Into the Fire: The Steve Spurrier Memorial Trophy

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SEC Media Days 2018 were bigger and better than ever this year. Taking place from the College Football Hall of Fame on a larger stage in a big time city like Atlanta was just absolutely perfect for the conference’s profile. During the week we unfortunately did not get any coaches or players putting their feet in their mouth and personal rivalries were not sparked. However, we did get quality entertainment and buzz from these festivities; meaning that at the end of the day, SEC Media Days did what they were supposed to do.

We are now just over a month away from SEC teams taking the field and going on that grueling journey through a season in America’s best conference. Before we get to camps and take the field for our big out of conference openers though, we first must give the award for the best performance by a head coach at SEC Media Days 2018. The coaches’ scores have been tallied, the hardware is present, and it is now time to crown the winner of the inaugural Steve Spurrier Memorial Trophy!

Coming in third place we have the reigning, defending, somewhat disputed SEC championship winning coach of 2017, Kirby Smart from the University of Georgia. Kirby is the SEC’s most likable guy with his “aww shucks” grin and cool demeanor, but Kirby is a killer. For not slaughtering a reporting who thought Jacob Eason was still on his team, Kirby showed that even thought he is killing the recruiting game and barking with the big dogs, he is still a kind man who avoids bullying the easily bullied.

That leaves second place for our next coach who came in with a score of 8.69 out of an 11 on the Spurrier scale. Derek Mason of Vanderbilt is our runner-up for his charismatic delivery, intensity, and Napoleon complex. Mason managed to crap all over Notre Dame, hit some innovative coachspeak that almost passed for real human sentences, and puff his chest out at anyone doubting his Vanderbilt men. It was a truly amazing underdog story which was fitting in a year filled with underdogs like the Eagles and Sister Jean. Add Derek Mason to that list!

As for the list of Spurrier Memorial Trophy winners? There is only one man who can be put on that list for 2018 and that man is the best coach in College Football. The winner of the 2018 Steve Spurrier Memorial Trophy is Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Saban commands a room like no one else does in the SEC and maybe in all of sport. During his press conference he scolded reporters while telling them they are “entitled to their opinion,” told the story about being stranded on a boat without cracking a smile, and he revealed the secret to being a master is to hate to lose more than you like to win. Nick Saban wins the 2018 Spurrier for all of that and really mostly because we are terrified to give it to anyone else.

SEC Media Days have us asking most of the questions we had about each team going into the week, but yet we are somehow more prepared for the season than we were before. We weren’t told who LSU’s quarterback would be or if Jalen Hurts will transfer when Saban doesn’t make him the Alabama quarterback. There are still questions to be answered as to whether Georgia actually will have a threat in the SEC East and Jimbo vs. Orgeron is yet to really get going; but all of these issues are front and center in our minds and they will be settled because College Football means something to us in this country, and in the SEC, it just means more.

– Alan Michael