Ashburn, Va. — Steve Spurrier made his mark on the NFL even before coaching his first game or running a practice.
He became the highest-paid coach in league history Monday, hired by the Washington Redskins a day after they fired Marty Schottenheimer. The national championship-winning coach at Florida signed a five-year deal worth $25 million.
The deal, confirmed by a team source speaking on condition of anonymity, surpasses the previous NFL high of $4 million a year Mike Holmgren makes as Seattle's coach and general manager.
Spurrier, who abruptly left Florida on Jan. 4 after a 12-year run that also included six Southeastern Conference titles, will be introduced today at a news conference at Redskin Park.
Spurrier, a former backup quarterback in the NFL, "will bring a supercharged, exciting and dynamic brand of football to our great fans," team owner Dan Snyder said.
Washington defensive tackle Kenard Lang got to know Spurrier while playing for the University of Miami against Florida.
"He's not arrogant, but he's real, real, real confident," Lang said. "But he has to realize he has men he's coaching instead of little boys, who were just leaving their mommy and daddy and have their little old pacifiers in their mouth."
Lang is one of 17 unrestricted free agents on the Redskins' roster, a wrinkle Spurrier never had to handle in college.
Spurrier's offenses always looked as if they belonged in the pros, but quarterback is the Redskins' most uncertain position because neither Tony Banks nor Kent Graham is under contract for next season.
But Spurrier will have help from a yet-to-be-hired general manager, not wanting to run the whole operation the way Schottenheimer did as coach and director of football operations.
Snyder's desire to regain some of that power led him to fire Schottenheimer, the first coach in NFL history to start the season 0-5 and win the next five games. The Redskins finished 8-8 in his only season coaching the team.
While Snyder thought Schottenheimer's job as coach was acceptable, the owner was unhappy with personnel moves involving Larry Centers, Jeff George and others.
Schottenheimer will receive the $7.5 million remaining on the four-year, $10 million contract he signed a year ago.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.