Former NFL head coach and college football legend Steve Spurrier is once again out of a job. With the Alliance of American Football closing up shop for 2019 on Tuesday, Spurrier and his Orlando Apollos are no more — at least for now.
Despite the fact that the Alliance of American Football didn't even make it through one full season with the newfound professional football league shutting down its season two weeks shy of a full campaign, Spurrier wants his Apollos to be crowned AAF champions.
“We're all disappointed, but on the other side, we're the champs, right?” Spurrier recently told reporters in Orlando, via Sports Illustrated. “We're 7–1 and the next teams are 5–3… The players have had wonderful attitudes, and the effort level they've played with has been very rewarding for me and the coaching staff. We started the season wanting to win the Alliance championship, and if they declare a champ, hopefully these guys will be declared the champ, because they certainly are deserving.”
The Apollos, coached by Spurrier, led the league's Eastern Division at 7–1 and had clinched a spot in the Eastern Division title game, one of two semifinals before the originally scheduled AAF Championship Game (a game that apparently won't be played now) on April 27. Apollos quarterback Garrett Gilbert led the Alliance of American Football in passing yards with Orlando wide receiver Charles Johnson leading the league in receiving yards.
While it is very possible that Spurrier's Apollos could have continued to steamroll the competition well into the postseason en route to a championship, the world will unfortunately never know. Knowing the legendary Steve Spurrier, though, he will be losing sleep over this abrupt conclusion for years to come.
He will also insist his team deserves a championship, and he will make sure other people hear about it as long as anyone is willing to ask him.
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