Legendary coach Steve Spurrier was truly one of a kind

— -- Steve Spurrier's most enduring legacy will be that he changed college football, in particular the SEC, with his Fun 'n' Gun offense and the way he pitched the ball around the ballpark.

But, boy, did he make it fun, too.

Spurrier, frustrated by the mounting losses and feeling as if he simply didn't have enough left in the tank to go on as South Carolina's coach, abruptly stepped down Monday night -- bringing to a close a Hall of Fame coaching career that was as entertaining as it was successful.

Despite the way it ended, Spurrier's career numbers are truly staggering. A 228-89-2 record in 25 seasons with a national title and six SEC crowns. He is the all-time wins leader at both Florida and South Carolina. (Bear Bryant is the only other coach to lead two SEC schools in wins.) And Spurrier's 131 SEC victories trail only Bryant's 159.

But Spurrier's career was about so much more than numbers.

"Nobody jabbed at you the way coach Spurrier would, and let me tell you. He jabbed at everybody," said Texas coach Charlie Strong, who worked under Spurrier on the Florida staff in the 1990s. "Most of the time, all you could do was laugh because he just said what a lot of other people thought. There won't ever be another one like him because coaches nowadays are too concerned about how it sounds. With him, he just said it."

Spurrier was the king of the passing game, shaking up the three-plays-and-cloud-of-dust SEC when he returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1990, but he was also the king of the one-liner.

There are too many gems to possibly name them all. But a sampling:

"You know what FSU stands for, don't you? Free Shoes U.

"You can't spell Citrus without UT"

"I always liked playing Georgia the second game of the season because you could always count on them having two or three players suspended."

"Peyton Manning came back to Tennessee for his senior year because he wanted to be first three-time MVP of the Citrus Bowl."