Weighing In On A Random Nole’s Opinion

It really doesn’t deserve any conversation, attention or merit, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself and feel the need to say something in response to a one-sided rant.

Seems anytime something shakes down with the Miami Hurricanes, Florida State columnist Bud Elliott can’t get to the scene fast enough. An opinionated, albeit usually on-top-of-his-game Seminole enthusiast who often seems to derive more pleasure from his rivals’ failures than his own program’s success.

Then again, when you’re a preseason top five, lose four games, settle for a Champs berth instead of an Orange, and trail both Miami and Florida in national championships, maybe the only logical move is to work over others before the realities of your overrated program drive you as mad as an monotonous Saturday night war chant en route to a thirteen-point offensive outpouring against milquetoast Virginia.

Elliott, always attempting to be edgy and hoping to deliver a brash take, has since chimed in on the five UM starters who declared early for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Of course once you filter through his self-applied backslapping and grandiose “I told you sos”, it’s another standard fluff piece from another jaded Nole enthusiast who only wants to tell the side of the story that supports his viewpoint.

B-to-the-E doesn’t want to get deep, peeling this thing back and discussing where things are at and where they’re headed. Instead, he prefers to talk about mistakes the old regime made, giving no credit to the strides this new staff has made the past twelve months and the fact that the culture is – and will continue – changing at UM.

Elliott goes on to talk about Miami losing twenty scholarship seniors, along with these not-so-fab-five early departees and calls for as bad as 3-9 in 2012 and as ‘good’ as 7-5, should the Canes get some lucky breaks along the way.

Thanks, Budstradamus. A true master of the obvious.

It’s hardly a news flash that the Miami program is struggling, so to pile on or simply state the known is elementary. There’s a rhyme and reason to Miami’s struggles, as well as a science to getting it right and a recipe and formula where Al Golden can succeed as past Miami coaches have.

If you want to “go there”, then let’s go there and really put it all under a microscope. But before getting to the now, you must first identify the early chinks in the armor and where this derailed.

The issues started rearing their ugly head as early as 2003, when the Hurricanes offense lost a step after the departure of Ken Dorsey, Willis McGahee and Andre Johnson. The quarterback keys were handed to Brock Berlin, a Florida transfer who wasn’t an ideal fit, but had enough to work with and delivered an 11-2 season.

The following year, 9-3 as the defense lost some key pieces – especially at linebacker. To date Miami hasn’t matched the production that Jon Vilma and D.J. Williams brought to the table. Same for safety Sean Taylor and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, who were also gone when 2004 rolled around.

After years of struggling and cleaning up another guy’s mess, Butch Davis built as well-oiled machine in Miami as college football has ever seen. Unfortunately the keys were tossed to the undeserving, unqualified Larry Coker, who couldn’t handled that mint-conditioned masterpiece. Forget standard and basic maintenance, Coker drove that Ferrari F430 into the dirt, treating it like a weekend beater.

Miami had enough gas in the tank talent-wise to coast its way to another 9-3 season in 2005, but by 2006, years of bad recruiting and poor development of players undid everything Davis worked so hard to build between 1998 and 2000, years three through six of his head coaching tenure at UM.

Coker lost control, was ousted and due to poor timing, a state of panic and a lack of outside interest, Miami’s top brass turned to long-time assistant and forever-Cane, Randy Shannon. It wasn’t the ideal move, but after Greg Schiano bowed out of the running, there was truly no other up-and-coming coach who was up for the challenge.

UM fired Coker the Friday after Thanksgiving and a miracle win over Boston College (the Canes, obviously dug deep on Senior Day, paying tribute to recently slain teammate Bryan Pata, honored that night) and hired Shannon on December 8th, 2006, who took over a 7-6 squad – with Miami at it’s lowest non-probation point since the great Howard Schnellenberger went 5-6 in his inaugural campaign back in 1979.

Shannon stumbled out the gate, going 5-7 in 2007. Months later, a top-ranked recruiting class was inked, albeit skepticism from many as so much talent was pooled from one program, Miami Northwestern. That 2008 class, seniors this year, also failed to address many position issues that plagued the Canes – most-notably, quarterback.

