier said. “But in my day, a lot of the time, whatever your record was, that determined what type of coach you were. But a lot of these coaches, they can talk about how hard they work, no one’s going to surpass them, and, ‘We’re going to do this and the other.’

“But it’s never been my habit to tell everyone how hard we’re going to work. I hope we win. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

There are perhaps no two college football coaching legends more tied to golf than Spurrier and Lou Holtz, who both finished the second nine of their coaching careers 75 miles east of Augusta, Ga., as coaches of the Gamecocks.

Holtz died on March 4but he joined the ANGC in 2002 and was dropped from the cover of “Sports Illustrated” after Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in 1986. Holtz began golf in the 1970s while coaching at NC State, but he was truly introduced to it in the early 1960s when, to earn some extra money while being an assistant at William & Mary, he coached the golf team.

“I didn’t even know how to keep score, and actually my main job wasn’t to destroy the van on the way to tournaments,” Holtz told Golf Digest in 2009. “After one of the tournaments, I see my No. 1 player, Jeff Graham, smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. I asked him, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Jeff shrugs and says, “It was a tough tournament.” So I asked the team to do a bunch of gymnastics. I didn’t know any other way to punish them. Hell, I was a football coach.”

Spurrier has also been playing since the 1960s. On his recruiting trip before committing to play at Florida, he participated in a round after attending the Gators’ spring game.

Holtz and Spurrier had previous relationships. Spurrier said they got along well, “probably because [Lou’s] a golfer.” They were paired at the annual Celebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe with legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal. When Holtz’s wife, Beth, had cancer, it was Spurrier who recommended a doctor.

“One day I was talking to Coach Holtz and he told me his wife had cancer and her prognosis was bad. And I said, ‘Well, we have some of the best cancer doctors in the country here, Dr. Nick Cassisi.’ So I gave Coach Holtz his number. Cassisi brought her here, and I think she lived another fifteen years or so after the treatment they received in Gainesville.”

They also share commonalities during the course. They both stick to the rules and play at lightning speed.

“[Holtz] was the fastest golfer I’ve ever played with,” said Kerry Tharp, former South Carolina athletic director of media relations. “He would play 18 holes in a little over, maybe not even two and a half hours. He didn’t have much patience there. If you took time off, or anything, he would say, “Come on, now. You know, I’m going to celebrate another birthday here before you hit that blow.'”

Holtz coached South Carolina from 1999 to 2004 after a storied career that seemingly ended with Notre Dame returning to prominence. Mike McGee, then South Carolina’s athletic director, lured Holtz from CBS. Holtz told the Greensboro News & Record that he turned down McGee three times, but relented after a bad day on the golf course. He ultimately guided the Gamecocks from 0-11 in 1999 to their first top 25 finish in school history in 2000 after an 8-4 season. Then, they surpassed that feat in 2001 with a 9-3 campaign.

Spurrier took over from Holtz in November 2004 after taking a sabbatical following an unsuccessful run in the NFL as Washington’s head coach. Spurrier admitted he really had his eye on the North Carolina job this fall while he was out of the game, and he considered it a better job than the South Carolina one. However, the Tar Heels retained John Bunting, and then-Florida President Bernie Machen aimed to replace Spurrier’s replacement, Ron Zook, with Urban Meyer — even though some fans insisted on a second go-around for the first Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and first national championship-winning coach.

And so, Spurrier found himself in Columbia, South Carolina.

Hootie Johnson, then president of Augusta National, was part of Holtz’s recruitment, although there is disagreement about his level of involvement in helping the Gamecocks land Spurrier.

McGee, who died in 2019, told the Associated Press in 2005 that “he was largely prosecuting Spurrier alone,” in contrast to Holtz’s courtship in 1998, when the university enlisted the help of Gov. Jim Hodges and Johnson, whom McGee identified only as someone “tied to a major golf course, with a little bit of banking experience.” Johnson was a long-time executive at NationsBank, now Bank of America.

At the time of Spurrier’s hiring, according to the Washington Post, Spurrier agreed to the deal after meeting with his agent, Jimmy Sexton, Holtz and Johnson at Augusta National. Johnson was a former South Carolina fullback.

“Sources close to Spurrier said Johnson’s role at Augusta National and Spurrier’s desire to be a member of the exclusive club located about 70 miles in Columbia, South Carolina, were a factor in the coach’s decision,” the newspaper wrote at the time.

Augusta National has denied any connection between Johnson, the club and Spurrier’s return to college football.

“To state or imply that membership in Augusta National Golf Club is tied to employment or position is completely false,” Johnson said at the time. “An invitation to membership at Augusta National is very special and would never be tied to anything other than personal relationships within this club.”

Spurrier also threw cold water on that notion at CBS Sports, saying his hiring “had nothing to do with golf.”

Linking Spurrier and Augusta was ubiquitous at the time, in part because, even though Holtz had raised the level at South Carolina, it was still surprising that a coach of Spurrier’s caliber would go there. The post office an anonymous SEC coach later reported saying Spurrier only took a job to play at Augusta National and improve his chances of one day becoming a member.

“He sacrifices his legacy for a green jacket,” the SEC coach said. “He’s going to get his head taken in South Carolina.”

Spurrier certainly didn’t get his head banged in South Carolina. He became the winningest coach in school history, taking the Gamecocks to their only SEC championship game with a top-five finish in 2013. However, he certainly made the most of his proximity to the ANGC.

“I got to know Hootie shortly after I was hired there, and he invited me several times to play with one of his sons-in-law – a member – and I would bring a few coaches with me,” Spurrier said. “Actually, I had a hole-in-one at Augusta on the Par-3 course — No. 7 — and I hit an eight-iron about 140. I guess he came in, and Hootie was following us in his golf cart, and his son-in-law was with us, and he said, ‘Leave that ball to me, coach; I’ll ride it for you.’ And I thought maybe I’d try to get two holes in one with the same ball, but I gave him the ball and then on the next hole I hit my tee ball into the water. »

Spurrier says he hasn’t visited Augusta National in 10 years and doesn’t play much golf anymore, but he passed his age (76) a few years ago. Holtz has his own par-3 legacy, according to ESPN’s Rece Davis. Holtz was famous for stopping at the iconic par-3 12th hole rather than trying to carry Rae’s Creek. The hole features swirling winds and is one of the most treacherous tee shots in the sport.

“He loved to play,” Tharp said. “And I know he really enjoyed being able to play at Augusta and being a member.”