Revisiting The Golden Extension

It’s been just over a week since Al Golden reaffirmed his commitment to the University of Miami and as you look across the college football landscape, stability is more important than ever and this fan base should be breathing a sigh of relief.

This game remains both frustrating and ever-changing. Traditional powerhouses are no longer the elite, with lesser schools putting more money into their athletic departments and big time TV contracts paving the way to parity.

Great news for the newbies, but a definite blow for, say, a program with five national championships over the past few decades, but struggling to gain traction since.

We’re now living in a world where Oklahoma State knocks off Oklahoma for the Big XII title and once-lowly Baylor and a Heisman-candidate at quarterback beat up on rival Texas.

Wisconsin and Michigan State are the toast of the Big Ten while Ohio State is home licking its wounds, and Southern Miss upsets previously undefeated Houston to keep the Cougars from crashing the BCS party, making way for a Boise State or a quality at-large to potentially play in a major bowl.

And that was just Championship Saturday.

Just over a week ago, many were on pins and needles regarding Golden’s fate. Did he consider Penn State his dream gig and would he bail Miami to resurrect his alma mater, or did he mean what he said upon descending on Coral Gables last December and calling ‘The U’ a “destination job”?

Since then the Nittany Lions are said to have turned their focus to Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, 20-17 over three years in Starkville and fresh of a 6-6 season with the Bulldogs.

This is mighty Penn State’s top candidate as we speak; a new, first-time head coach with a weak resume. Why? Because options are truly limited.

Meanwhile Golden’s name is being thrown around La La Land as UCLA has both he and Houston’s Kevin Sumlin targeted as the replacement for the underwhelming, overrated and recently canned Rick Neuheisel.

As of Sunday it’s been stated (yet unconfirmed) that Golden has again removed himself from consideration for the Bruins opening, while Sumlin remains the toast of the town, being or having recently been courted by UCLA, Arizona State and Texas A&M, with the Aggies appearing the be the leader in the clubhouse.

Coaches like Golden and Sumlin are being treated like Nick Saban and Bob Stoops right now as programs in-repair are looking to land a quality up-and-comer, putting them back on a path to better days.

For those not sold on Golden, so be it. Winning is the only thing that will change your mind, so it’s not even worth the debate or trying to sell you, as you have those who choose to buy-in.

We’ve heard the argument. You discount what he did at Temple, ignoring a 3-31 turnaround, a bowl game berth (third in program’s history) and posting back-to-back 9-4 and 8-4 seasons before turning it over to Steve Addazio, who also went 8-4 this year with Golden’s squad and is again slated to go bowling this post-season.

You also point to 6-6 year one at Miami, arguing that a .500 season doesn’t deserve to be “rewarded”, instead of acknowledging that this was arguably the most tumultuous season in recent history with a new staff being put in place, dismissals of players who didn’t fit the program, a culture change, a bombshell of a scandal, an NCAA investigation, suspensions, injuries and a first-year coach trying to make something out of nothing, taking over a 7-6 squad that sent eight players to the pros in April’s NFL Draft.

There is some merit in the points you make, but both pale in comparison to the bigger picture. It’s not about what Golden has done, but what he truly has the potential to do.

There’s a reason Golden’s name is being mentioned by other big time programs — something Miami hasn’t seen since Butch Davis was in charge. There’s also UM’s track record with some bad coaching hires and poor financial decisions in the negotiating process.

Miami’s failures in the past, coupled with the current landscape and lack of legitimate candidates make this Golden hire have to stick even more.

Honestly, after a decade of mediocrity and irrelevance, where does this program truly go should Golden leave? Coaches weren’t necessarily kicking down the door to take over in 2006 or 2010. Do you expect things to be any better two months shy of Signing Day 2012, on the heels of 6-6 and a 41-35 run over the past five years?

There’s something bigger happening going on here, as well as across the nation. Bigger that one season and bigger than just one program.

There’s a battle to capture the flag and to get to the top of the mountain that is college football. To get to that place where an Alabama or LSU resides.

Many traditional powers have taken a step back thanks to both parity and the cyclical nature of the college game. Texas. Ohio State. Florida. Southern Cal. All programs with national titles this past decade and all programs attempting to get back to where they once were, which is anything but a guarantee these days.

