The Beast : Orange & Green Wave

I had the pleasure of talking with deputy athletic director Tony Hernandez the other night after the basketball press conference. We discussed the surreal turn of events over the past six months and all that has drastically changed the face of the University of Miami’s athletic department.

In less than half a year, ‘The U’ now has a new athletic director, a new football coach and new basketball coach and after covering collegiate athletic just shy of two decades now, I can’t recall when I’ve ever seen anything like this.

Regarding where UM stood, I think we can all agree that in this case change was both good – and necessary.

New director of athletics Shawn Eichorst keeps preaching that he values people who are positive. Eichorst is a positive-thinking guy and you get the sense that those things which have kept this fan base down and out are the types of things he’s motivated to find solutions for.

You listen to Al Golden, Jim Larranaga, Katie Meier and every other coach on UM’s campus and you get the feeling that they either have – or adopted – this same mindset.

I know that neither Golden or Larranaga have coached a game yet, as well as the fact that as fans we’re all in honeymoon mode right now, but I personally have a renewed sense of pride in ‘The U’. All the recent changes have given us a clean Orange & Green slate.

We can finally forget about all the blunders that Randy Shannon made. We can forget how this men’s basketball program underachieved the past few years under Frank Haith. We can move past any administrative snafus made when Kirby Hocutt was in charge. This is one of those rare occasions where as fans, as a university and an athletic department, we’re able to hit the ‘reset’ button and start fresh.

Someone I’m close to – a “friend of the program” – called me on Sunday, thanking me for wishing him and his family a Happy Easter. As we spoke, he asked me to give him the pulse of Hurricane Nation, to which I responded with a, “pretty pretty pretty good”. His response? “What if Miami loses to Maryland on Labor Day night?”

Should the Canes fall to the Terps, then what? Will it be normal Canes fan mode where everyone panics and loses their min after a loss? I hope not, but we’ll see.

With a new AD preaching a positive mindset and working to turn thing around, can we as fans learn to start taking things in stride? No one is ever happy after a loss and we always have the right to question the decisions by coaches and administrators, but when do people start seeing the glass as ‘half full’ instead of ‘half empty’?

I’m as guilty as anyone that has ever donned a Canes t-shirt. My Bostonian cynicism has me questioning everything in the sports world, but over the past several years I’ve learned how physically draining that can be.

Simply put; how much more productive would could all our lives be if we didn’t spend days on end internally ripping the decision to kick a field goal on fourth down instead of picking up the first?

This isn’t a case of Beast wearing his orange and green goggles too tight. I’m simply trying to bring some perspective and I personally see all this change as our chance to rewire our brains a bit. After all, this whole sports things is supposed to be ‘fun’.

QUESTION I DON’T HAVE AN ANSWER FOR

I commented on it last week and I’m still thinking about it now. How was there such a lack of media attention with the hiring of a new athletic director at the University of Miami? No columnists, TV anchors or radio hosts (other than the QAM broadcast crew) were there to greet Shawn Eichorst. If the Miami Dolphins name a new GM, you can imagine that wouldn’t be the case.

Beyond that, as news broke that Jim Larranaga would be Miami’s new basketball coach, I turned on local radio to hear what was being said. I wanted some deep analysis. I’m not going to lie; I really hadn’t studied the ‘scramble’ defense and wanted to hear what the experts had to say. I got nothing outside of Dan LeBatard giving the story a few minutes and Sid Rosenberg venting that he didn’t get the coach on as a guest.

We have four sports stations in this big-time sports town and nobody was talking about the University of Miami hiring a proven winner as its new men’s basketball coach. What does this say?

Has Miami fallen completely off the radar in everything but football? Is sports talk radio choosing to ignore ‘The U’? Do we blame UM for not doing enough outreach with the local media? Again, I don’t know but this might be a good time for Miami’s athletic department to hold a big media soiree.

I know associate athletic director Chris Freet and his staff do a great job getting all the coaches on air, but that’s not the same as face-to-face time and meeting in-person.

Why not pick a Saturday in August before football season kicks off and have a big media get together with the entire athletic department and all UM’s coaches. Get this program back on equal footing with the rest of the teams and franchises in this town.

Anyone else have some thoughts on this matter? If so, email me or post them on our Twitter or Facebook pages and we’ll figure out a way to get those feelings heard.

IN OTHERS NEWS : If you live in-state but outside South Florida, the month of May is just for you. The Hurricanes spring tour will be underway. Coach Golden (and from what I hear, Coach Larranaga) will be heading out to Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and the West Coast to meet all of you.

Don’t miss a chance to shake hands with our newest coaches. I’m telling you, you won’t forget the experience. I’m hoping to tag a long with Harry Rothwell, who will be bringing an allCanes mobile experience to each event.

I look forward to catching up with UM fans statewide as an Orange & Green wave crests through the Sunshine State.

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