(Tallahassee, Fla.) – Collegiate sports coaching icons Steve Spurrier, Cliff Ellis and Mickey Andrews will gather in Tallahassee, Florida to implore members of the Florida Legislature to immediately support disaster relief efforts in Northwest Florida. More than six months after the Category 4 impact of Hurricane Michael, residents and businesses have yet to recover from the devastation, leaving Floridians unable to rebuild their communities and their lives.

Media interested in attending the press conference are asked to contact Christina Johnson via cell phone at 850.339.5773 or email at christina@on3pr.com.

WHAT:

Coaches for the Florida Panhandle Press Conference

Hurricane Michael relief and rebuild efforts in Northwest Florida

WHEN: 

Thursday, April 18, 2019

12:00 – 12:30 p.m.

WHERE:

The Capitol, fourth-floor rotunda, House Chambers side

400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399

SPEAKERS:

  • State Representative Loranne Ausley (D-Tallahassee)
  • Former State Rep. Robert Trammell (D-Marianna)
  • Former coach Steve Spurrier, University of Florida football
  • Coach Cliff Ellis, Coastal Carolina University (SC) basketball, former Auburn University basketball and Marianna, Florida native
  • Assistant Coach Mickey Andrews, Florida State University football

Florida State Rep. Loranne Ausley is a 6th-generation Floridian who has held senior positions in every level of government. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College majoring in Economics and Politics. She received her law degree from the Washington & Lee University. Loranne Ausley is an attorney AT Hollimon, P.A. in Tallahassee. She was instrumental in creating Whole Child Leon and she served as Chair for 8 years. She serves as National Honorary Co-Chair of the New Leaders’ Council and as a board member to the Claude Pepper Foundation. She is a founding member of The Oasis Center for Women and Girls and an active volunteer with the South City Multi-Sport Club and the Stacey Webb Arts Foundation. She has also served as a board member of other organizations including Florida Healthy Kids Corporation, Whole Child Leon, Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, The United Way of the Big Bend, The Tallahassee Urban League, Washington and Lee University Law Council, the George Washington Society, and various volunteer positions with Leadership Florida.

Former Florida State Rep. Robert Trammell, a retired attorney, served in the Florida House from 1987-1996 and was known as a champion for community colleges. Following his tenure in the legislature, for 13 years Trammell served Chipola as Special Assistant for Development and Alumni Affairs. In this role, he organized many successful fundraising events, including those honoring the memory of prominent Chipola alumni through the creation of endowed scholarships in the names of Rep. Sam Mitchell, Rep. David Coley, Chipola coach Milton Johnson, Gadsden County Sheriff W. A. Woodham and Attorney John Ratzlaff. For his service to the college, Trammell has been named the Chipola Alumnus of the Year for 2013. The 1966 Chipola graduate also has been nominated in the Hometown Hero category of the LeRoy Collins Distinguished Alumni Awards program sponsored by the Association of Florida Colleges.

Steve Spurrier, known affectionately to fans as the “Head Ball Coach” is a Florida native born in Miami Beach and best known for his Hall of Fame tenure as the Head Football Coach for the University of Florida (UF) Gators from 1990 – 2001. Coach Spurrier, who attended UF, played quarterback for the Gators from 1963-1966, winning the Heisman Trophy and being named as a first-team All-American during his senior year. Following his collegiate career, Coach Spurrier was drafted into the National Football League (NFL) by the San Francisco 49ers in 1967 where he played until being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976. Coach Spurrier accepted his first head coaching position with the United States Football League Tampa Bay Bandits in 1983 and then coached at Duke from 1987 – 1989 before accepting the head coaching job at UF in 1990. While at UF, Coach Spurrier led the Gators to a national championship title in 1996, as well as six Southeastern Conference championship titles, and five bowl victories. After coaching at UF, Spurrier returned to the NFL to coach the Washington Redskins and then became the head coach of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks where he coached until his retirement in 2015. Coach Spurrier was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986 and as a coach in 2017.

Cliff Ellis is a Florida native born in Marianna and currently the head basketball coach at Coastal Carolina University. Coach Ellis graduated from Florida State University (FSU) in 1968 and took his first head coaching position in 1972 at Cumberland University in Tennessee. After coaching at Cumberland, Coach Ellis was named head coach at the University of South Alabama where he coached for nine seasons, leading the Jaguars to two NCAA Tournament appearances and 171 total victories – becoming the all-time winningest coach in South Alabama history. In 1985, Ellis was named head coach at Clemson University where he led the Tigers to three NCAA Tournament appearances and an Atlantic Coast Conference championship title. Coach Ellis remains the winningest coach in Clemson history and was named ACC Coach of the Year in both 1987 and 1990. After 10 seasons at Clemson, Coach Ellis joined Auburn University as head coach in 1994. At Auburn, Coach Ellis led the Tigers to a Southeastern Conference championship title in 1999, three NCAA Tournament appearances, and Auburn’s three winningest season in 1998 – 1999, 1999 – 2000, and 2002 – 2003. In 2007, Coach Ellis was named to his current position of head coach at Coastal Carolina University. At Coastal Carolina, Coach Ellis has led the Chanticleers to three Big South conference championship titles, including the school’s first in 2009. Under the leadership of Coach Ellis, the Chanticleers have made two NIT Tournament and two NCAA Tournament appearances and amassed 230 wins over 12 seasons. Over his head coaching career, Coach Ellis has led teams to more 842 wins over 42 seasons and been named to the Clemson University, Cumberland Athletics and Mobile Sports Halls of Fame.

Mickey Andrews is an award-winning football coach who currently serves as special assistant to Florida State University (FSU) head football coach Willie Taggart. Coach Andrews attended the University of Alabama where he played wide receiver and defensive back for the Crimson Tide on two national championship winning teams in 1961 and 1964 and earned second-team All-American honors. He also earned the Hugo Friedman Award as Alabama’s best all-around athlete. Following his graduation from Alabama in 1964, Coach Andrews held several assistant coaching positions at Erwin High School in Alabama, Eastern Kentucky University, and Livingston University before being named as Livingston’s head football coach in 1970. In 1971, Coach Andrews led the Livingston Tigers to a NAIA Division I Championship to finish an 11-1 season. In 1973, Coach Andrews was named head coach of the North Alabama University Lions where he stayed until taking a position as defensive coordinator at Clemson University in 1977. After briefly working with the University of Florida, and the United State Football League Arizona Wrangler, Coach Andrews was hired by Coach Bobby Bowden as the Seminoles’ defensive coordinator. At FSU, Andrews is led the Seminole defense to produce more All-American and NFL quality cornerbacks than any other program in the country. Coach Andrews coach two Jim Thorpe Award winners, Deion Sanders and Terrell Buckley, and had an All-American cornerback on the FSU roster for eight consecutive years from 1987 – 1994. Coach Andrews retired from FSU following the 2009 season and rejoined the program in 2018.

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