Urban Meyer is headed to Columbus, looking to replicate what he did in Gainesville, winning two titles in three seasons. The bar will be set ridiculously high, with overzealous Buckeye fans failing to realize (1) that Urban won his first ring with players recruiting by predecessor – and recently fired Illinois head coach – Ron Zook and (2) that a once-in-a-lifetime quarterback-fullback hybrid willed his squad to title number two.

And in that process Meyer was driven to the brink of retirement – twice – courtesy of health issues and anxiety attacks. He bailed after his squad went 8-5 and the team he assembled went 6-6 this year, as did the Ohio State squad he’ll take over.

Welcome back to big time college football, Coach. It ain’t a Tebow-friendly world anymore.

Meanwhile, Will Muschamp, the new head honcho at Florida and spent year one looking more like a chump (and a chimp) than a champ.

A former golden boy, ‘next big thing’ and coach-in-waiting at Texas, Muschamp had a .500 squad year one at Florida, decimated by Alabama and LSU, but also falling to Auburn, Georgia and both South Carolina and Florida State, who Meyer owned when in charge.

Florida even struggled with lowly Furman, needing to overcome a 22-7 first quarter deficit and a five-point fourth quarter lead. That’s how much the once-mighty have fallen.

Over in Tallahassee, second-year head coach Jimbo Fisher got his first taste of lofty expectations as the Seminoles were a pre-season top five and national championship darkhorse.

Instead, Florida State wound up 8-4, with embarrassing losses to Wake Forest and Virginia, while only mustering up 95 yards of total offense against rival Florida, in a game where defense and special teams paved the way to a lackluster victory.

Next up, Notre Dame and the Citrus Bowl for a team making BCS plans back in August. Instead Clemson took their spot in the conference title game and will now head to the Orange Bowl as ACC Champions.

The days of expecting success and believing that yesterday’s legacy has anything to do with the here and now, long freakin’ gone and never to be seen again.

The college football world doesn’t care that Miami, Florida and Florida State have ten combined championships between 1983 and 2008 and dominated the landscape for upwards of three decades.

All three teams end the season unranked and combined for sixteen losses this season. The Sunshine State is an afterthought, while teams like Oregon, Stanford and Oklahoma State are current flavors of the month. That’s the college football world we’re living in as 2011 winds down.

Miami thought itself invincible after its run between 2000 and 2003, where 11-2 and an Orange Bowl was a “down” year after a combined 35-2 record and two title games the three previous seasons.

Southern Cal felt the same after a stellar run between 2002 and 2005, winning one-and-a-half titles, living in a BCS world and posting a 48-4 record over that four-year run.

Florida pulled off two titles and a 48-7 run between 2006 and 2009, but like the other aforementioned programs, eventually reached a pinnacle and began the quick descent the other side.

Everyone ebbs and flows. Even LSU, undefeated this season and 11-2 in 2010. Before that, 8-5 and 9-4 back-to-back seasons on the heels of a 2007 championship. The year after winning it all in 2003, the Tigers were 9-3 in 2004.

Bob Stoops, thirteen years at Oklahoma and entering this season with legit national title aspirations, fell to 9-3, ending with a loss to Oklahoma State this past weekend – it’s first in nine tries. The Sooner were throttled in the Big XII title game, 44-10 and also fell to Texas Tech and Baylor this season.

Stoops hasn’t brought home hardware in over a decade and “Big Game Bob” has come up short many a time on the biggest stages, either in conference title games or the post-season, going 3-5 in BCS games and leaving three national titles on the field.

In Tuscaloosa, a run that everyone aspires to as Coach Saban has worked miracles since going 7-6 year one. From there, a 47-6 run, a national title and most-likely headed back to the big one this year, too.

It’s the kind of run all programs hopes for, but it cannot be the benchmark — expecting your coach to accomplish near perfection, or your university to elevate your football program above everything else in-state.

Alabama is does everything right on the field, but behind the scenes, a university that will turn a blind eye, boosters who make Nevin Shapiro and his antics look like a blip on a radar. Only difference, they’ll be buried in Crimson Tide coffins and would die before speaking ill about their beloved program, meaning Alabama will forever skate.

Throw Alabama out the window. They’re not to be modeled. They’re an aberration and represent much of what’s wrong with the college game. Best coach, big money, overzealous boosters, cash for talented recruits and an administration that wants to win more than graduating players. It’s Tuscaloosa’s version of a NFL franchise and so be it.

LSU is no different, either, with the only difference being Saban versus the good-but-not-as-great, Les Miles. There’s a reason these two are head and shoulders above the rest. The best programs money can buy.

