What a day. Up at 5am. Headed to The U for football practice by 6. Arrived in Coral Gables just before 7. Watched practice for the allotted fifteen minutes. Noticed some things. Made some notes. Interviewed players and coaches at 9. Media breakfast at 10. Players’ press conference at noon. Al Golden presser at 12:30.
Right about this time the news broke via Dennis Dodd, at my other employer CBSSports.com, that Coach Golden’s agent, Brett Senior, was looking for a new deal. Senior backtracked a bit when talking to Steve Gorten of the Sun-Sentinel and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald, though.
After Golden’s press conference it was on to basketball to interview guard Malcolm Grant and then an open practice for first-year head coach Jim Larranaga and his squad. At 5:30 we had to duck out of practice to talk with Miami AD Shawn Eichorst, who was addressing the media for the first time since the Larranaga hire back in spring.
Shawn is a lawyer and spoke like one. Every answer, well thought out and in reality, not much was said. A smart move for the man leading an athletic department that’s under the gun. Eichorst didn’t want to comment on the CBS Sports report about Golden’s contract, stating that he doesn’t openly talk about personnel or contractual issues. Of course at this point I was too tired to really think about if I agreed with the strategy or not.
It’s just after 10pm and I’ve had a few hours to marinate on the day’s happenings. The only real surprise? The fact it’s taken Senior this long to speak out about a new deal for Coach Golden. Al had no idea about the massive NCAA investigation looming when he took the job. I know some refuse to believe that, but I’ve dug around and asked that question in a lot of circles and truth be told, Golden was completely blindsided. In my mind, that’s unacceptable and the man to blame is sitting in an office somewhere in Lubbock.
Kirby,
So nice to have know you. Thank U for screwing us.
Sincerely,
#CanesFam
I’m sure some looking at Golden’s 4-4 record and are thinking that someone at .500 doesn’t yet deserve a contract extension. Wrong. Some of you aren’t acknowledging what Coach Golden took over — and that was before the self-appointed “Li’l Luke” reared his short, ugly head.
I’ll always have a ton of respect for Randy Shannon, the man. Not because he’s a former Cane, but because of his personal accomplishments. If you truly know Randy’s backstory, you’re hard-pressed not to break down when thinking about what he’s been through and overcome. That said, football-wise, he left the Miami program in a big steaming pile of dung.
Coach Golden is still trying to get his team to practice right, to prepare right and to really do anything right. These Canes have been able to get away with such bad habits for so long that some guys are past that point of no return, unable to be brought back.
I agree with most of what Golden is doing, outside of his Belichickian and Parcellian way of shutting down the media. He’s an amazing guy to talk to and is one of the best orators I’ve ever seen in college sports. He can talk hardcore Xs and Os for days on end and you probably wouldn’t understand the majority of what he’s saying. It’s quite clear his IQ is near MENSA-level and it’d be great to get more access from a coach of his caliber.
Golden and his staff are remarkable and his “process” will pay dividends, eventually. Still, you have to believe that at some point these past few months that he closed that office door and dropped his fair share of f-bombs when realizing the mess he was taking over, courtesy of Randy. Even so, it didn’t truly faze him. He admittedly keeps his head down and plows forward. Golden proved that with Nevingate, not turning away from the circumstances, the questions, the will he / won’t he replace Joe Pa stuff. I don’t believe he’ll turn away from the UM job either. He signed on for this and won’t try to duck the responsibility.
Miami, being a relative small, private school, will always have trouble keeping up with the Joneses. That said, it is time to make that investment in Coach Golden — the man who moved his family and coaching friends to the Gables before knowing anything about the pending Shapiro Madness. Al deserves a raise and an extension and Miami can’t afford to NOT make this happen.
Should Golden reel in $5M like Mack Brown or Nick Saban? No. But he should make something in that $3M range that Jim Grobe reportedly makes at Wake Forest.
If Golden were to high-tail it, who would truly take this Miami job — a gig challenging enough in a regular season, let alone one turned sideways by a former coach and one with pending sanctions, courtesy of a rogue booster?
Give the man a new contract. It’s only eight games into his tenure, but after the roller coaster these past ten months, it’s definitely time.
Pay Golden whatever he wants. If he leaves, Miami football is DEAD!
listen i know there are more things going on recently especially with coach golden but when are you going to write a piece on how coach d’s defensive scheme does not work for this team. You can write all you want about “freelancing” but the truth is his defensive scheme does not work here. His lay back play scared call plays scared and get beat defense doesn’t work at a big school like miami. It may work in the MAC but not here.
