Analyzing Herbstreit’s Comments About ‘The U’

A few days back the Miami Herald’s Susan Miller Degnan penned a little perspective piece in the wake of the Hurricanes’ recent loss to the Florida State Seminoles—focused on the sentiments of ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit; always a straight-shooter regarding “The U”.

Unfortunately, with fans still stinging from the loss and remaining divided regarding their sentiments on head coach Al Golden, it’s turned into another “told you so” type piece for the “slurpers” to use against the “haters”, and vice versa.

Herbstreit covered the Miami v. Florida State showdown for ABC with booth partner Chris Fowler and had an up-close-and-personal view of today’s Hurricanes, leaving both impressed and optimistic regarding the future.

A quick summary of his recent thoughts on the Canes:

A belief that sophomore-to-be quarterback Brad Kaaya will be, “one of the faces of the sport” next year and that he’ll lead the Hurricanes back to prominence as early as 2015.

What “prominence” means wasn’t defined, but Herbstreit is a believer. “I’m a huge fan. I’m blown away by the kid,” said the analyst of Kaaya.

In regards to Golden, Herbstreit believes that any notion of the fourth-year head coach being on a proverbial hot seat is “ridiculous”, explained that fixes aren’t made overnight and pointed out the unrealistic view and approach that modern-day fans have.

“Golden is an outstanding coach, a great, I mean great, representative for any university. He handles himself with class. He’s got a great staff. They’ve got a true freshman quarterback and sky’s the limit. If they put one more recruiting class behind what is already on that roster, Miami is so close. And I think anybody that doesn’t recognize that doesn’t watch the game or maybe know the game.”

Herbstreit also touched on today’s fast-paced culture and that need for instant results and gratification:

“Today’s about Twitter, and it’s about people not having a realistic view on things,’’ Herbstreit said. “Nobody wants to realize that Nevin Shapiro, that whole NCAA debacle, that whole dark cloud, was just a couple years ago. You don’t go through Nevin Shapiro and possibly being put on death penalty and probation and years and years of setback and just blink your eyes and say, ‘Well, we’re Miami so we’ve got to win 12 games.’

“It doesn’t happen like that. There’s a process. For every two steps forward, there’s a step back. A couple more steps forward, a step back.’’

This should sit well with the logically-minded folk, but there’s a portion of the fan base that believes Miami should be “back” by now, just because. Because they’ve been down way too long. Because the Canes simply should be better. Because they’re refusing to acknowledge how far off track this thing had gotten and what it’d take to bring it back.

Herbstreit was also quoted as saying, “You don’t want to play Miami next year, I’ll tell you that right now.” That sentiment might be a little too puffed-chest for where this program is at and regarding the quality players it’s about to lose, but it’s easy to understand what he’s suggesting; this is the time to get in your licks on the Canes as this program is certainly trending upwards.

Miami is set to lose nine key seniors and a world-class junior at year’s end (more on that below), so it’s hard to imagine a Florida State shaking in their boots—even in the post-Jameis Winston era. That said, mid-tier ACC programs that have given the Canes fits or snatched some close games in years passed; safe to buy into the notion that those days will soon be far behind.

Herbstreit’s closing thoughts; a be-careful-what-you-wish for sentiment regarding coaching changes. He believed that both James Coley and Mark D’Onofrio should be retained and that Golden is a “great leader”.

While digesting all of that, it should be acknowledged that there’s “commentator speak” in the same way there is coach speak. Still, when it was time to call Miami out in the past, Herbstreit certainly didn’t shy away.

In 2003, after a comeback win over West Virginia, the commentator was quick to call out what he perceived to be an attitude of indifference and players needing to clean it up before the season got away.

During the 2006 season finale—a 17-14 win over Boston College and emotional home game, where the late Bryan Pata was honored—Herbstreit took Miami’s administration to task in regards to sub par facilities, calling for an overdue, necessary upgrade. (“A coat of paint would be a nice start,” said the long-time analyst during the Thursday night broadcast.)

Herbstreit’s candor over the years has earned him credibility that many others in his business don’t have. While many have sided with Golden the pat few years due to his loyalty towards the Miami program (when blindsided by scandal), Herbstreit’s take on things is a bit more multi-dimensional and holds water.

Golden’s accomplishments this season have been buried by three early losses where the Hurricanes didn’t get it done—out-coached in a handful of situations.

