Columnist Ron Kantowski: UNLV coach Brandise’s mixed emotions for the game between his old coach and his alma mater

Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005 | 8:41 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

The first thing UNLV offensive coordinator Noah Brindise did upon returning from Texas this week was oil the "refresh" button on his cell phone.

It definitely got a workout before the Rebels played TCU because the game between Brindise's old school and his old coach wasn't televised in Fort Worth.

As old schools and old coaches go, Brindise's are pretty high profile. Florida and Steve Spurrier, now wearing a black-and-maroon disguise at South Carolina, are about as big as it gets on Saturday afternoon.

Florida vs. South Carolina was one of the most anticipated games of the college football season and Brindise admitted he had mixed emotions about it.

"Don't ask me who I think is going to win," he said last week when I passed him in the hallway of the UNLV coaching cubicles.

But Monday, following the Gamecocks' upset 30-22 victory, he came clean.

"I went to Florida and my wife went to Florida," Brindise said. "We're Gators.

"I'm disappointed that the Gators won't be playing for the SEC title. But now that Florida is out, I'll be cheering for him."

Him, of course, is Spurrier. The Ol' Ballcoach. The legend under whom Brindise toiled for nine years as a player and an assistant coach with the Gators and the Washington Redskins.

There is a distinction between the two. When you are Spurrier's quarterback, he throws his trademark visor at you. When you are one of his assistants, you have to pick it up.

"He never threw it (ital)at(end ital) me," Brindise, 30, said. "But he sure threw it a lot (ital)because(end ital) of me."

Spurrier's 7-3 record in his first year at downtrodden South Carolina is one of the best stories of the college football season. But it pales in comparison to Brindise's rags to semi-riches playing career at Florida.

Brindise started his college career at Wingate. Not Swinging Wingate. Just plain ol' Wingate University, a Division II school in North Carolina.

I'm not saying Wingate is a small school, but here's how you get there from Charlotte: Take Exit 48 onto I-485 toward Rock Hill. Exit to Monroe off I-485 at Exit 51-B. Follow U.S. Hwy. 74 East for approximately 25 miles to Wingate.

If you see the fork in the road for Mount Pilot and Mayberry, you've gone too far.

As they say, it "didn't work out" for Brindise at Wingate. So he had the same thought that must occur to every quarterback at Wingate who doesn't pan out: "I think I'll go to Florida, walk on, and become the starting quarterback." Which is just what he did.

"I was lucky," he said.

Maybe so. Of all the great quarterbacks that Spurrier had during the 1990s, Doug Johnson, the guy Brindise beat out for the starting job, was probably the least great. Still, Brindise, as a poster on one of the many Florida Internet fan boards said, "didn't screw it up" after taking the controls of Spurrier's Fun 'n' Gun offense.

"There were days you hated him, but he was great to play for," said Brindise, who played on three New Year's Day bowl teams at Florida. "We knew we were going to win every week, throw a lot and score a lot of points."

Although he still talks to the Ol' Ballcoach once a week, Brindise said he doesn't anticipate being reunited with his former coach, unless the Rebels wind up playing the Gamecocks in a BCS bowl game or something.

"You never say never," he said. "But I don't think so. He likes to coach quarterbacks and call plays. And I like to coach quarterbacks and call plays."

But don't expect Spurrier's influence on Brindise to dissipate overnight. On page 34 of the UNLV football media guide, there's a picture of Brindise, wife Jennifer and daughter Caelan. And another one of him on the practice field.

In that one, he's wearing a visor.