The Beast : Day In The Life At ‘The U’

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.

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