Nature of The Beast, from The Beast

Insanity. Circus. S#!tfest.

All describe what’s been going on the past 72 hours and I’ll be honest; we’re just as much a part of it as everyone else, so let me start by stating what I do know:

I’ve been around ‘The U’ for a good sixteen years, so to say that “I know people” is a gross understatement. On the other hand, most of the people I know I consider friends, not ‘sources’.

When I have conversations with my friends, they tell me things and most of the time I use that information to be a better writer and radio host. I’m not in the business to ‘break stories’, though like anyone in this business I enjoy the chaos and adrenaline rush that comes along with the process. That said, I’d rather comment on it than be a part of it.

Because of that, I purposely don’t put my friends in awkward positions by calling them and asking them about what’s going on. There’s no ego that causes me to do that.

Over the past few days people have come to me with stuff and told me it was alright if I used it, so I have and as of know we do know – Jon Gruden is the top choice on UM’s “list” and that the search will take more than 72 hours.

Even IF both Miami and Gruden reached an understanding, it is absolutely in the best interest of athletic director Kirby Hocutt and the University of Miami to do their due diligence and conduct more than one interview.

You never want to be without a back up play and should there be some last-second glitch, you don’t want to be in a position where you only interviewed one person and lost precious time. That’d be disastrous.

Could there a press conference tomorrow to announce a new head coach? Sure. But that could just as easily be a week from now, too.

I was told at last night’s men’s basketball game (Miami beat Ole Miss, 86-73) that in all reality, maybe only a handful of people truly know the ins and outs of what’s going on. Probably only one or two people at Hecht, aside from Kirby, who know the specific details of this search.

Problem with this school and every other university out there is you have all these people – be it donors, Board of Trustees members, mid-level staffers or ‘friends of the program’ – who feel empowered when they share information.

Do they actually know something? Sure, sometimes. Maybe they know one little piece of the puzzle, but in all reality only a handful know the whole story, yet share news as if they do.

The other part of this; intentional misinformation.

Because we now live in a world where every thought is Tweeted before it’s processed, “sources” know they have the ability to shape a story every time they share something with someone.

I hate to say this, but I think a huge percentage of people are being used by their sources. Right now you have just as many people reporting that ‘Gruden to Miami’ is a done deal as you have people giving it a ‘zero percent chance’ of happening.

Somewhere in the middle you’ll find the truth, which to date probably hasn’t fully been reported yet.

How as fans and alum should we handle all this? It’s absolutely impossible to ignore, so start with the premise that you take everything with a grain of salt. Don’t allow yourself to get too high or too low. Until Gruden officially says, “thanks, but no thanks”, then he’s still in the mix, despite some of today’s doom and gloom reporting.

On the other end of the spectrum, until I get an email from UM telling me to be on campus for a press conference, nothing should be referred to as a ‘done deal’.

This has been crazy, but it will sort itself out. In the process, do remember that there will be members of the media whose credibility will go up in flames because of their handling of this story. My best advice from this point on, stay on the sidelines and watch the burning embers.

IN OTHER NEWS: Don’t forget, we have another special edition of allCanes Radio tonight at 7pm ET and we’ll be live from allCanes, in Coral Gables. Tweet us your questions as me special co-host for the night, Harry Rothwell and I will take ’em down one by one. We’re available via Twitter, Facebook or email. Fire away.

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