Steve Spurrier holds court on Finebaum, talks Joe Paterno, needles Alabama and more

8:29 PM ET

The Head Ball Coach celebrated his 71st birthday Wednesday and spent two hours of it with Paul Finebaum and his callers, making a guest appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show.

Spurrier, in typical fashion, had plenty of one-liners and quips, but he was also introspective and insightful about his career and numerous other college football topics. He also discussed a book he’s co-writing with Buddy Martin, which is due out this summer.

Among the most notable quotes from Spurrier’s time on air:

• A caller asked about Spurrier’s relationship with the late Joe Paterno. Spurrier’s Florida Gators beat Paterno’s Penn State team in the 1998 Citrus Bowl, and Spurrier said the two coaches spent a lot of time together then and eventually became “good friends.” He then went on to defend Paterno and how his coaching tenure ended at Penn State, following news of the child sex-abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky, a former Paterno assistant.

“He was treated the most unfairly of any coach ever,” Spurrier said. “He had nothing to do with that scandal, nothing at all. Amazingly what they did to him was completely wrong. I hope they restore [the statue]. I heard they’re having talks about having the statue back and they should do that, they really should.”

• On Alabama’s national championships: “I was there speaking at their high school clinic two weeks ago. They’ve won 16 national championships, you know that? They claim 16. One of them was in there, they had a 9-2 record. … They had three or four national champs back in the old days.”

• But did you know that Spurrier could have been in Nick Saban’s place? He discussed his conversation with then-Alabama athletic director Mal Moore in 2006 before the hiring of Saban, then coach of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins: “Mal Moore called me. I had just taken the job at South Carolina and had just been there one year. I told him, ‘I’m committed to these guys and this is where I’m going to finish up. I really get a thrill from doing things that have never been done before.’ … I told Mal Moore, ‘I said listen, you don’t want me there. I’m not going to come there. Hang with Coach Saban.’ He had already turned it down and said, ‘I’m staying at Miami.’ I said, ‘Go back to him. I think he’d rather be at Alabama than at Miami,’ because I had a two-year run in the pros also, and sure enough, Mal went back and convinced him …

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