No sooner do I say I’m not going to post rumors or rumblings I hear and then I go ahead and do this… and TOTALLY redeem myself.
Seriously, a bud in the industry shared some news with me and after some groveling, I got the green light to post it. I let him know too many other sites are beating me to the punch, so he threw me this nugget this morning and told me to run with…
… Walt Harris to Miami as offensive coordinator! OK, not really – but the name has ‘officially’ been mentioned and there seems to be some mutual interest. What does that mean? I don’t know. Either way, it’s good to know that the search extends past Kevin Rogers, the Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks coach. Rogers has been the only name mentioned since recently fired Arizona State head coach Dirk Koetter. DK was the hot name days after Shannon was hired, but things have cooled tremendously since. One would assume Koetter is still holding out for a head coaching gig.
Harris is another Pac-1o casualty, fired by Stanford a few weeks back. Miami faithful remember Harris’ run at Pittsburgh (1997-2004), when both programs were members of the Big East conference. Harris did little with the Cardinal during his two year run in Palo Alto and is contemplating his next move.
Some feel Harris isn’t really the head coaching type, even though he’s held down the position just shy of a decade. His first head coaching stint was at Pacific (1989-1991) and from there it was to the New York Jets at quarterbacks coach (1992-1994). Ohio State lured him away for the same position (1995-1996) and then it was back to the head coaching ranks when the Pittsburgh gig became available.
Harris’ roller coaster of a coaching career shows a guy who’s found success here and there and also proves that he doesn’t stand on ceremony regarding being a head coach, giving up the reigns to be an assistant and then leaping at another opportunity to be the top dog again.
The Miami job could be a good opportunity for Harris, being he knows how to develop quarterbacks and work with receivers. His passing game has been his offensive strength. As a college coach, Harris coached 14 quarterbacks who went on to NFL careers. At Pitt, he had two Fred Biletnikoff Award winning wide receivers in Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald.
During the Harris era at Ohio State, Terry Glenn pulled down the award as well and in 1993, Jets QB Boomer Esiason made it to the Pro Bowl under Harris’ tutelage.
No clue if this thing can grow legs or not, but on a slow Tuesday this seemed like a good bit of information. Especially based on the source. We’ll see how it plays out and if I’m right, the other sites out there better expect some serious gloating from ol‘ Canes305.
.:Canes305:.