The note couldn’t have reeked any more of Donald Trump if it was delivered wrapped in a toupee or posted at YoureFired.com.
Four years back, “The Donald” reached out his friend Donna Shalala, pleading the case of Texas Tech captain Mike Leach. Trump felt Leach was the perfect hire for the University of Miami, but the top brass wound up going with Randy Shannon after it was reported that Leach tanked in his UM interview.
Stories vary regarding Leach’s sit down with the UM folk, though the Palm Beach Post now reports that nobody showed up in a Hawaiian shirt, flip flops or scared off the administration with any tall tales. The issue in 2006 was confusion over salary as well as former athletic director Paul Dee not believing there was as much interest coming from the other side of the table.
“Mike’s a fine guy, an interesting guy, but we just didn’t get the sense that he was as interested as we had been led to believe,” said Dee.
“We were serious about him, though. We wouldn’t have interviewed anybody we weren’t seriously thinking about.”
Four years later, UM again doesn’t appear interested in Leach, this time with folks close to the situation citing that no coach with any baggage will be up for consideration. (Leach was fired by Texas Tech for allegedly locking a player in an electrical closet over a disagreement, though strong evidence supports Leach’s cause that he’s innocent.)
Of course all of this is much to the chagrin of The Donald, per the handwritten note to President Shalala on the above Sunday copy of the Palm Beach Post. The note read:
Donna, You made a big mistake when you did not take my advice and hire Mike Leach of Texas Tech – look what’s happened to them since he left … hire Coach Leach and you’ll be #1 … and you can now get him for the right price. – Best Wishes, Donald
Trump also made sure to underline “Shannon fired” in the story’s headline.
Adding insult to injury, a lead story titled “Reversal of Fortune”, praising first-year Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher for snapping the Noles’ six-game losing streak to the Gators, en route to clinching the school’s first ACC title game birth since 2005.
GRUDENGATE LATEST: The University of Miami has issued a release stating that there is no press conference scheduled for Wednesday, though a team meeting has been called for 3pm ET on Thursday. While some want to speculate it could be a Jon Gruden team introduction, many believe it’s simply a team meeting for interim head coach Jeff Stoutland.
Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt reported has met with Gruden, but there’s nothing new to report. The interviewing process will continue and UM will continue the process of meeting with other potential candidates.
“As we said at the beginning of the process, Kirby Hocutt will not comment on the search for a new head football coach until the process is completed,” per an email sent out to the media via the university today.
UM has also stated that the coaching search could go into next week regarding interviewing more potential candidates.
More come come on the Gruden front later this afternoon from Brian ‘The Beast’ London. Stay tuned.
Trump needs to mind his own f ing business. The last thing UM needs is his egotistical ass meddling in university affairs. If Leach wasn't such a nutcase they would have looked at hiring him more seriously the last time around. Besides the last thing I want to see is that dumbass "Air Raid" offense being run at the U. That and the guy never won anything at Texas Tech that would make one assume he could bring the U back to power.
"UM has also stated that the coaching search could go into next week regarding interviewing more potential candidates."
I hope there is no truth to this as well.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Jon-Gruden-Miami-Hurricanes-head-coaching-job-120110
If this is true, I think we're not going to get Gruden. The rumor mill is killing me.
I hope that Hocutt can pull it off.
Hire Leach ! At least he WANTS to be here! That speaks volumes.
F-Gruden! He's already a Drama Queen!
I believe Leach will embrace The"U"& The"U" fanbase will embrace leach.
I like Trump's thinking. Leach is a crazy genius. When was the last time you said to yourself that the Canes outwitted another team. I can't think of one play this season. Conversely, I remember many times that the Canes were the victim of getting outwitted. Look at the FSU game. Then it went on all game long from start to finish
Back to Grudengate, apparently Jon Gruden has done this before…the Gruden camp did this to Notre Dame. It was all a press ploy to up his value.
up and down up and down up and down the roller coaster goes. and so goes my emotions with it. yet another "source" citing zero chance gruden ends up at miami. hopefully its just espn blowing smoke again in fear of losing their analyst. any new news from our "FOA"?
I'm an avid fan and like everyone I've been reading all the conflicting news reports re Gruden. Does all this press and speculation hurt the U if they can't get their first or second choice? My take is that if you don't land a big name soon then the team looks a little desperate because of all the media a hype. I don't recall any of our prior successful coaches being this big a name. Our AD sounded great in his press conference and appears to clearly embrace the importance of our team being pertinent at the national level.
The reality is we won't truly know if the next coach is the right fit until the team actually plays. The amount of coaching talent when Jimmy was here was unbelievable. So many of those guys went on to big time coaching careers. Hopefully we can get that back.
On a separate note it will be interesting to see if/when Shannon coaches again. One thing is for sure he is one of the best defensive coordinators and can recruit. I wouldn't be surprised if Uf doesn't contact him. I know moving on was the right thing to do, but I can't imagine him anywhere else.
Keeping my finger crossed for TheU. Go canes!
If Leach is hired as the next head coach, ill dump my allegiance to this university as that proves they have no desire to see individuals with class lead this program. Mike Leach is a fat, dishonorable slouch of a human being. He has NO business being anywhere near a college campus. Mike Leach go can take a long walk off a short pier. He's scum and does NOT need to be part of this university.