Shannon brought in Jacory Harris, but also lesser talent like Taylor Cook (two stars) and Cannon Smith, a JUCO transfer what never really fit the mold. Combined with the already-on-the-roster, troubled Robert Marve, UM had depth – in theory – but tons of unproven athletes and for a program that was once Quarterback U, it’s truly been barren in the pre-Dorsey era.

Within the year, Marve, Cook and Smith transferred, leaving Harris as the true lone, unchallenged, option and for a program that always thrived on competition and someone younger and hungrier breathing down your neck, Harris never developed that true sense or urgency or desire that fueled past Miami greats.

Heated competition has always been the lifeblood of Miami Hurricanes football. For the millions who watched ESPN’s 30 For 30 piece on “The U”, you heard past greats explaining how practice was tougher than Saturday games and how battles at Greentree separated the good from the great.

Shannon may have had orange and green pumping through his veins the better part of his adult life, but somehow this aspect of the Miami brand was lost on the first-time head coach. Rumors of playing favorites began to swirl and kids who didn’t fall in with Shannon’s like of thinking were quickly put in the doghouse, causing some to transfer (Arthur Brown) while others checked out mentally (Sam Shields).

Building a cohesive, team-first unit under Shannon proved impossible, with more attention paid to building ‘character’, albeit with a hard-ass, blanket management style instead of working with individuals and tailoring the coaching and teaching to the unique personalities on his squad,

2008 got off to a slow start, with an early loss at Florida, a win at Texas A&M and then back-to-back heartbreakers against North Carolina and Florida State. Winnable games where the Canes folded in the final moments. From there a five-game win streak, including a Harris-fueled comeback at Virginia and defensive struggle en route to a win over Virginia Tech. Miami’s defense was dismantled a week later by Georgia Tech’s triple option, lost the season final at NC State and couldn’t hang with Cal in a west coast bowl game.

Any momentum at 7-3 was lost in a flash as 7-6 became the reality – which was the biggest dark cloud of the Shannon era; an inability to bounce back or to rebound after a loss. Whenever Shannon’s Canes were tagged between the eyes, they seemed to cower, retreat or flat out quit. As a head coach, Shannon simply didn’t know how to rally his troops. Ever.

Shannon’s Canes had moments of promise and good play, topping out in early 2009 when beating Florida State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma over a twenty-seven day span. The heralded class of 2008 looked strong in their sophomore campaign and for the first half of the season, Harris looked like the quarterback of the future.

From there, 4-3 down the stretch due to interceptions and sloppy play, capped by a soft performance and a bowl game loss to Wisconsin – two programs seemingly at the same place at the same time – which proved to be a huge difference-maker as the Badgers reached the BCS and Rose Bowl a year later, as Miami toiled in mediocrity, going 7-6 and falling to Notre Dame in the lowly Sun Bowl.

Shannon was fired after losing three of his final five, turning 5-2 into a 7-5 regular season. Golden was hired within weeks, took in the Canes / Irish showdown from the press box, talked about how the culture would change and was hard at work after returning from El Paso.

Pundits like Elliott will take Miami’s 2011 season at face value, using it as a tool to spin the Hurricanes decline for other outsiders who don’t follow this program closely and haven’t seen ‘The U’ rise from the ashes in the past.

In the modern era of college football, not even the most overzealous Hurricanes enthusiast is calling for four national championships over a nine-year span, a 34-game win streak, back-to-back title game appearances or four straight BCS games.

The day of the dynasty is long gone and with things as they currently stand, full of parity and monstrous athletic budgets, expectations have to be reevaluated and kept in check.

Whereas Miami, or even Florida State, once held a “national champions or bust” mentality annually, in this day and age it’s about conference dominance, remaining competitive, BCS berths and merely being ‘in the hunt’ as the season progresses.

One thing Elliott, and other anti-Miami folk, leave out of the argument is UM’s true x-factor; Coach Golden.

Any simpleton can poke fun at years of recruiting classes that didn’t pan out or early departures that impact the immediate state of Miami football. That’s stating the obvious and again, that’s what happens after almost a decade of mistakes, mediocrity, poor coaching and bad personnel decisions.