When trying to make sense of this game, toss Alabama and LSU out of your argument. They ruin the curve for everyone else and operate on a different plane, by a different set of rules; their own.

It’s time to start living in the now. Long gone is that tired rant about Miami only playing for a national championship or it’s a wasted season. There’s one undefeated football team this year. Four quality teams have one loss while eight have two losses and two three-loss teams are headed to the BCS.

No, unfortunately in 2011 it’s a flawed system and a much different ball game than Hurricane fans saw in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. In this day and age it’s about national relevance, conference title game berths, reaching the BCS and hoping for a title shot, at best.

LSU and Alabama will play for it all this year, while Oklahoma State, Stanford and Boise State will all complain that as other one-loss teams, they could lay claim to Alabama’s spot. Especially the Cowboys, who would benefit from a plus-one model.

Conversely, two-loss teams like Oregon, Arkansas and Kansas State will wonder how far into the post-season they’d go if there were indeed an eight-game playoff.

This broken system put the two top dogs in the National Championship game, while littering the rest of the BCS with bogus match ups.

No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Stanford is a great Fiesta Bowl match-up, but how do you explain a two-loss, No. 11 Virginia Tech team taking on a two-loss, No. 13 Michigan squad in the Sugar Bowl, while No. 6 Arkansas, No. 7 Boise State, No. 8 Kansas State and No. 9 South Carolina are all relegated to lesser bowls.

It’s become a system that rewards traveling fans who spend big dollars more than the kids who busted their asses and deserve their moment in the sun.

The days of considering it a failure if Miami doesn’t reach a national title game a few times per decade, again, based on what? Where does that sense of entitlement fit into the modern era of college football?

Stick a fork in that attitude because it’s as dead as Oklahoma State’s title chances.

There are few great coaches in today’s game. Once you throw out Saban and Miles, what’s left? Look at your top teams. Go down the list after those two. David Shaw. Chip Kelly. Bobby Petrino. Bill Synder. Steve Spurrier. Frank Beamer. Mark Richt. Dabo Sweeney. Some quality guys, but nobody that would have you bouncing off the walls if they were headed to Coral Gables next season.

There are some up and comers and quality guys out there, but they’re staying put. Chris Peterson at Boise State. Bret Bielema at Wisconsin. Brady Hoke at Michigan. Stoops at OU. Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Gary Patterson at TCU. Bo Pelini at Nebraska. Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. There will be athletic directors nationwide that make plays at some of these guys, but none are going to budge.

When you put it all under a microscope, honestly, how is Miami going to do better than Golden right here and right now and for those who disagree, who is truly a viable, logical and available candidate who’d want in? Enlighten us.

The college football world is looking for the ‘next big thing’. It appeared to have it in former Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh, but he took his talents to the NFL and San Francisco is thriving as a result. Prior to him it was Pete Carroll, who ran from Troy as is burned, with allegations and sanctions mounting.

Other than those two, the NFL has been recycling its own instead of looking to the college game to poach a guy on the rise. There simply aren’t a slew of great coaches at the elite level and the best in the game, Saban, went 15-17 in two seasons in his short-lived NFL stint with Miami.

Timing is everything. It was timing that cost Randy Shannon his job and timing that opened up an opportunity for the right guy at ‘The U’.

It was timing that gave Golden the gut feeling it was time to leave Temple and timing that allowed Kirby Hocutt to make these key decisions in a small window before bolting to Texas Tech.

It was also timing that brought Sharpiogate to the forefront when it happened, as well as a much uglier scandal at Penn State, both of which impacted Golden’s mindset and brought some perspective to his decision-making process.

Coach Golden has a game plan, a style and a clear vision for how to resurrect the Miami program, but again, use caution when setting aspirations to where ‘The U’ should reside in the present day.

Entering this new decade, it’s about becoming relevant again. It’s about having a team full of quality kids who have all bought in.

It’s about being well-conditioned.

It’s about true competition at every position.

It’s about a coaching staff that’s dialed into the community, keeping the best talent home and helping these kids grow and develop every year. The days of freshman mistakes as seniors – that has to end now.

Reverse engineer this process. Don’t talk about how Miami “needs” to be in the championship picture again. Focus on what it will take to get there and ask yourself in Coach Golden has those traits and qualities a head coach needs to pull off that coup.

Build a good team. Get back in contention conference-wise. Win the games you’re supposed to win (and win a few you’re not). From there, watch it go. – C.B.

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