While it’s only spring football, the energy is still infectious. Check out yet another clip from the Canes All Access channel; footage from the Spring Game at Lockhart Stadium on April 16th, 2011:
As great as the on-the-field footage again turned out, any diehard Cane worth his weight will be fired up for what takes place between the :40 and 3:00 mark, as Michael ‘The Playmaker’ Irvin blows a few gaskets driving home his point about the pride one must have to wear that “U”.
Irvin barked about not wanting to let down guys before him – Eddie Brown and Stanley Shakespeare – as well as his manhood preventing him from being able to live with himself if he didn’t uphold the legacy, as well as passing it on to the next generation better than he received it.
No. 47 made it clear that there are no shortcuts; being the hardest worker out there got him to the elite level and he was motivated by fear, as he didn’t want to let the guys before him down.
‘The Playmaker’ gave a solid speech on Labor Day 2005 before Miami fell 10-7 at Florida State in the season opener, but this rant was next level and came from a deeper place — which is understandable after six seasons of mediocrity, following the lackluster loss that followed his last big speech.
Check out this video and also pay close attention to the attitude and motivational tactics displayed by head coach Al Golden. A bit thing discussed this spring was the pace of practice and how Golden and staff have these kids hustling like never before. Canes All Access did a great job capturing that vibe in this piece.
Is it September yet?
I'm personally thrilled about Al Golden and I'm pretty sure we'll improve. There's almost no way we can't get better. I will however take all the hoopla coming from this source with a grain of salt since the owner was vehemently adamant in his recommendations that Randy Shannon get his contract extended about a year ago. How did that work out? Go Canes!
Actually, anonymous, the author pretty much was on board with Hocutt making a change at the time, considering the circumstances. If you read his posts, he wanted Shannon to succeed (as I think any real supporter of this program did), yes, but stated that if he didn't get the job done, he would support a change along with the rest of us.
That said, gotta love this speech. It would be great if Golden got the former greats to come back and speak to the team during the course of the offseason too. Of course, that may be a challenge considering their schedules, but continuing to drive home the point to these current Canes would be nothing but beneficial.
I will however take all the hoopla coming from this source with a grain of salt since the owner was vehemently adamant in his recommendations that Randy Shannon get his contract extended about a year ago. How did that work out? Go Canes!
The beauty of the Internet; it's all archived.
At the beginning of last season, we absolutely backed Shannon's contract being extended. Why? Because it was going to be — and as we saw, it eventually was.
UM was nickel and diming over money (shock) and ALWAYS had every intent of re-signing Shannon — so with that the case, why play games? Why give other programs ammo against UM in the recruiting game when the admin had every intent of paying up?
If Miami came out and said there'd be NO new contract until after the 2010 season, we'd have backed that, too
What wasn't going to be backed? Watching the administration squabble over a few dollars just for the sake of saving a buck. Either re-sign the man and get the deal done, or say that no deal would be done until the season played out. But don't play games when you have EVERY intent of re-signing him, losing recruits, all to save a few dollars. That's bad business and just plain dumb.
Lastely, to Mike's point, this blog backed Randy from day one because (1) he was the guy who wanted a job that no one else wanted [Schiano turned down $2M to come to UM!] and (2) because he was a former Cane who gave more blood, sweat and tears to this program than any yahoo pecking away from behind a computer, choosing to anonymously shred the man.
That said, there were ALWAYS caveats – documented in this blog over the years.
For starters, WHOEVER took over in 2007 needed a few years to bring in his guys, to weed out the bad seeds and to start rebuilding from the ground up.
Shannon had a disastrous 5-7 start to his career, but hauled in a top-ranked class the following February and fired assistants who weren't getting the job done.
Those both appeared to be steps in the right direction (at the time), though it was eventually proven that Shannon and staff (1) didn't develop talent well and (2) that Shannon struggled to build a quality staff, with annual turnover being the norm.
After a rocky start, Shannon got Miami to 9-4 in 2009, making 2010 a pivotal year — again, with this blog adamant that last season had to be a year where Shannon and his Canes took a big step forward.
9-4 needed to be improved on as that top class of 2008 were now juniors and UM had a favorable home schedule. 2010 was definitely a year that Miami should've been in the ACC hunt and the fact that the Canes regressed, Shannon's firing was deserved.
Again, this blog said that as long as the program continued to improve on his watch, Shannon would get support – but should the day come that the Canes were backsliding under Randy, it'd be time to go and we'd be vocal about that, which we were.
If Michael Irvin's speech doesn't get you jacked up, nothing will. If the 2011 Canes can play every game this season with the same attitude and intensity "The Playmaker" showed during his speech, the sky's the limit. GO CANES!!
Well put, AllCanes. That's exactly the stance this blog took and I felt the same.
Randy stepped up when no one wanted this job and at day's end, he left it better than he found it, which is what Mike Irvin talked about in that video.
Randy wasn't the guy we hoped he'd be and was definitely in over his head, but he deserved a few years to turn things around and by year four it became evident that he couldn't get this program over the hump and he was rightfully let go.
2010 should've been a much better season based on how 2009 went.
I thank Randy for his efforts, but am thankful daily that Kirby had the wherewithal to pull the plug and to bring in a winner like Al Golden. With the players Randy left, Golden will begin to build something great. The cupboard is much more full now than it was in 2007 and for that, fans should thank Randy, not curse his name.
Anonymous, you're a fool. Learn some reading comprehension. Yes, this site supported the extension and for all the reasons above, like many of us did. UM is stingy and was living up to its reputation. As this site said, they were always going to sign RS to a new deal so why were they prolonging the inevitable? Sign the deal and quick horsing around so coaches could get back to recruiting!!!!
All the "hoopla" coming from this source, says the "anonymous" Johnny Come Lately poster. Cute.
So easy to bag on Shannon four years in and months after his firing.
hate on Randy Shannon the head coach
do not EVER disrespect Randy Shannon the player, line backer coach, and Defensive Coordinator.
That man is a true Cane and has three rings to prove it.