The Beast : So Much Things To Say

Anytime I can work a Bob Marley song title into a headline, I’m excited and ‘excited’ is one of many emotions flowing through my body after this Homecoming weekend.

Friday night was amazing. Just a breath of fresh air to put all the struggles of this football program on the back burner for a few hours while enjoying the sights and sounds of Homecoming. Thousands of fans on the shores of Lake Oceola, holding candles and singing the alma mater as opposed to a chorus of game day booing was refreshing.

For me, the best part was being able to bring my wife and almost-three-year-old-son to the festivities. It was heartwarming to see Zach, giddy over seeing Sebastian floating around the lake and it brought a smile to my face as he screamed with joy as fireworks were set off from the intramural fields.

Sometimes we get so worked up about this team that we forget to take in the ‘good stuff’. Friday night was incredible and a wonderful precursor for a Saturday that I’m still processing.

Many thoughts on the win over Maryland, but let’s start with this – anytime you get an in-conference win, that’s huge. Usually there’s no cheering in the press box, but since I’ve been relegated to an alternate press box with no one within half a football field of me, I broke the rule as that winning score was hauled in.

I was beyond happy for Stephen Morris, Leonard Hankerson, Randy Shannon and ‘The U’ as a whole – especially my fellow alums who came back for Homecoming. After a while, the negativity that inundated Hurricane Nation gets to be even too much for me, Mr. Cynical Media Guy.

As I took in the Maryland game from Sun Life, I put aside my expectations for this program. I brushed away any belief that this program has underachieved and ignored my desire to question coaching moves and player execution. Instead, I sat in my press box of solitude and simply enjoyed a college football game, with weather as perfect at the game’s ending.

As my cohort Spike Bitterman and I walked around the hoighty–toighty club sections during halftime at Sun Life, it seemed the majority of the folks there had the same mindset. It was a small crowd for Miami’s ninth game of the season (with the stadium about 1/3 full), but those there seemed to be content spending a day with friends and family, watching their team.

It’s not my style to sit here and break down Xs and Os. You don’t need me for that. There are hundreds of game recaps out there, so let’s delve into some other things regarding the State of Miami and this team as a whole:

Free The Quarterbacks

As I’ve touched on several times, I’m not a fan of Coach Shannon’s policy regarding his quarterbacks and the media. We the media were pleasantly surprised when this week’s starting quarterback was allowed to speak on Wednesday, but even that process was childish.

The media was told they could only talk to Stephen if they didn’t get a chance to talk with Randy and the media ‘took the deal’.

The result was five minutes of Mr. Morris’ time, while a member of Miami’s staff stood by timing it. (Seriously, where we? Is this a boarding school or one of the top programs in college football?)

Would we get another chance to talk with No. 17 after he led these Canes to a thrilling comeback win? Nope. Randy shot that down, though we were emailed three ‘statements’ supposedly from Morris – which I won’t include here because they were weak.

Here the Canes had a chance to capitalize on a really great feel-good story yesterday and has happened several times the past four seasons, the opportunity was squandered for reasons I many wouldn’t agree with. Which leads to …

The Media v. Coach Shannon or Coach Shannon v. The Media

This decades long feud just won’t end. I have a good idea for why Randy doesn’t trust or like the media and I understand why the media has issues with Coach Shannon. But at some point both sides need to come clean and call a truce regarding these issues.

I believe Randy feels he doesn’t “need” the media and feels that the media doesn’t impact a team winning or losing games.

I’ll also guess that Randy believes the media can only distract him and his players from achieving their goals and that only bad things will come from certain guys talking to the press.

To those points, he’s 100% right – but that’s also not real life regarding being the head coach of a major college football team.

I ran into a very influential former player before Saturday’s game and he bitched my ear off about the current state of the program. (No, it wasn’t one of the go-to radio guys you hear on a daily basis.) This is a guy who has publicly supported Randy, but behind the scenes is VERY critical of what’s going on. He is one of many supporters who are quickly becoming detractors and his biggest points had nothing to do with on the field coaching.

We were in agreement that the role of college football head coach is more than just football. It’s part CEO, part politician, part marketeer, part promoter, part media relations guy, part father, part brother, part friend and the rest of the time, Coach.

When you’re a head coach in the NFL, your only real worry is Sunday. When you’re coaching in the collegiate ranks, you not only have Saturday, but every other day too.

Wins and losses are the ultimate report card and in the end, the only real things fans care about. However, since the odds of going undefeated annually are slim, you better figure out all the other stuff as well. That’s why this is referred to as a ‘program’ and not just a ‘team’.

There’s no area where Randy Shannon has been a bigger let down than all the other aforementioned ‘stuff’. (I’m still baffled as to why Miami’s head coach wasn’t at CanesFest three months back. Same with his lack of desire to mingle with donors, when his bosses have specifically requested he do so.)

All the on the field stuff — use of timeouts, sideline demeanor, whether he dances with players or not — doesn’t mean much to me. Same to be said for where the starting quarterback sits on the sideline when the defense is on the field.

When you’re in charge of a program you have to deal with everything thrown at you. You have to understand that when only 30,000 fans are showing up on game day, something needs to be done to better promote your program. One idea this past weekend would’ve been letting this fickle fan base hear from this week’s local hero; Stephen Morris.

