The Beast : So Long Frank

It was a no-brainer, really – maybe except to some in Columbia, Missouri. Former Miami Hurricanes head coach Frank Haith is headed to the Show Me State as latest addition to the Tigers’ sports family.

For Frank, this truly was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to pass up.

For starters, more money. It’s been reported that Coach Haith was earning just over $1M per year at ‘The U’. Whether that’s the actual number or not, let’s stick with that for demonstrative purposes. Former Missouri coach Mike Anderson was in the $1.6M range before heading to Arkansas, so regardless, a raise in in order for Coach Haith. He’s also headed somewhere that is much more excited about their basketball program than the folks in South Florida are about his former squad.

Beyond that, Coach Haith was going to be on a short leash next season. Especially after this year’s 21-15 run, poor conference play and another season that ended without any March Madness in Coral Gables. A failure to get to the Dance next year and Frank was going to be looking for a new gig. Instead, he’s headed to Missouri and has six years of guaranteed money .

Coach Haith is headed back to a conference he knows very well, having spent time as an assistant at both Texas (2001-2004) and Texas A&M (1992-1995, 1996-1997) and success in Columbia could very well set him up to return to Austin should Rick Barnes step down. It could also pave the way for a return to Wake Forest, where Haith spent five seasons under the legendary and late Skip Prosser.

I do have mixed emotions about this latest coaching change at Miami. Coach Haith was not Randy Shannon. He was the type of guy you absolutely wanted as the face of your program. He was great with the media, the fans, the boosters, et al. He absolutely got ‘it’.

I spent a lot of time with Coach Haith a few years back, even driving him to a few ACC tournament games, and he was the type of guy you could sit down and have a real conversation with. I rooted for him beyond belief, but the fact remains that the brand of basketball simply wasn’t cutting it.

Back in February I had a feeling Coach Haith might’ve been pondering a move. Normally win or lose, Miami’s leader was even keel – but on that particular day, he was ornery. You could sense his frustration level with several things and he was a man at his boiling point.

Many close to Frank have stated that this past season took a huge toll on him and as mentioned in a previous blog, I think his expectations for this year’s team were even higher than ours.

The Canes under achieved all year and ultimately that falls on Frank, though there were obviously a lot of factors that went into it. I heard a lot of things from players that made me believe it wasn’t all the head coach’s fault, though. At some point, the onus is on the players to take care of business. Especially a squad that wasn’t rolling out a handful of McDonald’s All-Americans every night.

For Miami basketball to have success, players have to overachieve – not underachieve – and there wasn’t a lot of over-achievement this season. To see how it’s done, look no further than Katie Meier and her Lady Canes. As much as Coach Meier deserves credit for her team’s success and turnaround, her girls did a lot on their own.

Coach Haith was handed a mess when he arrived in Coral Gables and even while underachieving, this program is much more stable today than it was when Perry Clark was at the helm. There’s an indoor practice facility, basketball-only training facilities and there’s some decent talent on the roster. The next head coach will have something to build upon and for that, we should thank Coach Haith. We all know this isn’t the easiest job out there, it’s full of drawbacks and that’s something that any former Miami coach, or current candidate knows, as well.

The bottom line is this; the University of Miami is at another crossroads with basketball. Kirby Hocutt is gone (with a new athletic director yet to be hired), but his mantra about football being “nationally relevant” should hold true for every sports program at ‘The U’.

There are a lot of great names available and this isn’t a time for the athletic department to settle. No retread head coaches that care more about eating lunch at Ruth’s Chris than attending practice (re: P-Clark) and nobody that is going to bring the magnifying glass of the NCAA to your doorstep (re: former Tennessee head coach, Bruce Pearl).

There are plenty of names out there. Let’s randomly throw out a few:

– Frank Martin – (Kansas State) – Obviously a hometown guy. Makes $1.55 million a year in Manhattan, where they draw more than 12K a game. It’s probably easier to get guys into school out there, too, but for one reason or another, he will throw his name out there for this job. That’s just what coaches do.

– Shaka Smart – (VCU) – He just turned down $2M a year at NC State and agreed to stick around Richmond for the next eight seasons (contract details not yet released), which should have him off the books. Still, the question remains, was he lucky this year or is the 33-year old Final Four head coach the real deal?

– Bruce Pearl – (ex-Tennessee) – He’ll probably try to get the job, but knowing president Donna Shalala, I’d be very surprised if she looked in his direction. Having just been in a tussle with the NCAA and fired by your former employer for ‘unethical conduct’ doesn’t bode well.

– Seth Greenberg – (Virginia Tech) – Just signed an extension with the Hokies last year and according to most reports, his annual salary was in the $1.4M range. His contract runs through 2016 and having been a Miami assistant, he’s familiar with the uniqueness of UM, as well as currently coaching at a football-first university. Greenberg has only taken Virginia Tech to the Dance once in seven seasons.

– Anthony Grant – (Alabama ) – He’s from Miami, was an assistant at Florida, was a head coach at VCU and now at Alabama, where me earns upwards of $1.8M annually. Question – why would he leave Tuscaloosa for Coral Gables?

– Stan Jones – (FSU assistant ) – Long-time assistant under Leonard Hamilton. I’ve never met a better Xs and Os coach in my life. Jones is well-liked by Miami’s old guard of boosters.

– Mike Jarvis – (FAU) – Former St. John’s head coach now in South Florida. I’ll pass, but I’d assume his name will surface somewhere.

– Please don’t mention ‘Shaky’.

– Some other guys out there because they’re currently out of work; Jeff Caple, Paul Hewitt and Al Skinner.

One of the major topics out there all morning; Miami’s lack of a replacement for Hocutt, though I really don’t see it as a major deal. This search will be conducted by a small group of Board of Trustees members and signed off on by President Shalala. Plus, interim athletic director Tony Hernandez has been through his share of coaching changes and he gets ‘it’ as much as anyone – and who knows, maybe because of all the recent change Tony gets the job permanently, which would be fine by me.

We should know more in the coming days, so stay tuned to the Twitter feeds and the blog. As things get sorted out, we’ll bring you the latest news.

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