He said earlier this season “players first, then plays.” Well with that way of thinking you would believe he would call an attacking defensive game. He would be using these players the way they were supposed to be used. Attacking with the defensive line twisting, stunting, looping and slanting them to get into the backfield. If you watch though they don’t rush past about two yards from the line of scrimmage. They stop and thats not miami defensive football. You would think he would be using guys like spence and futch to blitz the hell out of running backs and qbs, instead we get 5-8 yards off the line and dropping into zones for ten more yards, so our guys are almost twenty yards from the ball. You would think he would have watch some sort of old film on miami dbs and role them up in press coverage. pure miami press coverage. Instead we get 10-12 yards away from recievers and dropping into softer than a babies bottom zones. None of that describes Miami defense we have all grown to love. Its time to listen to the fans and take a side. You guys at allcanes have always been unafraid to speak your minds my question is why so quiet now?
My first Miami game was a loss to virginia tech in 1998. I feel in love with the attacking energy filled defense and the attacking offense led by the Edge, Reggie Wayne, and Santana Moss. This year i have seen scared play calling and i said before that nothing was wrong with last years defense. It just had little chips like when a guy blitzes he needs to blitz his gap not another one. I’ve seen this new coaching staff fix the offense but they have broken our defense. Don’t tell me about process because coaching scared and not using your players correctly is not process. I hope the whole sale changes golden talked about this week mean coach d’s defense because if not we will lose to duke As much as it pains me to say we will lose to duke.Duke loves to be the pain in miami’s ass but this year under this defense might be the year they finally pull through.
I hope im wrong but i don’t see it happening.
Al Golden IS in my opinion worth $ 5 mil, If he stays,this program will be back on top every year! Next year I think the guys playing for him will be more committed to the program.
finish strong Canes!!!!!!!!
“nuff said..U said it all. Show him and thank him.
If the football coach at Wake Forest is getting $3 million for the team he fields, then Golden deserves at least that. It’s time to pay the head coach at Miami like they deserve (no matter who it would be). The football program is the biggest money-maker for the school and the CEO of the football team should be paid like it. The penny pinching needs to stop. It’s about respect. Pay the man. If he leaves then give Butch a call, since we both have baggage and he’s been through sanctions with us before.
I would give Al 3 million and all the profits from the tie tee-shirts. Al is the future of football in Miami.
I love Coach AG as a public persona but, I have to admit, the on the field results are very Shannon-esque. Eleven months in and we are still losing the exact kind of game we would have lost under Shannon (Virginia). I’m losing faith here.
AG might have been left a pile of dung by Shannon but the fact that he can’t do better than Shannon with that same pile of dung is not encouraging. I say forget about new contracts until Jan 1 and make sure he can walk the talk first.
… difference is Randy was losing “those” games year four. Golden has lost a few 2/3 of the way through year one, with Randy’s players. Start judging Al once he has his kids and his system in play, not before. That’s not fair. Any new head coach deserves a few season to get the program going the direction he wants. You can only do so much with another coach’s players — unless Ron Zook was there before and left the cupboard full.
I am with D Scott on this one. Golden benefited because when he got here, he had a seasoned, senior quarterback on offense. He picked an excellent coordinator to help develop that talent. But Jacory is a talented quarterback. He will end up in the top five in TD stats in UM history, and that is not shabby when the history includes guys like Kosar, Testeverde, Dorsey, Kelly, Mira, Walsh, Erickson, Berlin and Marve (j/k). The point is a senior, four year starting quarterback (basically) is an extremely valuable asset. The cupboard was not bare like when Randy took over. I don’t think Randy would have been worse than 4-4 with the schedule. So, as much as I like Al and how well he communicates to the public, I am not ready to say 2 million a year is being underpaid based upon the performance so far.
While the offense has improved in 2011, the defense has regressed in a manner unbefitting this program. I disagree with Al that this is a player issue. This is a scheme issue. Sell out blitzes on a 3rd and one when the other team is at their own 25 and the play goes for 50 yards when you have a lead in a close game (Kansas State) is not smart football. Unnecessary sell out blitzes against Virginia in the first half when the quarterback had yet to prove he could sustain a drive against your base defense is unacceptable. Yes, Ray Ray made bad decisions on the plays but you don’t expose the defense like that.
Al has proven he is an exceptional special teams coach. And like, JJ, that is a third of the game. But why the block attempt against Virginia, and the unnecessary gamble against VT when points were available on the road. And how do the guys give up the fake against Virginia?
I give Al Golden an A+ for media relations. I think his coaching is a solid B- right now. I think he has earned his 2 million but I wouldn’t give him a dime more at this point.