The Beast : Stop The “Fire D’Onofrio” Nonsense

Why do all fan bases, including our #CanesFam, always resort to the “fire the coach” solution as the cure-all? Sure, there are some cases where a move has to be made, but in most cases the firing of a coach or coordinator isn’t the answer to the problem, but regarding Miami’s defense, calling for the head of Mark D’Onofrio isn’t the answer.

There’s no doubt that the defense is playing horribly right now. The Canes are ranked 97th against the run and 82nd in total defense and unfortunately that shouldn’t be a surprise.

For starters Miami is playing with a brand new scheme. D’Onofrio’s defense uses multiple fronts and multiple coverages, so it’s not a shock that guys – especially the upperclassmen – are having problems picking up the new defense. When you’re talking about guys playing in old system for three to four years, it’s going to take time to break old habits.

Head coach Al Golden is always preaching his mantra, “bring your training to the game” and right now the defense isn’t doing that. Guys are getting it done in practice – staying in their assignments and playing the right coverage – but come game time, in the heat of battle, they’re resorting back to old schemes, old techniques and are “freelancing”.

On top of transitional difficulties this team hasn’t had the same defensive line-up since the season kicked off. Continuity is king and five games in Miami hasn’t had that.

Ray-Ray Armstrong returned against Virginia Tech and and by all accounts played a sub-par game, which makes sense in his first game of the season and in a new system. Armstrong practiced with his teammates while suspended, but in football at this level there truly is no simulation for in-game speed.

Beyond the line up changes there have also been a slew of injuries. Losing Marcus Forston, Curtis Porter and Ramon Buchanan was a huge blow. Luther Robinson and Jalen Grimble have also been nicked up, which has coaches at the point of pulling the redshirt off Corey King.

If there was any kid that appeared to be a gimmie for redshirting it was King, who arrived late due to Clearninghouse issues. Now he’s on the two-deep due to injuries. Shayon Green, who moved from linebacker to defensive line, got forty-plus reps last week after not playing a down the previous two years, while JoJo Nicolas looks like he’ll finally get some time back at corner this week – after spending the offseason at corner, but moving to safety due to depth woes.

Coach Golden talks about symmetry a lot and what he means by symmetry is proper depth by class. In other words, Miami currently has seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen and redshirts all out of position. The Canes aren’t close to having symmetry right now and that too is killing this team defensively.

Miami isn’t blitzing a lot right now, nor are they playing a ton of bump and run – but again, can you really take chances if your guys are unable to keep plays in front of them when they’re in base? Coach D’Onofrio isn’t and it’s hard to disagree.

The defensive coordinator isn’t the issue here. Coach D’Onofrio had his Temple defense ranked sixteenth nationally in Total Defense and Scoring Defense last season, so again, the man knows how to coach kids up. What it comes down to is the simple fact that change takes time and Coach D’Onofrio needs the right personnel in there to accomplish what he’s trying to do.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are championship football teams. Time for everyone to take a step back, starting with any “Fire D’Onofrio” nonsense. Seriously.

IN OTHER NEWS : Join us tomorrow night for another edition of allCanes Radio at the Titanic Brewery, next door to allCanes. As of now we’re aiming to have head baseball coach Jim Morris in the house around 7:30pm and we’re working on another old school Cane, but won’t have that confirmed until tomorrow so stay tuned via allCanesBlog.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for any breaking news.

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