Maybe Randy thought the kid didn’t want to talk. Maybe he wants to keep the kid humble by not letting him bask in the limelight. Even more plausible, the fact that he didn’t want Morris answering questions about Jacory Harris and “what’s next” regarding who should be starting the rest of the season at UM.

There might be several legitimate reasons for Shannon not wanting Morris to talk to the media, but I don’t agree with any of them. This program needs to capitalize on any good press it gets and the Morris story was one that deserved to be told after Saturday’s win.

Media v. Media

Another matter that deserves to be cleared up is the difference between beat writers and other regular writers like myself versus likes of Sid Rosenberg, Steve White, Stu Gotz, et al.

Beat writers and guys like me are on campus a ton as it’s our job. Beat writers are sometimes put in situations where they might (in Randy’s eyes) “burn” UM, for the most part everyone on the beat would rather bring positive stories to the fans. It’s much more enjoyable to write glowing positive stories over rip jobs.

We’re in a controlled environment where the press’ ability to ‘break’ some sort of bad story is nearly impossible. When a player walks into the media room these days, it’s line handing a canteen of water to folks who have been trapped in the desert.

Those guys who rip the crap out of the program – they’ll never be found within miles of UM’s campus. They sit in their studios and trash the program from behind a mic, usually for nothing more than saying something controversial and to boost their ratings.

When I worked at WQAM I always felt it was my responsibility to get around the teams in order to really understand what made them tick. Every years I’d get out to Dolphins camp several times. Same with Heat practice, Marlins games and even the occasional Panthers game. I wanted to best understand what I was talking about and no better way than to fully dive in.

None of that is a job requirement for a radio talk show host and doing so would make one guy better than the next, but for those of us writers who care about the program and have to face the people we’re talking about, it’s a different ballgame.

Those of us that show up on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday have a much different agenda and while yes, the media will ultimately focus on the story they want to write, I can promise you that staying positive is much more enjoyable than being negative and the University of Miami media relations has to meet us halfway. Right now we’re not getting much help.

And a quick side note, if I were athletic director Kirby Hocutt, I’d be a bit perturbed that my flagship station implemented a non-stop, “screw Randy Shannon” attitude. I can understand unbiased and opinionated, but what’s going on over there right now is overkill (and doesn’t help those of us trying to get Shannon more on board with mainstream media.)

I was fired for something MUCH more benign than hearing Rosenberg open his show saying Coach Shannon “is a dick”. I was torpedoed from the inside and would love to share some perspective for the masses, but I digress. No need to go into the backstabbing that occurred. I learned a hard lesson that your best friends can turn into your worst enemies, but I’ll leave it up to Karma to sort all that out.

For the record, I love Sid and think he’s a brilliant talk show host. Doesn’t mean I agree with all of his opinions, but as far as compelling radio and doing his job, he’s very good at it and he’s always been great to me. Still, at some point the anti-Randy agenda is a bit much.

Information Saturation

So much is being talked about right now and most of it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Bottom line, I don’t think many of the folks in the stands or on the message boards have a good sense of where both Hocutt and Donna Shalala stand regarding the future of this football program. They both know that having a winner on the field means more revenue for the program and at day’s end, this is a business.

More than one big time booster has shared with me that there IS money for a buyout, if needed. The Canes play the same place the Dolphins do, meaning our local NFL franchise has a vested interest in seeing UM win ballgames. With that in mind, there have been rumblings that the Dolphins would be willing to contribute financially if change needs to be made.

Again, I wouldn’t call that “concrete” Info, but it’s something I’ve heard and is worth thinking about when hearing the notion that the administration and other locals don’t care what happens to Miami football. There is more going on behind the scenes than you’re giving credit for.

Another booster shared with me that if change is made, there will be enough money there to give UM several coaching options to choose from. I don’t believe he was calling for any $4-5M pay days or Urban-money, but I don’t feel that paying the next UM coach $3M annually is out of the question.

The Herald’s Greg Cote had a note that boosters were putting together their own head coach wish lists IF a change has too be made. That doesn’t mean it’ll be the same candidates the admin has on their list, but we do know that money has a ton of influence – especially in the world of big time college football. Those folks who donate hundreds of thousands of dollars on an annual basis? They have their say and the important decision makers listen when they speak.

What Controversy?

There’s no reason to even ponder a quarterback controversy. Harris isn’t healthy and I’m not so sure he will be for at least a few weeks, so let’s not whip ourselves into a frenzy about something that may or may not happen.

Plus, in all honesty Miami should be so lucky to have a “quarterback controversy” on its hands. Especially with the recent lack of depth and experience at the position.

Morris played a great game this past weekend, but let’s not anoint him the second coming just yet. Kyle Wright had some great games and Kirby Freeman even had a few moments. Let’s relax and let these kids turn into what they turn into without calling them the “next Bernie Kosar” – or even the “next Willis McGahee” regarding the solid play of Lamar Miller as of late.

IN OTHER NEWS: I’ll be down at UM on Tuesday for the weekly media gaggle. Follow the latest here on the blog, as well as via the allCanes Radio Facebook and Twitter pages … Big show Wednesday night. Trying to tie up loose ends with Brett Romberg and others. If you have any guests you’d like us to get on board, hit us up and let us know … Lastly, if you haven’t heard, big news regarding Hecht Athletic Center getting a huge overhaul that would put it on par with the majority of schools in the country. More to come on that front, but consider it one last reminder that UM’s admin know they need to do more to compete and this is one more sign that they are hearing the message and ready to do so.

Comments

comments