At Louisville, a conservative offense was the difference-maker in Kaaya’s first collegiate game. At Nebraska, the defense was unable to stop the run and zero halftime adjustments were implemented. Same to be said for Georgia Tech, where the triple-option kept Miami’s offense off the field and allowed the Yellow Jackets to dictate the pace of the game.

Lost in the frustrated shuffle, the fact that Golden and Miami are getting a lot out of this talented freshman class—the Canes’ first since the NCAA investigation came to a close in October 2013.

Golden also appears 2-for-2 regarding offensive coordinator hires, landing Jedd Fisch out the gate and replacing him last minute with Coley—a recruiting wizard who struggled at times year one calling the shots, but is settling in nicely this season—getting on board when Fisch departed for the NFL almost two years back.

This in itself is certainly not something to take for granted when looking at the past two regimes and the offensive struggles and wasted talent of yesteryear.

Larry Coker never got it right offense-wise after Rob Chudzinski departed late 2003—promoting quarterbacks coach Dan Werner from within and eventually having a mess on his hands with retread Rich Olson and quarterbacks coach Todd Berry battling for supremacy Coker’ final season as head coach.

During the Randy Shannon era, a revolving door with defensive coordinators, but the offense was a mess, as well. Dirk Koetter was targeted early, but bolted for the NFL instead. From there, several rough years with Patrick Nix calling the shots, followed by the stubborn, air-it-out-every-play Mark Whipple.

Miami also struggled to land and develop the next-great-quarterback in that era, too. Kyle Wright had the pedigree, but four offense coordinators / play callers during his tenure aided in the tanking of his collegiate career, while Kirby Freeman was a disaster in his own right.

Robert Marve lacked the character, while Jacory Harris went into a hole after showing early promise, never to return—largely due to Whipple’s preference for the stronger-armed Stephen Morris an a desire to turn Harris into the deep-ball threat that he wasn’t.

None of that even focuses on the ones who got away or chose a different path. Players like Daniel Stegall who chose baseball, Cannon Smith who was in over his head or Taylor Cook, who wound up at Rice as a punter when all was said and done.

All of this should serve as perspective regarding what Kaaya is pulling off year one and this staff’s ability to bring him along week-after-week. Miami has to look back as far as the Ken Dorsey era fifteen years ago to see this type of production from a freshman under center—with Kaaya doing it against top talent while Dorsey only started against Rutgers, Temple and Syracuse in 1999.

While the tone of Herbstreit’s comments were positive regarding the Hurricanes and this staff, it should be noted that he didn’t state that Miami was “back”—which is the key phrase everyone for or against this program is waiting to hear.

Miami is back when it’s consistently winning against beatable division foes, while knocking off arch rivals in big games like the one that took place last weekend—as well as getting back to the point of “reloading” opposed to “rebuilding”.

Fact remains, the Hurricanes saw upwards of 30-plus players depart this program since Golden took over early 2011, so the depth isn’t there. (Since spring 2013 alone, five key linebackers have been kicked off the team.)

Folks in the “haters” category have taken to poking fun of “the cloud” that hovered during the NCAA investigation, diminishing the fact that it drove some top talent elsewhere, while any “death penalty” talk still hadn’t been officially ruled out until last October.

The ripple effect of all of that is real—as is the fact that Miami will say good bye to a handful of key figure this offseason—linebackers Denzel Perryman and Thurston Armbrister, defensive ends Anthony Chickillo and Olsen Pierre, tight end Clive Walford, defensive back Ladarius Gunter, wide receiver Phillip Dorsett and two key offensive linemen in Shane McDermott and Jon Feliciano—not to mention all-everything junior running back Duke Johnson, who is all but gone when weighing the pros and cons of returning. Same to be said for offensive lineman Ereck Flowers, who showed what he’s all about with a dominant performance against Florida State’s Mario Edwards last weekend.

The Hurricanes will again be reliant on another freshman class hitting the ground running, as well as less-experienced talent looking to make a name for itself.

As an informed analyst oft with a thumb on the pulse of the Miami program, Herbstreit understands that. He’s simply betting on Kaaya and Golden to over-deliver in years to come—and as early as next season.

Miami isn’t yet back and we’ll see how much of a “force” the Hurricanes are in 2015—at Florida State, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Clemson, at North Carolina, etc. all on the schedule—but for the first time in a long time, it’s safe to acknowledge that this program is finally turning a corner.

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