Al Golden Relieved Of His Duties Immediately

As unthinkable as Saturday’s worst loss in the history of the University of Miami’s rich football history was—the second half of the did-that-really-just-happen one-two punch was delivered Sunday afternoon.

The U has officially parted ways with fifth-year head coach Al Golden. Golden assembled a 32-25 record over the past four-plus years; his era coming to a thud by way of a 58-0 loss to the sixth-ranked Clemson Tigers at Sun Life Stadium.

The news broke around 6:30 p.m. ET after social media burned up all day regarding a late afternoon Board of Trustees meeting. Skepticism was understandably in the air as loss after loss seem to always breed a plethora of “insider information” type scoop; rumors of these type of emergency sit-downs taking place.

Five years ago the rumor mill was in full force with Jon Gruden chatter. Done deal. Players notified. Tail numbers for private jets and Chuckie’s family seeking real estate in the South Florida region.

None of that came to fruition and bottomed-out in epic, ugly fashion. This time around, it’s all true. Golden is gone, Scott is your interim head coach and the University of Miami will have a new leader for the 2016 season.

Money talk seemed to be the biggest hurdle; rumors of a $2M differential if the Canes let Golden go after December 1st—as he’d have been entering the sixth year of his contract and would’ve officially been in the extension phase, lowering the cost of the buyout.

For those who witnessed Golden’s press conference on Saturday afternoon, or head-downs singing of the alma mater post-game, it was the ultimate sign of a completely defeated man. Someone who did his best, gave it all he could, yet still couldn’t find the necessary answers or solutions to this unsolvable puzzle.

If one had to guess how the past 24 hours played out, it most-likely began with Golden’s admission to himself that he’d never get things right at “The U”. Suffering a loss of that magnitude five years into this process; one simply doesn’t come back from something that catastrophic.

Last night and today probably had Golden’s agent Adam Senior and Miami’s top brass in negotiations—figuring out the best way to sever ties, knowing that the next five weeks would’ve been utterly unbearable for all parties.

Can anyone imagine Golden’s painful call-in to the Joe Rose Show each of the next six Monday mornings? Mid-week coaching shows? Saturday evening pressers after more losses piled up? It’d have been the textbook definition of excruciating—times a thousand.

This was simply a matter of stopping the bleeding, the noise, the banners, the negativity and overall aggression. In the matter of a weekend, what felt like an ongoing funeral immediately shifted towards a rebirth.

Going back to January 6th, 2014, a visibly-rattled Golden stood up in front of the media for the first time since Miami was shellacked by Louisville in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

As bad as it was going to be to face the music after that embarrassing loss, it was about to get even worse as the past 48 hours produced non-stop rumors about Golden bailing Miami for Penn State.

Had things gone according to plan, Golden would’ve been on a flight to Happy Valley that Monday morning. Instead, he approached the podium dead-eyed, rattled off statistics in regards to a 9-4 season—where the Canes started out 7-0 and dropped four of their final six—and emphatically made it clear that no staff changes were on the horizon.

Golden stuck to his guns and was either going to do it his way or go down with the ship. Almost 23 months later, that vessel has officially capsized.

There will be more to say on this in the coming days, weeks and months, but for now the new simply has to be processed. Late yesterday athletic director Blake James stated that there would be no mid-season firing and that Golden would be retained.

That, coupled with the longtime narrative that cash-strapped Miami could ill-afford the buyout—and had a chance to save money but sitting tight another five weeks—had a mid-season firing feeling like a bigger long-shot than the Canes coming back from a 21-0 first quarter deficit to the Tigers yesterday.

It’s over. Regarding Golden the coach; a victory for the University of Miami. Regarding Golden the man; it’s bittersweet and will be discussed over the coming days in post-mortem fashion.

Golden’s on-the-field success—and lack thereof—is certainly measurable and deserved this type of ending. Especially after the Clemson debacle.

This was a man in over his head, who attempted to embrace the culture, but still clung too tightly to his process, core values and teachings embraced at both Penn State and Virginia—two universities that couldn’t be more different than “The U”.

That being said, this is also a husband. A father. A brother. A friend. A mentor. A boss. An employee. A human being.

Al Golden poured his everything into the University of Miami. He was a tireless worker. His heart was in the right place. He wanted to succeed. He took no shortcuts.

Glad as many are to see him go; lest not forget that when the “Shapirogate” bomb dropped in August 2011—the masses feared he would leave, prayed he would stay and were thankful for his efforts regarding cleaning up a mess and paying for sins he didn’t commit.

While those 25 losses will define Golden’s ultimate legacy at Miami—he also deserves to be remembered as a guy who gave his all and got his hands dirty when others would’ve left for greener pastures one season in.

Best wishes to the Golden tribe. May they land on their feet and find a more suitable place to call home. Thank you Al, for doing the best you could. Sincerely. It was never personal. The Canes have simply been down for too long and its time to win again—and win big.

All of that said, let’s get the hell busy rebuilding this proud, distinguished and broken University of Miami football program.

It’s still is—and will forever be—a Canes thing…

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