At times the University of Miami’s athletic department is eerily quiet. When pushed, UM has recently chosen the higher road, holding its tongue and letting things play out, but not this time.
Yahoo! Sports’ Charles Robinson went on offense days back, hurling more allegations at ‘The U’ – this time going after second-year head coach Al Golden – who was brought in to clean up the mess left by the old regime.
Robinson fired his missile late last week, getting in a dig before the weekend, again in effort to gain validity after dropping a bomb, and feeling heat from his Nevin Shapiro piece last August. Robinson has seen holes shot in his original piece, from various sources, and even jumped on board with a Q&A on a Miami fan site last year, in effort to prove his point.
As far as investigative reporting goes, Robinson gave over a year of his life to this story and despite getting ahead of himself, or being sloppy at times, he did what he set out to do – and has oft been stated on this site, and allCanes Radio, the past several months, his piece will have nothing to do with the NCAA investigation. Robinson is a newsman; he’s not the Freeh Report.
His latest piece points a finger at former equipment manager and friend of Shapiro’s, Sean ‘Pee-Wee’ Allen. Robinson claimed Golden had ‘direct knowlege’ of Allen’s improper involvement with Miami recruits and again, the claims are based on unidentified sources.
Where Robinson’s last piece attacked Miami as a program, as well as players, the majority of which had moved on, this one was aimed at the guy in the white hat and when pushed, Golden pushed back, releasing this statement:
“I have been a college football coach for more than 18 years and I am proud of — and I stand by — my record of compliance over that span,” Golden said. “As my colleagues and players on all of my teams can attest, I believe strongly in doing things the right way with the best of intentions.
“The inferences and suggestions in the Yahoo! Sports story that my conduct was anything but ethical are simply false. I, like all of us at UM, have cooperated fully with the joint NCAA-UM inquiry and will continue to do so, so that our program and our university can move forward. Because the process is on-going, I am unable to address any specifics or answer questions on the matter.”
Golden has the full support of UM, as well as ACC commissioner John Swofford, both of which have citied his character and coaching resume – and kudos to Miami for backing their guy.
There are times to hold back and other times to push back, while standing your ground. Robinson took a cheap shot and it was nice to see Golden puffing out his chest and defending his reputation. After all he’s dealt with over the past year and a half, he deserved to have a voice – and to have the backing of his university.
While the latest Robinson piece seems like ‘one more thing’ to Hurricane Nation, it should be noted that none of this is new news. It’s simply something Robinson chose to report now, despite the timeline. Remember, the NCAA has been dealing with UM for upwards of a year and much is going on behind the scenes.
This isn’t another bomb that dropped – it simply was Robinson looking to stir the pot.
Again, let the process play itself out. Football is just over a month away. Golden, his staff and these kids need your support. Time to keep standing with ‘The U’.