The Beast : Refreshing

I’ll be honest. As I walked into the stadium for Saturday’s game, I wasn’t feeling too positive about Miami’s match up with North Carolina.

Sure, on paper half the Tar Heels were either hurt or suspended. Based on that alone, the Canes should’ve won. However, as we’ve seen this season crazy things really do happen in the world of football.

Back to my walk into the stadium. Why was I feeling less than positive? Crazy as it sounds, my tailgating experience often effects my thoughts on the game. When tailgating goes well, I feel like we should win. If things go awry, I feel a loss on the horizon.

Yesterday proved interesting. With all these new directional parking rules, everything was our of sorts. I admire the athletic department trying to make changes, but I’m not sure directional parking is the right answer.

In theory it sounds great meeting your friends somewhere outside the stadium, forming a convoy and parking together – but that’s not how it played out. Parking attendants were splitting cars up, even if they came together.

On top of that, while I embrace being able to tailgate in a safe, fan friendly environment, the police were overzealous and in many ways ruined the fun – right down to a half dozen warnings regarding turning our music down. One small speaking pumping out old and new school jams and we were told to pipe down at least six times in three hours.

The whole thing felt like Sun No-Life Stadium. Was this a football game or a chess match? There really needs to be a happy medium and last night there wasn’t … which led to my bad vibes entering the stadium.

The first half was pretty much representative of how the Canes have been playing all year. Big play given up on defense, following by Jacory Harris throwing an interception in a mostly-empty end zone press box. (Evidently allCanes Radio isn’t high enough in the pecking order to garner a seat in the main press box. Upside? I had almost three dozen seats to myself.)

Miami took the 13-10 lead into the locker room, but I still didn’t have the premonition that an ass whooping was about to happen. I figured the game would be close in the second half, coming down to some crazy play at the end of the game. Thankfully, I was wrong.

I have no idea what Randy Shannon said in the locker room at the half. I guess I failed as a reporter by not getting to the bottom of that at last night’s post-game presser or this morning’s day-after recap, but whatever was said, it finally worked. Miami, for a half, looked like “Miami” again.

– The defense was stifling. Tackles for loss. Allen Bailey with sack after sack (3.5, which earned him National College Football Performance Awards Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors today.) Brandon Harris registered his first pick of the year and we saw dancing, shaking, heads bobbing and tons of jumping up and down. For the first time in a while, I had goosebumps.

– Jacory gained some serious confidence, too. Did you notice the offensive game plan in the second half? It was all about putting #12 in confidence-gaining situations. Roll outs. Swing passes. Short passes. Sure, there were some shots down the field (that amazing catch and run by Travis Benjamin for touchdown), but it seemed Mark Whipple finally gave in, calling a game to suit Harris, rather than trying to make him fit into a game plan that overextends his abilities.

– Lamar Miller, Damien Berry and Mike James all had success on the ground. Having that many backs with different skills sets and different looks is such a huge benefit for Miami. I thought coaches did a great job using those guys in different spots.

– Also, getting Miller the ball in space. It worked and it’ll be something awesome to watch as the season rolls on and he gets more touches.

Of course all this begs the million dollar question; what happened between Florida State and last night to allow this? What was the difference?

While the local sports media and fan base has been all over Shannon, let’s take a quick step backwards. Weeks ago when interviewed, Randy told me that this team needed to develop leadership from the inside. He wanted players to come to the conclusion on their own and in hindsight, maybe Shannon knew exactly what he was doing the whole time.

We’ve been beating that point home on Tuesdays when we get a chance to talk to the kids, asking them question after question about stepping up, leading and becoming the guy. This week things finally came to a head.

A players only meeting was called days back by LaRon Byrd and others. (I still don’t have conformation who, but I’m getting Vaughn Telemaque and B. Harris were involved). The players got together last Tuesday and aired it all all out. Word is it was emotional, but a great and necessary process and the outcome speaks for itself.

Coinciding with the players only sitdown, Antrel Rolle spoke with the guys the same day and according to Berry, Rolle drove home the point that the players needed to force Coach Shannon out of his shell. Antrel shared with the team that when Randy was his coordinator, he’d have fun with the players, joke with them, dance with them, etc. None of these current guys had seen that side of Randy and as fans, neither have most of us.

Rolle’s message was heard loud and clear and players have gotten Randy to lighten up a bit. Coach mentioned this morning that he’s made a concerted effort to be more animated the last two weeks and while we really couldn’t see that on ESPN3 at Duke, it was loud and clear when he and Orlando Franklin chest bumped late in the game. I almost fell out of my chair and even contemplated asking Randy if he needed some sort of neurological evaluation by the UM medical staff after that move.

While we watch from the outside, we’ll never know if the team was ready to have a fun-filled, animated coach. There’s your whole argument about timing and a hard-ass coach versus a players coach. Different teams need different styles of leadership and what I think we’re seeing is a team finally mature enough to handle a more animated leader.

Until players stepped up and found a way to lead on their own, Shannon wasn’t going to let his guard down. With a void of player leadership Shannon couldn’t afford to let up because no one inside the locker room was ready to make sure things stayed on track.

After this past week and now after this win. Miami has guys that don’t fear speaking up in the locker room, on the sideline or in game. They have the respect of each other, as well as the maturity to listen to each other, understanding what’s best for the team.

I go back to the piece I wrote before the game. Just as I think Miami’s downturn started that fateful night at North Carolina in October 2004, I think next year when this squad is kicking ass and taking names, that we’ll look back on the second half of this beat down as the turning point. It’s just a feeling but an infectious one at that.

One last thing. Both last night and this morning, Randy did an amazing job breaking down a few plays and getting into hardcore Xs and Os and that’s when he truly is at his best. I’ve been saying it for years, but when I was on the broadcast team, we’d constantly talk about how we could help Coach Shannon do a better job just simply getting his message across.

We as the broadcast team saw that Randy was at his best when sitting down, relaxed and able to talk football on his terms. Putting him behind a podium with a ton of reporters barking at him – it’s not going to give you the best of him, but should you get the chance just to hear him talk the intricacies of football? Your jaw will drop. Anyone that doesn’t think the man is cerebral and football smart is flat out wrong.

I know I’m no longer part of the broadcast team, but as an alum, I still want my head coach to come across best he can and to do so, I highly suggest a change in the way Randy addresses the media. Put him in his comfort zone and you’ll get the most out of him.

It’s like putting a shotgun quarterback under center. Sometimes you just have to tweak a few things and put a guy where’s he’s comfortable if you want him to shine.

I’ll be back on Tuesday via Twitter and Facebook regarding the weekly press conference and of course we have another big allCanes Radio show live this Wednesday – again coming from you via allCanes, where you’ll save 20% off all merchandise if you drop by to show while we’re broadcasting live. Go Canes!

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