ORLANDO, Fla. _ Steve Spurrier, the Florida Gators' legendary Ol' Ball Coach, may soon be the new ball coach of an upstart professional football team in Orlando.
And, who knows, maybe Tim Tebow _ another former Gators legend _ will be his quarterback.
In a conversation with the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday night, Spurrier confirmed that organizers of the just-announced Alliance of American Football have contacted him about coaching one of their new teams _ possibly in Orlando.
"I can't talk a lot about it," Spurrier said. "It sounds like an interesting and intriguing format and could be a lot of fun. I'm fired up about it, and we'll see what happens. But I do have an interest."
Spurrier, of course, is one of the most exciting and charismatic coaches in the history of college football. When he was at UF during the 1990s, his legendary Fun 'N Gun offense revolutionized the Southeastern Conference.
He stepped down as the head coach of South Carolina in 2015 and has been serving as a consultant and ambassador at UF in the interim.
But even when he left South Carolina, Spurrier, 72, never closed the door on returning to coaching. At his farewell news conference as head coach of the Gamecocks, he stressed that he was "resigning" and not "retiring."
One reason, Spurrier says, he is intrigued about the Alliance of American Football (AAF) is that it seems to be well-funded, already has a CBS TV contract and is backed by such industry heavyweights such as Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian. And, plus, the AAF would be only a four- or five-month commitment rather than the year-round grind of coaching college football or the NFL.
Spurrier's interest in the AAF is certainly intriguing considering there are actually two new pro football leagues likely competing to put franchises in Orlando. It's no secret that Orlando is a prime market for any new pro football league, considering its status as the biggest market in America without an NFL team.
Could it be that the ultra-popular Spurrier is being used as a bargaining chip to get Orlando to hitch its wagon to the AAF (scheduled to kick off in 2019) instead of WWE founder Vince McMahon's reincarnation of the XFL (scheduled to kick off in 2020)?
Who knows where this is headed, but wouldn't it be exciting if a new pro football team in Orlando were coached by Spurrier and quarterbacked by Tebow?
