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Steve Spurrier has always been a gambler.Hes the coach who makes the risky call at seemingly the worst po sible time and makes it work. He throws deep on fourth down and scores. He comes up with risky game plans, attacking the very heart and core of the other team and wins.HAYES: | MORE: | Spurrier is college footballs biggest risk-taker and the ultimate gambler. He wins big games and turns once-dormant programs into winners. He took three schools that were down in the dumps when he arrived Duke, Florida and South Carolina and turned them into big winners.He did it by being aggre sive and demanding, pushing his players and coaches to the limit, and by taking chances. He gambled, and Heston Kjerstad Jersey more often than not much more often than not he won.Now hes gambling again with his reputation and his legacy.The one thing Steve Spurrier never did was quit.Until now.He never quit on a game or a team or season, and he never gave up.Until now.In the midst of the worst season of his career, Spurrier did the one thing you never thought Steve Spurrier would ever do.He quit.Quit on his team. Quit on his coaches. Quit on his university. And quit on the fans that have so loyally supported him over the past 11 years.With a 2-4 record and a losing season looming, Tuesday. And he didnt officially retire as expected. He resigned, saying, I think the team needs to hear a new me sage, a new voice, from another coach.Wow.While its understandable that the 70-year-old Spurrier is having a Craig Gentry Jersey hard time dealing with his teams struggles, such a move should raise the eyebrows of every player, coach and fan in college football.While his decision might be understandable and, to some, even admirable, his timing is deplorable.You simply dont quit in the middle of a season, no matter how bad things may seem.It wouldnt have been surprising had Spurrier chosen to retire after last years 7-6 season, and he admits that he considered it. It wouldnt have been surprising had he retired after this season. Considering how far his once-proud program has suddenly fallen, you couldnt blame him for stepping down at the end of the year.But not now. Not in the middle of the season.That is shocking and should be unacceptable.But because he is Steve Spurrier, he can pull it off. Theres probably no other coach in the country who could do what Spurrier just did and get away with it, who could simply walk away in the middle of a season without being vilified.SPURRIER: | | And yet Spurrier is being lifted up and widely praised for all he has accomplished. To some, those accomplishments seem to justify his decision and exonerate him from making such a questionable move.Spurriers decision is a Cedric Mullins Jersey bit ironic. Onone hand, you would never expect a hall-of-fame coach like him to just quit in the middle of a season. Yet, hes always done things his own way without much concern for what other people think or whether he is second-gue sed or criticized.But this doesnt seem like the Steve Spurrier way. This seems like the way of a quitter, a coach who gives up when things go wrong and times get tough.In his mind, Spurrier believes hes doing the right thing, doing what is best for himself and, in the long run, the University of South Carolina. As he said Tuesday, he believes its time for South Carolina to rebuild its football program, and that should start now.You cant keep a head coach thats done it as long as I have when its heading in the wrong direction, he said. It was only two years ago that we were fourth in the nation and the last of those 11-2s, and somehow or another, weve slid. And its my fault, Im responsible, Im the head coach. And its time for me to sort of get out of the way and let somebody else have a go at it.In a way, thats admirable. Hes taking responsibility for letting the program slip and admitting that hes not the right coach to turn Roberto Alomar Jersey it around, not at his age.I get that. Hes making another one of Steve Spurriers gutsy and risky calls.But somehow this feels all wrong.Though he may have the best interest of South Carolina at heart, its hard not to conclude that he is stepping down simply because he cant stand losing and doesnt want to end his career with a losing season. Doesn't want to tarnish his sterling record.Spurrier has only had one losing season in his entire 26-year college career. That was his first season at Duke, when the Blue Devils finished 5-6. He finished 6-6 in his third season at South Carolina, but quickly turned the program around and won big over the next several years, producing three straight 11-2 seasons. At 2-4, he was almost certainly facing his first losing season since 1987. His team barely beat North Carolina in the opener and struggled to defeat winle s Central Florida the game he says started him thinking about quitting. The Gamecocks were beaten by Kentucky, blown out by Georgia and LSU and appear to have only one or two more winnable games on the schedule Vanderbilt (maybe) and The Citadel.So, instead of seeing it through and trying to turn things around, or enduring the hard times with his team, Spurrier quit.That seems wrong and gro sly unfair on many levels. Unfair to his players, unfair to his coaches, unfair to the university and particularly unfair to the 80,000 fans who fill Williams-Brice Stadium each week.And in perhaps the ultimate insult, Rio Ruiz Jersey hes not simply retiring. He emphasized that Tuesday. Hes resigning, leaving open the at another university. Gamecock fans should be livid if that happens.Though Spurrier has been heaped with praise the last two days, you have to wonder what his current players and coaches really think. Are they really OK with their coach stepping down and walking away in the middle of the season?They shouldnt be. They should feel angry and betrayed, like many Gamecock fans do.To be clear, Spurrier deserves all the praise and accolades he is getting. Hes won championships and set records everywhere he coached. Hes one of the top five college football coaches of all time. And he did it with a style and colorful personality that was both entertaining and good for the game.He deserves to be recognized for all that.Just not now.The one thing we teach our children as parents and coaches is to never quit, to never give up. If you start something, you finish it win, lose or draw. No matter how bad things get, you dont quit on your teammates and your coaches.Thats what Spurrier just did, and he deserves to be questioned and criticized for that.