The Latest at The U…

Dialed things down a notch yesterday for the Thanksgiving holiday, but with the season finale tomorrow at Sun Life, there’s much to talk about regarding the current state of the Miami Hurricanes:

Appreciate the feedback and commentary regarding the recent piece on Jon Gruden potentially winding up at ‘The U’. The commentary was all over the map, but the general consensus was all business. It’s not that fans personally have issue with Randy Shannon – it’s simply the state of the program that worries fans and a desire to turn things around.

As mentioned days back, I don’t believe you fire Shannon just for the sake of doing so. Days away from December and two months from Signing Day, you don’t “clean house” and begin a coaching search during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the rest of the country is in wind down mode.

In the end Shannon could get one more year – which would be based on logistics, though some will confuse it for Donna Shalala and Kirby Hocutt “not caring about the football program”.

Regarding Gruden, if he’s interested and there’s “mutual interest” -as has been reported – then we could see change in the coming days. But without a big name or proven entity on board, as well as weeks of conversation leading up to this program-changing moment, what do you do?

If this fan base thinks Miami is currently in a lurch, what happens if the Canes are coach-less in December? What does that do regarding the soon-to-be-signed recruiting class? Gruden can enter the game late and hit a home run, but could a Rob Chudzinski or someone else inexperienced and without the same level of ‘street cred’?

Miami should know where it stands within the next few days – with either a grand slam hire in Gruden or entering year five of The Shannon Era, with the heat turned up big time and one final do or die year for the long-time Cane.

Speaking of mistakes made by the fourth-year head coach, as many predicted a quarterback “controversy” is underway – and Shannon is 100% to blame.

Many took up for Shannon regarding criticism he’s received for a lack of desire and inability to work with the media, but that’s what has him in hot water entering tomorrow’s season finale against South Florida.

When starting quarterback Jacory Harris went down with a concussion, Shannon got on the media regarding the talk of any controversy and quickly stated that a starter won’t lose his job due to injury and that when Harris was healthy, he would remain the starter.

A month later, Harris is ready to go and Shannon has named back up Stephen Morris the starter going into this week.

Shannon not wanting to ‘deal’ with these CEO-type decisions is coming back to bite him. Like it or not, the man had a controversy on his hands as his mistake-prone starter was injured and the fourth-stringer has looked solid since taking over.

Confusing matters even more, Miami has employed a run-heavy offense since Morris took over, which has Harris backers (including father-of-the-QB, Rodney Harris) claiming that J12 hasn’t gotten a fair shake.

Anyone following this program as of late can confirm the following; that Morris looks more poised, has a stronger arm, has better wheels and seems to make better decisions.

How would Harris look in a run first, pass second offense? Better I suppose, but with one game remaining, why not let Morris finish out the regular season? Both guys can play in the bowl game and then open up competition for the position when spring ball kicks off.

Regardless, this truly has become more of a ‘controversy’ than it should’ve and not because of Morris’ stellar play or the degree of Harris’ injury. Shannon not meeting this thing head on, refusing to talk about it, remaining cryptic and not ‘dealing’ are why this is a bigger deal than it needs to be.

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit recently rushed to the aid of Shannon on air days back. The man the call “Herby” made it clear that he’s a Randy fan and that much of the onus is on the players for not getting their job done:

At the end of the day you have to have accountability in the locker room when the coaches are gone and have players that care about doing the little things right. And they play and they care about winning. This team has not always demonstrated that to me and that to me isn’t necessarily just a coaching problem, it’s a leadership issue on the team. I really thought Jacory would be that anchor and that rock. It started early in the year with Twittering and just being kind of silly and just showing some immaturity and not really focusing on doing what it takes.

I don’t know. I don’t follow the team that close to be able to really know who that guy is. Who’s the leader of that team? I won’t sit here and tell you that needs to be fired because I think this team can still win with him as a head coach, but I do think that they need to take a serious look in the mirror and make some adjustments to what they’re doing and the professional manner in which they approach the consistency that it takes to be able to win week in and week out, because think of how they played against teams like Pitt, Clemson early in the year when they were on a roll, and then to play the way they did against Florida State – that’s just unacceptable to have that kind of effort and that kind of emotion in a rivalry game.

Herbstreit makes some valid points. Yes, the players have to play. I’ve said that much of the season and we can all agree that coaches aren’t out there throwing, catching, blocking and tacking.

That said, when you see the same mistakes over and over and over, who do you blame? Furthermore, when Herbstreit states that he too expected more out of Harris and hasn’t seen it, whose fault is that lack of maturity, on the field regression and stunted growth?

