Modern day head coaches; careful what you wish for

An interesting month on the college football coaching front. For those quick to piss and moan about the situation in Miami, let the reality of some other schools’ situations sink in. Most of you aren’t thankful for 9-4, instead choosing to vent at any given moment. Hopefully the current state of the college coaching carousel will give you some perspective.

No charm in being Tennessee right now, is there? A year ago this time, high on all things Lane Kiffin. A year later, trying to feign excitement over the start of the Derek Dooley era.

Dooley deserves his fair shake, but this was supposed to be year two for Kiffin; rather pivotal regarding the rebuilding process.

A combined 12-21 at Oakland and Tennessee, Kiffin hasn’t proven much… yet. Another one-year career as he’s USC-bound, leaving the Vols high and dry. The expectations will be lower year one in LA than year two in Knoxville. As a young coach, is it untapped potential ready to bloom, or a disloyal jobhopper given too much too soon, ripe for a fall?

Time will tell… and with all that, welcome back to LA.

USC dominated the last decade like no other. A two-loss season and Rose Bowl win were status quo. Toss in 1.5 titles, some top flight recruiting and all courtesy of the do-no-wrong Pete Carroll. His NFL coaching career a bust, Carroll had supposedly “found his niche” with the college game. King of Troy. Living the dream.

Carroll’s had several chances to jump back to the bigs, declining every time, feeling USC was his perfect utopia.

Then the NCAA came calling.

Sanctions looming. A four-loss season. The reemergence of some once-down Pac-10 foes. Colossal beatdowns courtesy of Oregon and Stanford. A drop off in talent and development since losing key assistants like Kiffin, Norm Chow, Steve Sarkasian and others. The Trojans lost some luster and oh yeah, a hammer is about to be dropped regarding sanctions. The wins obviously came, but at what price? We’ll soon find out.

Enter, Lane. The quick-fix. Save this year’s class, rally the troops, keep the Trojans afloat and when the NCAA makes it official, head for the hills, Kiffin-five-thou.

Tennessee and Southern Cal, both are facing great unknowns. As is Michigan in the Rich Rodriguez era. Powerhouse program going against their traditional brand of ball with a modern era coach. Nebraska went through it with with Bill Callahan, before turning the keys over to one of their own – former assistant Bo Pelini – a one-year defensive coordinator (2003) who spent the past few years at LSU and has since revitalized the Huskers.

Texas Tech also faces a great unknown in the post-Mike Leach era. Leach was a hot name amongst Miami fans the past few years, believing he was a better prospect than Randy Shannon. Leach’s gimmicky offense earned him 9-4, 11-2 and 9-4 run in Lubbock since Shannon took over at The U. High-octane offense, Swiss cheese defense. Not exactly UM’s recipe for success the past few decades.

Questions have since arisen in regards to Leach’s high-octane temper, fired for allegedly locking wide out Adam James in a closet after a concussion. Leach says the accusations are false, stating that Tech booted him in an effort to stick it to him regarding his contract and bonus money.

Regardless, the soap opera plays out on national television – picked apart by “TMZ-SPN” every hour on the hour. A public relations nightmare, in the middle of recruiting season. Tommy Tuberville is headed to town to clean up the mess, instilling his brand of defense, which could be good but is no guarantee.

Tubbs peaked with a 13-0 season in 2004 while coaching Auburn. He followed up with 9-3, 11-2, 9-4 and 5-7. During that skid, offensive woes and an inability to reel in the right offensive coordinator, which eventually brought on his demise.

I marvel at the Cane-loving, Tuberville-backing contingent who are quick to ignore a three, four and seven-loss season, clamoring for the former Miami assistant to return.

Shannon inherits a dog of a program, improves each of this three years at the helm, yet some want to run him out of town. Tuberville turned 13-0 into 5-7 within five seasons, yet he’s the one that got away?

