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Spurrier Tells Columbia Paper He's Not Leaving USC for Duke

Posted: 49 minutes ago
Updated: 48 minutes ago

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier was on the Duke campus Wednesday, but he told The Columbia, S.C., State that he was recruiting in the Triangle and wanted to visit with friends from his time at Duke, including athletics director Joe Alleva.

When Alleva announced the firing of Ted Roof Monday, he said he expected to get feedback on the search from Spurrier. Spurrier was the head coach at Duke from 1987 to ’89 and is the only Duke coach in 40 years to have a winning overall record at the school. He has remained connected to Dukeand always votes for the Blue Devils in his first preseason Top 25.

On Thursday, Spurrier told The State, “I told Joe, ‘If you need somebody to help sell your new coach, tell them to call me, because I hope they get a good coach and hope they can become competitive there.”

Spurrier said, however, that he does not intend to return to Durham.

“Shoot, no. I’ve already been to Duke, man,” he said. “I didn’t recruit all these guys right here last year to leave them to the next guy.”

Spurrier was spotted on the Duke campus and The News & Observer reported he had been there. The Associated Press picked up that report.

Alleva has said he wants a coach with head coaching experience. He has told people close to Duke football that he wants a name coach who can raise the profile of the program.

One likely Duke target is Navy coach Paul Johnson. Johnson graduated from Western Carolina and has done a spectacular job at Navy. But his name has come up with other positions, including Nebraska and Georgia Tech. He is highly compensated at Navy and has not left despite repeated suitors through the years.

The Midshipmen play Army Saturday in Baltimore. While Johnson has joked in the past about all the reports linking him to different jobs – once asking reporters, So where am I going today? – he said on a conference call earlier this week that he only wanted to focus on the Army game