Miami always used competition to find ‘the guy’ and if a player wasn’t getting it done, he stopped seeing the field. As much heart as Colin McCarthy has shown, attempting to play out of position at middle linebacker, why hasn’t Kelvin Cain seen more snaps? For all the drops and brainfarts we’ve seen out of Travis Benjamin, how come a Davon Johnson or Kendal Thompkins haven’t been nipping at his heels?

Whatever the answer, it comes back to coaching. If those back ups aren’t pushing the starters, that’s on the coaches – for not having kid ready or recruiting the wrong kids. You can blame the kids for not taking care of business, but who recruited and is attempting to develop these kids?

As the CEO of this program, the buck stops with Shannon. Period. Yes, we’ve all see this team bring their collective ‘A’ game on occasion and when that’s the case, good things usually happen.

But where’s the consistency? When does Miami stop making boneheaded mistakes? How do you forgive six turnovers in a late November game or 10 penalties for a hundred yards a few weeks prior?

How does this team leave points on the field early against Virginia Tech, only to be worn down late and beaten in the fourth quarter – a quarter UM used to own?

Herby brings up a lot of the rah-rah stuff you generally hear from old school players. Look yourself in the mirror. Gut check time. Manning up. It’s all valid, but if the players aren’t doing it, lack motivation and remain inconsistent, where do you lay blame?

At day’s end, these are young men who are seeking motivation and are in need of leadership and while they’re all on scholarship, they’re not earning seven figures a year to figure out all the answers.

Simply put, Shannon’s way isn’t working and he can’t continue to lay blame on the kids for not ‘getting it’. Find a way make sure they DO get it, Coach.

To the above point about developing players, there was an interesting piece in the Miami Herald regarding former wideout / cornerback Sam Shields.

Shields came to Miami years back as high-touted receiver, but spent his fair share of time in Shannon’s doghouse. His work ethic was dogged at times, he wasn’t considered a film buff and entering his senior season, Shields was moved from offense to defense so he could merely see the field.

Months before the NFL Draft last April, Shields was arrested for marijuana possession and for one reason or another remained undrafted.

The story did wind up with a happy ending, though as Shields caught on with the Green Bay Packers as a special teamer and since then, knocking veteran cornerback Al Harris out of a job.

The frustrating news, relating to Shields’ UM experience, comes from Packers’ cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt, who stated that Shields had no idea how to watch film, learn defenses or prepare for games.

“He had no clue. Trust me, no clue,” Whitt said bluntly. “There was one day, I almost lost my mind.”

In an effort to teach Shields, Whitt got some flash cards, drew a formation on on side and the check on the back. Shields studied and turned that knowledge into power – and a starting job in the NFL.

To Herbstreit’s point, yes, the onus was on Shields in college to step up and work harder. I even dogged him on this site when it was reported that as a senior he only chose to watch film twice a week – even though he’d moved from offense to defense – while the rest of the article talked about younger players watching film five days a week, upset the film room was closed on weekends.

Shields stepped up when the money was on the table (literally), but how come coaches didn’t more out of him? How come he didn’t understand how to break down film after four years playing for a major college program?

Miami can blame Shields for not doing his job, but in the end it’s another kid with NFL talent who underachieved and in the end, the program pays as cornerback is a position that really could’ve used a boost in 2009.

I know South Florida is on deck an that the Friday before the season finale, this blog should’ve been dedicated to breaking down the match up … but at 7-4 and with all that’s going on, I wasn’t in the mood.

Running back Damien Berry was adamant this week that Shannon hasn’t “lost the locker room”.

“We love and respect coach Shannon, give our all for coach Shannon as a team. We’re just going to step it up this week and bounce back, will do whatever it takes to get the job done,” said Berry.

“We’ll be enthused, pumped, ready to go, want to give the senior class a great ride out.”

Respect to the outgoing seniors and here’s hoping they truly have a hell of a game. Shannon may not have lost them, but as the losses have piled up, he’s losing this fan base pretty quickly.

Full recap and breakdown forthcoming after Saturday’s finale. Not much enthusiasm around this one as it’s an out of conference foe (with a 6-4 record), a noon kickoff and Miami is not only done in the ACC, but at four losses isn’t too riled up for another sub par bowl season.

The only shot in the arm right now would be a Gruden-size hiring and until that rumor either comes true, or is completely squashed out, this writer’s head will remain in the clouds – both frustrated and pondering again what went wrong.

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