DESTIN, Fla. -- In a small corner room of the Sandestin Hilton Hotel, a couple of Florida coaches were accommodating a media gathering at the SEC spring meetings Tuesday afternoon. But there was still room for an ex-Florida coach.

"Is this where the Billy Donovan show is?" former Florida football coach Steve Spurrier said enthusiastically as he entered the room.

On the far side of the room, Florida football coach Urban Meyer probably didn't notice. The Spurrier twang isn't familiar to him. But Donovan, who has coached on the same campus as Spurrier, broke into laughter. So did the media.

It was a familiar SEC scene, more remindful of Spurrier's time at Florida than last year -- his first as South Carolina's head coach.

Unlike his days at Florida, Spurrier often seemed to edit himself during exchanges with the media last year. He wasn't as flippant or funny.

Tuesday was more like the old days when Spurrier was the league's go-to quote. Maybe he has just become more comfortable as a Gamecock.

"Yeah, I feel like it's my place now," said Spurrier, who was wearing a white sports shirt, brightened by a golden, palmetto-tree emblem. "It's my school.

"People have been wonderful. Fans have been unbelievable. I'm getting invited to all the top (golf) courses."

And he's making the most of it. After struggling at his second-favorite sport for the last five years, Spurrier is shooting in the 70s again.

He's talking a good game, too.

Spurrier always has been a big fan of Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt. So his reaction to her recent million-dollar contract wasn't surprising.

"I thought it was wonderful," he said. "I thought she deserved more."

He raised his pitch in emphasizing the "more."

"Somebody told me the football coach still makes twice what she does," said Spurrier in reference to coach Phillip Fulmer's $2.1 million contract. "She ought to be one of those two-million-dollar coaches, too."

Spurrier was happy to talk about Donovan as well.

"He's not going to sit around and bask in (winning a national championship)," Spurrier said. "He'll be excited about trying to do it next year. Doesn't he have everybody back?"

Spurrier, who won a national title at Florida in 1996, knows the importance of having your team intact when trying to defend a championship. Asked what he learned from trying to repeat as national champion, he said, "I learned we didn't have Danny Wuerffel on the team."

Wuerffel, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1996, led Florida to four consecutive SEC titles. Although the Gators had most of their defense returning in 1997, they couldn't overcome the loss of their star quarterback.

The SEC is more balanced than when the Gators won six league titles in Spurrier's 12 years at Florida (1990-2001). He was asked about the chances of another program becoming as dominant.

Surprisingly, Tennessee came to mind.

"It can happen," he said. "Heck, Coach Fulmer is on about No. 12 isn't he? Fifteen?"

Told that Fulmer has completed 13 seasons, Spurrier asked, "Do they give him that interim year (when he subbed for former UT coach Johnny Majors)?"

"They count those wins," a sportswriter said.

"They count the wins and Johnny gets the losses," Spurrier said with a laugh. "Well, (Florida sports information director) Norm Carlson probably would have done that for me if I had been the interim coach."

It was as though somebody was looking out for Spurrier during his team's unexpected 7-5 season in 2005.

"For us to have won those games against Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida was truly a miracle stretch," he said. "The ball bounced our way.

"We got some good calls. The other teams dropped passes, fumbled in the end zone. They did all the good stuff for us."

The Gamecocks still can't do it on their own. They lost most of their defense, the offensive line is a work in progress and quarterback Blake Mitchell has to become more consistent.

"We're not ready to contend (for a championship)," Spurrier said bluntly.

At least, the Gamecocks have a coach who knows what it takes to win a championship. They will be reminded of that on the first Saturday of September when Spurrier and his 1996 team are honored in Gainesville.

"That's one big reason you win championships," said Spurrier, whose Gamecocks will play on the Thursday prior to Florida's season opener. "It's the ability to celebrate them later."

South Carolina has never won so much as an SEC championship. But maybe the coach who has found a second home will stick around long enough to give it a season worth celebrating.