(AP) -- Spurrier opened his media-day news conference by attacking the university's decision to deny admission to players who were qualified under minimum NCAA standards.

"As long as I'm the coach here, we're going to take guys that qualify," Spurrier said Sunday. "If not, then I have to go somewhere else because I can't tell a young man, 'You're coming to school here,' he qualifies and not do that. And we did that this year."

Despite meeting NCAA standards, receiver Michael Bowman of Wadesboro, N.C., and defensive back Arkee Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., were turned down by the university's special-admissions committee.

"I've got to apologize to two young men that we recruited," Spurrier said. "They qualified. They signed with us in February. They were denied admission to our school.

"Personally, I don't think that's the way you do business. I'm embarrassed that I and our coaches basically misled these young men into believing they were coming here."

Spurrier, under contract through 2012, said he was not "blasting" South Carolina president Andrew Sorensen, whom Spurrier said has agreed to change the admissions process.

But Spurrier later said, "I can't operate, misleading young men."

On Monday, Spurrier said his main complaint was about the timing of admission denials and said coaches need to know earlier in the process whether a prospective athlete will be admitted. Saying he was embarrassed by the university's rejection of two of his recruits, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said he would leave the school if there are no changes made in the admissions process.

Spurrier opened his media-day news conference by attacking the university's decision to deny admission to players who were qualified under minimum NCAA standards.

"As long as I'm the coach here, we're going to take guys that qualify," Spurrier said Sunday. "If not, then I have to go somewhere else because I can't tell a young man, 'You're coming to school here,' he qualifies and not do that. And we did that this year."

Despite meeting NCAA standards, receiver Michael Bowman of Wadesboro, N.C., and defensive back Arkee Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., were turned down by the university's special-admissions committee.

"I've got to apologize to two young men that we recruited," Spurrier said. "They qualified. They signed with us in February. They were denied admission to our school.

"Personally, I don't think that's the way you do business. I'm embarrassed that I and our coaches basically misled these young men into believing they were coming here."

Spurrier, under contract through 2012, said he was not "blasting" South Carolina president Andrew Sorensen, whom Spurrier said has agreed to change the admissions process.

But Spurrier later said, "I can't operate, misleading young men."

On Monday, Spurrier said his main complaint was about the timing of admission denials and said coaches need to know earlier in the process whether a prospective athlete will be admitted.

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