The Beast : Patience

Where’s Axl Rose when you need him? Someone cue Slash on the acoustic guitar. Miami Faithful need to slow it down a bit after the big win against Georgia Tech. I don’t want to sound like I’m coming down from the mountain with the tablets, but we all need to learn a lesson here.

In the world of social networking, blogs, message boards and other instant response mechanisms, we’ve become so short on patience. We tend to live in the now as opposed to looking at the bigger picture. I don’t want to sit here and tell you that I’m any different. However, in this case, I had a feeling.

It’s happened twice this year. The #CanesFam has gone off the deep end about something, only to regain logic after seeing a situation improve.

It started with Jacory Harris. We all had a lot of information about Harris from these past few years and many were certain that Stephen Morris should be the 2011 starter. Despite all the reports that Harris was way ahead of Morris, despite Al Golden saying the same thing, fans felt they knew better and made it known that Harris wasn’t earning their support.

Interceptions against Ohio State and Kansas State fueled the anti-Harris hype, but over the past few games Jacory has settled in under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch and is looking like a completely different quarterback. A matter of fact, many of us probably owe the kid apology for booing him as if he were a former Gator being honored at our home stadium.

Most recently fan frustration was pointed at defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio and a majority of this fan base feeling the first-year Miami coach had no clue what he was doing. Riiiight. A guy who had Temple’s defense (Temple!) ranked high in several national categories, somehow forgot to coach.

Seven games in look at what happens when guys start to understand the system they’re playing. You get a game against Georgia Tech where Miami holds the Yellow Jackets under 200 yards rushing. The same Ramblin’ Wreck that had over 600 yards against Kansas earlier in the year.

You don’t want to read too much into one game but when you’re seeing improvement week-to-week and are seeing players responding, you have to take notice.

Anytime there’s a new coaching staff it takes time to get things going. Add to that the suspensions, injuries and roster management that Coach Golden and staff had to deal with and the job they’ve done this season has been nothing short of remarkable. The Golden-led Canes aren’t perfect and there are certainly some areas for improvement, but regarding the bigger picture this program is on the right track. As Miami grows and gets better, it comes back to that one word – patience.

This was never a national championship-type season after 7-6 last year, leading to so many fired coaches. Things still might get worse before they get better as there’s the NCAA investigation looming in the distance.

That being the case, take a step back, take a deep breathe and enjoy the present. UM is moving in the right direction and this Thursday is another step in the journey. Miami takes on Virginia a few days from now and while this will be another nationally-televised ESPN match up, let this be another rallying cry to get all Canes to Sun Life, giving UM a true homefield advantage against a team that helped derail the 2010 season.

Remember, for all of us who complained about the Dolphins honoring the Florida Gator at our stadium this past weekend, it’s time to put our money where our mouth is. UM will be honoring both the 2001 national champion football and baseball teams this Thursday night and both deserve our support, as do these current Canes!

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