Steve Spurrier Jr. joined the Cougar coaching staff in Jan., 2018 and begins his second season as Washington State’s outside receivers coach under Head Coach Mike Leach.
Last season, Spurrier Jr. saw his group combine for 23 touchdowns while four players caught 26+ passes including a pair of receivers who each caught over 60+ passes for the nation’s top passing offense. Three outside receivers posted multiple 100-yard games in Tay Martin and Easop Winston Jr. who each also caught eight touchdowns while Dezmon Patmon finished eighth in the Pac-12 with 816 receiving yards to go along with his five touchdown catches.
Spurrier Jr. joined the Cougar staff having spent the 2017 season as the assistant head coach/ quarterbacks at Western Kentucky University. Spurrier Jr. helped develop quarterback Mike White into WKU’s first Senior Bowl participant at quarterback and just the second quarterback in school history to post multiple seasons of 4,000 or more passing yards. The Hilltoppers reached the 2017 Autonation Cure Bowl as White’s 4,177 passing yards were fourth nationally while his 368 completions led the nation.
Spurrier Jr.’s collegiate coaching career has included 16 postseason bowl games, including the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl, as well as five conference championships (three SEC and two Big 12) and two national championships (Oklahoma, 2000; Florida, 1996).
Spurrier spent the 2016 campaign at Oklahoma in an off-field role as a recruiting and offensive specialist, particularly with offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley.
Prior to his time in Norman, Spurrier spent 11 seasons at South Carolina on his father’s staff as the Gamecocks’ wide receivers coach. He added titles of passing game coordinator in 2009, recruiting coordinator in 2011 and co-offensive coordinator in 2012. During his time in Columbia, the Gamecocks went to nine bowl games and his pupils featured future NFL stars Sidney Rice, Alshon Jeffery and Kenny McKinley.
Under Spurrier Jr., Jeffery developed into one of South Carolina’s all-time greatest receivers, setting school records for career receiving yards (3,042) and 100-yard receiving games (12), and tying the school record for touchdown catches with 23 in 2011. Jeffery’s All-America sophomore season (2010) earned him a spot as a Biletnikoff finalist as he tallied a single-season school record 1,517 yards.
Spurrier was also invested in the development of Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Pharoh Cooper, a fourth round draft pick in 2016. During Cooper’s sophomore season (2014), he set the school’s single-game receiving yards record with 233 and was named the 2014 Independence Bowl MVP for a nine catch, 170-yard performance against Miami.
The South Carolina record book is littered with receivers coached by Spurrier. On top of Jeffery and Cooper, McKinley become South Carolina’s all-time leader in receptions (207) and receiving yards in 2008 before Jeffery broke his yardage record three seasons later. Prior to joining his father at South Carolina, Spurrier spent one season at the University of Arizona (2004) under head coach Mike Stoops. He spent two seasons as wide receivers coach in the NFL with the Washington Redskins (2002-03) where he coached Laveranues Coles to a 2003 Pro Bowl season with 82 receptions for 1,204 yards.
Before joining his father at South Carolina, Spurrier spent one season at the University of Arizona (2004) under head coach Mike Stoops, two seasons as wide receivers coach in the NFL with the Washington Redskins (2002-03) and was a part of Bob Stoops’ rebuilding project at Oklahoma (1999-2001), culminating with a perfect 13-0 record and national championship in 2000. He also worked alongside Leach during the 1999 season at Oklahoma.
A native of Palo Alto, Calif., Spurrier Jr. played collegiately at Duke where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1994. While working as a graduate assistant at Florida, Spurrier added his master’s in 1996. Spurrier Jr. and his wife, the former Melissa Beauchamp, are the parents of triplets, Luke, Gavin and Emmaline; Nolan; twins, Palmer and Hayden, and McKinley.
