Al Golden Won’t Leave Miami For Texas

For three consecutive years, the postseason rumor mill has churned regarding potential destinations for Miami Hurricanes head coach Al Golden.

In 2011, UCLA had Golden on its radar a second time before hiring Jim L. Mora. By 2012, Tennessee was sizing up the second-year Miami coach for a lighter shade of orange.

With legendary coach Mack Brown stepping down at Texas, it’s safe to assume Golden-to-Austin rumors will begin percolating in late 2013 when some pie-in-the-sky big names inevitably begin turning the Longhorns down. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportshas already suggested that Golden would “make sense” at Texas.

Before the sports media gets ahead of itself with another episode of As the Coaching World Turns, let’s clear the air—Golden isn’t leaving the Hurricanes until his rebuild is complete and ultimate success has been achieved.

The third-year Miami leader signed on for what he knew was a high-risk, high-reward opportunity and will buckle down until the job is done. Maybe even longer, should the Hurricanes go on another stellar run like they did a decade ago.

Golden arrived at Miami three Decembers back, replacing Randy Shannon, who lasted four years and went 28-22 over that span. The New Jersey native made his way to Coral Gables via Philadelphia, where he spent five seasons rebuilding a Temple program recently thrown out of the Big East Conference for being that awful.

Golden became a hot coaching commodity, making his way onto several short lists after the miraculous Temple turnaround. The Owls went 1-11 in his first season and 9-4 in his fourth season, resulting in the program’s third bowl game ever and first in three decades.

Weeks before that historic 2009 postseason appearance, Cincinnati was in search of someone to replace Notre Dame-bound Brian Kelly. Golden declined, remaining in Philadelphia, as neither the timing nor the opportunity was in line with his long-term career path.

Two years prior, Golden turned down UCLA a first time—”flattered” to be a candidate, but staying put, telling the Los Angeles Times, “[W]e are on the brink of something truly special here at Temple.” His second-year Owls squad was 5-19 with him in charge at the time.

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