Legendary coaches Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier forever linked by Augusta National, golf and South Carolina

The college football coaching legends, each of whom guided the Gamecocks to winning seasons, share an affinity for golf and Augusta

Two things signal springtime in the South: college football scrimmages and the Masters. Sometimes the two intertwine, like when Georgia aired the tournament live on its video board during G-Day scrimmages. For legendary coach Steve Spurrier, his proximity to Augusta National Golf Club allowed him to pull unique daily doubles while he was leading South Carolina. 

"I used to go a little while when we were usually in spring football practice," Spurrier told CBS Sports, explaining his 80-mile trek. "We'd go from 10 to 1, three hours, and then get back at 4 o'clock to practice."

It seems as unlikely as an albatross for a major college football coach to duck out during a spring practice day to take in a little golf, but Spurrier has always subscribed to working smarter, not harder. 

"You can't talk like that anymore because all coaches want everybody to know how hard they worked," Spurrier said. "But back in my day, mostly, whatever your record was determined what kind of coach you were. But a lot of these coaches, they can talk the talk about how hard they work, nobody's going to outwork 'em, and, 'We're going to do this and the other.'

"But that was never one of my styles to tell everybody how hard we're gonna work. Hopefully, we're gonna win. That's what you're supposed to do." 

There are perhaps no two college football coaching legends more connected to the game of golf than Spurrier and Lou Holtz, both of whom ended the second nine of their coaching careers 75 miles east of Augusta, Georgia, as coaches of the Gamecocks. 

Holtz died on March 4, but he joined ANGC in 2002 and was once bumped from the cover of "Sports Illustrated" after Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in 1986. Holtz took up golf in the 1970s while coaching at NC State, but he was first truly introduced to it in the early 1960s when, to earn a little extra money while serving as an assistant at William & Mary, he coached the golf team. 

"I didn't even know how to keep score, and really, my main job was not to wreck the van on the way to tournaments," Holtz told Golf Digest in 2009. "After one of the tournaments, I see my No. 1 player, Jeff Graham, smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. I asked him, 'What do you think you're doing?' Jeff shrugs and says, 'It was a tough tournament.' So I had the team do a bunch of calisthenics. I knew of no other way to punish them. Heck, I was a football coach." 

Spurrier has also been playing since the 1960s. On his recruiting trip before committing to play at Florida, he took in a round after attending the Gators' spring game. 

Holtz and Spurrier had prior connections. Spurrier said they got along fine, "probably because [Lou's] a golfer." They were paired together in the annual celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe with legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal. When Holtz's wife, Beth, had cancer, it was Spurrier who recommended a doctor. 

"I was talking to Coach Holtz one day, and he told me that his wife had cancer and had a bad prognosis. And I said, 'Well, we got some of the best cancer doctors in the country up here, Dr. Nick Cassisi.' So I got Coach Holtz his number. Cassisi got her up here, and I think she lived another 15 years or so after the treatment they got in Gainesville."

They also share common threads on the course. They're both sticklers for the rules and play lightning fast. 

"[Holtz] was the fastest golfer I've ever played with," said Kerry Tharp, former South Carolina athletic director for media relations. "He would play 18 holes in just a little over, maybe not even two and a half hours. He didn't have a whole lot of patience out there. If you were taking some time, or what have you, he'd say, 'Come on now. You know, I'm going to have another birthday here before you hit that shot.'"

Holtz served as South Carolina coach from 1999 to 2004 after a storied career that seemingly had ended by returning Notre Dame to prominence. Mike McGee, then South Carolina's athletic director, lured Holtz from CBS. Holtz told the Greensboro News & Record that he turned McGee down three times but relented after a bad day at the golf course. He ultimately guided the Gamecocks from 0-11 in 1999 to their first top 25 finish in school history in 2000 after an 8-4 season. Then, they topped that feat in 2001 with a 9-3 campaign.

Spurrier took over for Holtz in November 2004 after taking a season off following a failed run in the NFL as the head coach of Washington. Spurrier admitted he really had his eye on the North Carolina job that fall while he was out of the game, and he considered it a better job than South Carolina. However, the Tar Heels held onto John Bunting, and then-president of Florida, Bernie Machen, had his sights set on replacing Spurrier's replacement, Ron Zook, with Urban Meyer -- even as some fans insisted on a second go-around for the team's first Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and first national championship-winning coach.

And so, Spurrier ended up in Columbia, South Carolina.

The then-chairman of Augusta National, Hootie Johnson, was a part of Holtz's recruitment, though there are disagreements as to his level of involvement in helping the Gamecocks land Spurrier.

McGee, who died in 2019, told the Associated Press in 2005 that "he largely pursued Spurrier alone," unlike the wooing of Holtz in 1998 when the university enlisted the help of Gov. Jim Hodges and Johnson, whom McGee identified only as someone "related to a major golf course, a little banking background." Johnson was a longtime executive with NationsBank, now Bank of America.

At the time of Spurrier's hiring, according to the Washington Post, Spurrier agreed to the deal after he met with his agent, Jimmy Sexton, Holtz and Johnson at Augusta National. Johnson was a former fullback for South Carolina. 

"Sources close to Spurrier have said Johnson's role at Augusta National and Spurrier's desire to be a member at the exclusive club approximately 70 miles from Columbia, S.C., were a factor in the coach's decision," the paper wrote at the time. 

Augusta National denied any link between Johnson, the club and bringing Spurrier back to college football. 

"To state or imply that a membership at Augusta National Golf Club would be linked to any job or position is completely false," Johnson said at the time. "An invitation to become a member of Augusta National is very special and would never be tied to anything except personal relationships within this club.''

Spurrier similarly poured cold water on that notion to CBS Sports, saying that his hire was "nothing about golf."

Linking Spurrier and Augusta was pervasive at the time, in part because, though Holtz had raised the standard at South Carolina, it was still a surprise that a coach of Spurrier's caliber would go there. The Post later reported an anonymous SEC coach claiming Spurrier only took job to play at Augusta National and help his chances at one day becoming a member. 

"He's sacrificing his legacy for a green jacket," the SEC coach said. "He's going to get his head beat in at South Carolina."

Spurrier certainly did not get his head beaten in while at South Carolina. He went on to become the winningest coach in school history, taking the Gamecocks to their only SEC Championship Game with a top-five finish in 2013. However, he certainly made the most of his proximity to the ANGC. 

"I got to know Hootie a little bit soon after I was hired there, and he invited me down to play several times with one of his sons-in-law -- a member -- and I'd bring a couple coaches with me," Spurrier said. "In fact, I had a hole-in-one at Augusta on the Par-3 Course -- No. 7 -- and I hit an eight iron from about 140. I guess it went in, and Hootie was following us in his golf cart, and his son-in-law was with us, and he said, 'Let me have that ball, coach; I'm gonna get it mounted up for you.' And I thought maybe I'd try to get two holes-in-one with the same ball, but I gave him the ball, and then the next hole, I hit my tee ball in the water." 

Spurrier says he has not visited Augusta National in 10 years and doesn't play golf much anymore, but he did shoot his age (76) a few years ago. Holtz has his own par-3 legacy, according to ESPN's Rece Davis. Holtz was famous for laying up on the iconic par-3 12th hole rather than trying to carry Rae's Creek. The hole features swirling winds and is one of the most perilous tee shots in the sport. 

"He loved playing," Tharp said. "And I know he really treasured the fact that he was able to play at Augusta and be a member at Augusta."