The Beast : Shaking My Head …

S.M.H. (Shaking my head.) It’s a Twitter-ism an it’s what I’m doing right now. If I could verbally express the feelings running through me as I shrug my shoulders and search for answers, it best sums up how I feel right now.

My thoughts, as best as I can put them.

If you took this year’s Miami / Virginia Tech showdown as one game, then no, the Canes didn’t play that badly. Yes there were mistakes, but let’s face it, the Hokies were the better team even though they were outplayed for much of the day.

I thought the game plans were good and that the intensity was there in an important, must-win game. The running game was solid and Stephen Morris had a great first half of football in his third start under center. Did he make some freshman mistakes? Sure, but that’s understood and acceptable.

More frustrating, the play of Orlando Franklin, Colin McCarthy and Travis Benjamin, still plagued by inconsistency at this point of the season. False starts, missed tackles and dropped balls at this point of the season are unacceptable. Again, if this was just one game, you look past it, but it’s been an ongoing trend.

Again, this was another opportunity for a Randy Shannon team to get a win against a ranked opponent. A must-win game against a marquee team, no less and again another failure.

The loss stings, but even more than this one game it’s about the bigger picture and Randy’s Canes are 4-9 against ranked opponents. There have been some bright spots – the emergence of Lamar Miller, a long and bright future with Morris at quarterback, as well as the second-coming of Leonard Hankerson, who is ten times the player he was a few years back.

I’m trying to be Petey Positive but I keep getting pulled back to Negative Nancy. I don’t feel this program is on the decline, but I also don’t feel things are getting better, either.

The 2008 recruiting class was supposed to be the one that led this team back to prominence. Not quite the 1999 class Butch Davis reeled in, but in a similar mold. A class that didn’t necessarily have to win a championship, but one that at least made Miami relevant again.

So far they’ve led us to Pam Ward – which pretty much sums up where this program’s at. Forget about ESPN College GameDay on campus or the Musberger & Herbstreit duo calling a game that was slated to decide the ACC Coastal. Miami couldn’t even land Patrick & Tessitore for this one. Nope, the Canes / Hokies showdown was called by the baritone tones of Ms. Ward.

Equally as frustrating, not seeing more guys like Brandon Harris. I’d take him on my team any decade as he’s up there with Miami’s all-time greats and not just because of his play, but his character as well.

Hank is another one who deserves a ton of credit as his story has been a great reclamation project thanks to Mark “Super” Duper.

Ryan Hill. These new, young offensive linemen. Miller and his wheels. There are definitely some quality guys, but if you were playing fantasy football, who else are you putting on your team? Maybe a Sean Spence? Allen Bailey has the size and speed, but is the production always been where it should be?

I’m not implying that there aren’t some players on this team, but when you think back to great Hurricane squads – or even just the ‘good’ ones – you can come up with at least a dozen guys you’d take in on your team in the present day.

That’s not necessarily a coaching issue, it’s all about recruiting. But unlike the NFL where coaches aren’t necessarily to blame for a lack of talent, in college your head coach and personnel guy are one in the same.

After this most recent loss I asked Coach Shannon if he thought this year’s team was better than last years. His answer? “Yes”.

Last year’s team beat three ranked squads. This year’s team? Not so much.

All of that said, I really don’t think Randy is replaced after this season, unless the Canes lose their next two and even then, I’m still not fully convinced. With no coaching change, then this off-seasons needs to be a season of change and it’s time the fourth-year head coach truly evaluates how he does things on and off the field.

I know I often come back to the media angle, but maybe if these kids knew they had to answer to the outside world when they both win and lose, maybe they’d grow up a little faster. Five guys spoke after the Virginia Tech loss. Five out of eighty-three, which is beyond unacceptable.

Many times we complain about media access when hearing how things are at other programs, but I really don’t care what their story is. This is Miami and this program has more players in the NFL than anyone else out there. Obviously the open-locker room policy that mirrored the NFL’s worked here for decades and got guys ready for the next level.

Post-game Saturday, Randy compared his situation to Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Gary Pinkle (Missouri) and Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech). Those were coaches that took a very long time to get their respective programs to where they are today and there are some major difference between what’s being done Iowa City, Columbia and Blacksburg, versus Coral Gables.

No one is headed to Iowa or Missouri to recruit and while there are some good players coming out of Virginia annually, it pales in comparison to the talent within a hundred miles of UM’s campus.

In the last fifty years only two schools have five or more National Championships; Southern Cal and Alabama. Those are the types of programs Miami is compared with – not Iowa, Missouri or Virginia Tech.

Maybe that expectation is a bit unfair considering UM has been extremely successful in spite of all it’s shortcomings (small student body, limited funding, sub par facilities, no on campus stadium, et al), but that’s the situation. Five titles won in less than thirty years and this program will continue being judged according to that success.

So what does all that mean?

I’m not saying that Randy should or shouldn’t be fired. I don’t make those decisions and as good as a grasp I feel I have on the situation, I don’t have all the necessary information required by those shot callers. I will say this, though. The last thing I want to see is another situation where a Miami head coach is forced to fire his entire staff, forcing a lame-duck, last gasp attempt to right the ship, which will only make matters worse (re: Todd Berry and Rich Olson running the offense), forcing the inevitable.

If Donna Shalala and Kirby Hocutt honestly believe Coach Shannon is the right guy to turn things around, I’ll go with that. I believe in this administration, despite all the geniuses on sports talk radio who believe neither care about winning. To think that we as a fan base know more than UM’s top administrators, that’s preposterous.

Bottom line? Only you can prevent forest fires and only Randy can cool off the seat under his tuchas.

Lastly, just a little reporting I did after Saturday’s game.

According to my sources, it was a players and coaches only post-game locker room after Saturday’s loss. Meaning all personnel that may normally make their way into the locker room – trainers, doctors, equipment guys, etc. – were not allowed in.

The message from the head coach was simple; “Fellas, there’s only so much the coaches and I can do and we’ve done about a much as we can. You as players have a job to do and need to get it done.”

On one level, I agree, but again if guys aren’t executing and have been consistent for years on end, where should that blame inevitably lie? Just saying.

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