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BY MOLLY HULSEY

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He may not be 40, but Steve Spurrier’s rant Tuesday ranks right up there with the best of them. Six months ago--The State reporter Ron Morris wrote a story that South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier didn’t like. On Tuesday afternoon-- it came back to bite him.

In a confrontation that’s gone viral on YouTube- Spurrier refused to answer questions at a press conference until Morris left the room.

“I’ve learned that since he sits in on all these meetings it’s basically... I’m helping him to contribute writing negative stuff about our football program, simple as that. So I’m not going to talk when he’s in here. That’s my right as a head coach. I don’t have to talk to him.”

When Morris made it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere, Spurrier disbanded the conference and instead held one-on-one interviews. The Houston Press gives him props for ingenuity.

“Bonus points for Spurrier for this incredibly creative approach -- instead of kicking Morris out of his press conference, he decides to change the format to one-on-one interviews in the other room. So theoretically, he didn't give Morris the heave-ho."

Now news outlets are wondering-- was Spurrier just being a big baby?  A blogger for the Atlanta Journal Constitution thinks the coach was out of line.

“Mr. Morris is a fully accredited member of the media. He has every right to be sitting where he was. It’s part of the job. For [Spurrier] to decide, apparently after months of stewing, that he’d make a big deal of an old column was the height of unprofessionalism, not to mention immaturity.”

But one Orlando Sentinel writer says-- hey--  any press is good press.

“Thank you, Steve Spurrier.

Thank you for at least caring enough about the media to rip the media.

One of the qualities I always admired about Spurrier was he actually read the paper in the morning instead of having one of his PR underlings tell him what was in it.

I actually miss that.”

Spurrier dismissed the reporter just hours before announcing he’d dismissed his troubled starting quarterback Steven Garcia-- and in the midst of an NCAA investigation. The timing wasn’t lost on a writer for the Times and Democrat.

“Spurrier is a master play-caller, but the ol'-fake-the-media-while-we-dump-the-quarterback-and-negotiate-with-NCAA-investigators play will not work. Spurrier absolutely does not want us to ask NCAA questions or dig into the failed Garcia experiment.”

Diversion or not-- CBS Sports says Spurrier’s tirade was a bad call.

“For Spurrier to starting banning media on the same day he finally washes his hands of Stephen Garcia looks like: A) He's trying to change the subject and turn media elsewhere; b) he's losing his grip on the program; or c) he's just being petty. Any of those behaviors are beneath Spurrier and his position.”

No word yet on whether this will be a one-week suspension for Morris or a permanent dismissal from the Gamecocks’ press conferences. Morris had no comment on the situation.

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