Many claim Shannon is too stoic, never showing enough emotion for the masses. What about the hard-ass approach so many loved in the fiery Jim Leavitt? The long-time South Florida coach was canned a few weeks back for smacking up one of his players at halftime. Way to keep those emotions in check, coach. Stay classy, Bulls.

Was the Leavitt firing part of the windfall regarding Leach’s abuse charges? Sure. No way USF could justify keeping Leavitt once Leach was canned.

The Bulls scrambled last minute to hire Skip Holtz, but in the process took a PR hit – pardon the pun. Leavitt was getting it done as a coach, he just blew it as CEO. Don’t rough up the employees. It’ll cost you.

Meanwhile, it’s business as usual down at Miami. Out of the headlines and game on regarding the off-season recruiting process. It’s not the star-heavy class the premium site subscribing, recruiting fanatics were hoping for – but voids are being filled. Especially at offensive line, where the Canes were embarrassed in the bowl game.

Miami 1991 and 2001 won titles behind two of the program’s strongest o-lines. The Canes lost the 1992 and 2002 championships because of lesser lines.

All the skills players in the world don’t mean squat if your line can’t buy your quarterback time. Beef up, Miami.

Randy’s rallying cry two years back was a promise of early playing time – and it earned him the top-ranked class in the nation, on the heels of 5-7.

The on again, off again Urban Meyer is reeling in big time classes because of two titles the past four seasons. Nick Saban will do the same after earning another ring. As will Texas. As will Ohio State. As will other major players who haven’t dropped off lately.

UM has to work it’s way back to the top one kid at time. At this phase of the game, you’ll lose a Louis Nix and roll the dice on a Delmar Taylor. When a Javarie Johnson doesn’t have the grades and stays closer to home, you take a shot on a Kelvin Cain.

Ed Reed came in a two-star prospect that chose Miami over Tulane. Reed grew up loving the Noles, but Florida State didn’t give him a look. Santana Moss came in on a track scholarship. Thought to be too small, few were looking at the pint-sized wide out. Joaquin Gonzalez earned an academic scholarship and stick with the hometown Canes instead of trekking to Harvard.

Conversely, kids like Kyle Wright, Lance Leggett, Willie Williams and Ryan Moore all brought five-star ratings to Coral Gables, but never panned out.

Amazing the different breed of player you get when on top versus on your way back up. Kids were lining up to come to Miami in ’02 and ’03, wanting to benefit from the hard work of some previous Canes, en route to the NFL.

Put more faith in a staff’s ability to evaluate talent than the opinion of some writer from a subscription-based site, trying to drum up hype. Recruiting is big business, so stars and rankings are tinkered with, in an effort to get people talking and to justify subscriptions charges.

Shannon has the blueprint. He learned from Jimmy and Butch. Recruiting at Miami is a different type of monster. Have faith in the process. Just because Rivals and Scout aren’t hyping a few Hurricane recruits, doesn’t mean these kids aren’t a good fit and won’t make an impact.

Adewale Ojomo was an unheralded three-star prospect that only garnered attention from a half dozen average schools. A few years later, he’s arguably one of Miami’s best down lineman and his efforts were sorely missed in ’09. Who’s to say Taylor or Cain don’t have a similar career path?

All that aside, take a moment to appreciate the class, conviction and character of Miami’s current staff, which starts and Shannon and trickles all the way down. Look at the nationwide drama this past month at several programs and give thanks that it’s been business as usual at The U. We’re learning year after year that nothing should be taken for granted.

Signing Day is two weeks out and it’s time for Shannon and staff to close strong. Former recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt is Louisville-bound, but the rest of the staff is rallying and looking to set up some final visits. Shannon is coast to coast right now, shaking hands and selling families on the program. Again, have faith.

See where this winds up two Wednesdays from now. There are still some solid kids with Miami still in the running. Close.

Needs are being met, the staff is getting an upgrade and with solid conditioning this off-season, the Canes will be ready come September.

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