C'mon GrUden, get your ass to Coral Gables and lets win a championship!
screw gruden. let's move on.
If Leach is hired (he won't) we will lose our two young guns, Lamar and Storm.
harbaugh not coming, nor is the guys from TCU or boise.
i don't want to say this, but because we struck out on Gruden, firing Shannon was a mistake; if not, it was at least premature.
btw, time to get more knowledgeable friends, allcanes.
Brilliant take, it is what it is … as if we were the only ones reporting Gruden to Miami was looking like a done deal today. C'mon now. You're obviously on this site, like everyone else, looking for the latest, so we're trying to deliver that – without preaching it as gospel.
We say take everything with a grain of salt, yet everyone wants it to be true so badly that they don't read that part.
I think we all need to move on. Gruden,baring some miracle, isn't coming. I think we need to go after Dan Mullen now because with our young RB's and with Morris ability to run and throw I think Mullen would have an unstoppable combination for his offensive scheme.
The one thing I do want to see is for our players too look alive on the field. I know the program was trying to change their image but come on. I live in Alabama and everyone around here is calling Auburn a bunch of thugs but the way I look at it is they are just playing with a chip on their shoulders and winning. No matter what we do when we get back on top people are still going to call us THUG U but I dont care as long as we are winning.
all i said was perhaps your f.o.a.'s weren't really in on what's going on at the university.
i'm disappointed that the hiring won't (at least has not) happened. But it is what it is and we have to move on. I'm also not calling you out or anything, especially since there is a chance Gruden signs. Please understand that I do know it is hard to truly grasp the situation with Gruden. I took the headlines "gruden to um official by Wed" from your respectable site, with slight doubt, but was optimistic.
I love the insights/comments on the current situation of the program from this blog; in fact, I think it is one of the best and one misleading report will not change that.
all i said was perhaps your f.o.a.'s weren't really in on what's going on at the university.
… to my point, who are you to say that when you have no idea who these people are?
Look across the board – former and current players were Tweeting for days that Gruden would be the next Miami coach. National and local media members were going there, as well.
What about Gary Ferman over at CaneSport, basically writing a full-on piece on Tuesday night, stating that barring any little hiccup down the stretch, that Jon Gruden would be Miami's coach by Wednesday.
Everything we reported here wasn't in an effort to "break" any story.
Site traffic has been 10x it's normal rate this type of year, so fans obviously want to know what's up.
We've told you what we've heard — which is the SAME THING everyone else is doing. Difference is, we've sold is as WHAT WE'RE HEARING and not FACT, with a few little disclaimers.
As for my headline, you left out the most important word "sources". We never said Gruden to UM official by Wednesday – we said, "Sources: Gruden to UM official by Wednesday" – and then went on to write a piece that was 10% about what those friends told us and 90% explaining why Gruden would be a good fit.
Sadly we're in a position where everyone sees what they want to see and hears what they want to hear.
The majority of folk want this hire, thought we were close and are not frustrated/disappointed that it might or might not be happening.
Lastly, kind of funny how people are skeptical when someone on the UM front states that it's close to happening – but when someone from the outside states that Gruden to UM has a "zero percent chance of happening", it's treated like fact.
Until Jon Gruden comes out and says "I've interviewed and I will not be accepting the head coaching position at UM", this search really is no further today than it was on Sunday.
Odds are slim, but it's time to exercise some patience as three weekdays have passed with no new news. Miami needs to interview other candidates and Gruden needs to mull it over, figuring out if this is how he wants to spend the next several years of his life.
This isn't a small decision for either side. This is a game-changer.
If any news comes out from the Athletic Dept., of a new head coach annoucement, AllCanes will be the first to tell us.
I think the AD should re-examing Mike Leach. I know the allegations are out there. The story that he came into the interview, a few years back, with a Hawaiian shirt and sandles and acting a bit "kooky" was at least skecthy. And as far as him "locking" up Adam James in a room, I am beginning to find out that it may have been grossly exaggerated. There is some history between Leach and James, and I don't know all the details. But I do know is that Leach was screwed over by a disgruntled quarterback who couldn't get more playing time he wanted, and Texas Tech. That's my take.
Having said that, I think if Gruden doesn't take the job, Leach should be given another try(even though it looks a bit slim at the moment.) We can't simply judge a person base on shady envidence.
Leach is a football genius. He did better with less than the last 3 coaches for the U. UM should be salivating at the chance of getting him. Check out this article on him because apparently a lot of you don't know what you're talking about:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/magazine/04coach.html?pagewanted=all
Watching my CANES play with no heart most of the year was heartbraking. Leach never really did anything at TT. I remember them scoring alot of points but also giving up alot. We need to run the ball and play defense like only THE U can. We have the speed and power. Now we need a COACH to lead them. I think Mullen could handle the job. We need to win and win now. On another note, I live in Pensacola and I cant believe that the so called fans in Miami don't show up the games. Its embarrasing to see our boys play with no home game fans supporting them. How do you think the players feel. Real fans show up whether were good or bad. Thats fine though, stay away when we start winning again. THE U doesn't need or want you.