UM didn’t fall apart overnight and it certainly won’t be rebuilt in a season or two. Miami saw that in the nineties where it took Davis six years to re-right the ship – amidst a lack of fan support and planes dragging banners calling for his firing.

The degree to which things are rebuilt remains to be seen. This isn’t 1996 and Davis’ second year in an era where the college football landscape was three or four powerhouses and everyone else. Year two for Golden is 2012 and college football is a completely different beast.

Things have definitely changed tremendously, but there is still a blueprint that works when attempting to resurrect a unique Miami program – one that still has a strong brand – which is a big reason rivals like Elliott work so hard to cast stones. Their goal is to kill the UM mystique once and for all.

If the Canes were as inconsequential as Elliott and others infer, why spend so much time writing about the program down at the bottom of the Sunshine State? South Florida and Central Florida certainly don’t garner this kind of attention or obsession.

Elliott takes a dig at Miami’s fifteen scholarship seniors (note: watch for an ‘updated column’ now that Adewale Ojomo wasn’t granted a sixth year of eligibility, dropping it to fourteen and causing little Bud to squeal with glee), which again only underscores why the wheels came off as they did.

But what about the nineteen kids Golden brought in last February? After inheriting a program with six verbal commitments, losing two upon Shannon’s departure, Golden hit the road, closed hard and showed potential, swaying upwards of eight kids who were committed elsewhere. Golden earned the recommitment of Anthony Chickillo and Denzel Perryman, both who had a huge impact this season as true freshman. Same with wideout Phillip Dorsett.

Golden also found California JUCO transfer Dalton Botts, who he swayed away from LSU and who Elliott added to his make-fun-of list of outbound seniors, despite the fact that Botts had a very solid junior campaign punting for Miami.

Elliot’s last-ditch effort to create a smoke screen came in implying that Miami is “getting their breaks beat off on the recruiting trail”, despite twenty-eight verbal commitments in mid-December. For the ‘star whores’ out there, the Canes have seven four-star athletes and twenty-one three-stars. Needs are being met in the form of quarterbacks, linebackers, offensive linemen and running backs, too.

Four-star running back Randy ‘Duke’ Johnson is arguably one of the best athletes in the state, a lifelong Cane and the type of kid who can change the culture of a program. Johnson is coming off of a 375-yard performance in the semifinals and five touchdowns in the championship game.

Miami is also in the running for some big names down the stretch and the type of kids who shunned the Canes over the past few seasons, Local talent like four-star cornerback Deon Bush and four-star Pennsylvania running back Greg Garmon have UM in their top three, while the Canes remain in the running for five-star corner Tracy Howard and five-star defensive tackle Eddie Goldman. Golden and staff are also working on Florida State commit, four-star safety P.J. Williams, who visited Coral Gables a few weeks back.

Come February we’ll see who’s getting their brakes beat off and who cleaned up. Until the, it’s all opinion and theory.

With the five early departers and the non-return of Ojomo, that’s six more scholarships that Golden and staff can hand out and with any potential sanctions looking from what Elliot refers to as, “the worst cheating scandal in about a quarter century” (still trying to make sense of that gem), that’s six more three- to four-year players Golden can add for depth sake.

Better a half dozen hungry freshmen ready to learn a new system than broken down upperclassmen who didn’t fully buy in and are choosing the riches of mid-round NFL Draft money over team camaraderie and college ball. Should Miami face any lost scholarships in the coming years, these six departures could greatly help offset the loss felt by the punishment. Especially if Golden lands more Chickillo- or Perryman-type, instant-impact kids.

Miami is an easy target for the outsider right now, as it has been the past half decade. UM fans can’t fault someone like Elliott for his laser focus on past failures and how they’re impacting today and tomorrow, but it’s no mystery why he ignores the long-term and where things can go under Golden, should he prove to be the guy Miami – and other major programs like UCLA and Penn State – believe him to be.

Months back, when doing a Q&A with columnist Rich Halten of ChantRant.com and GarnetandGreat.com, we found a FSU enthusiast open enough to admit what some logical Noles feel about Golden’s potential impact at Miami.

“It’s hard for FSU fans to not have respect for Golden,” said Halten. “Most of us grudgingly saw that Miami made a shrewd hire after Coker and Shannon, as well as a good value for the school’s athletic budget.

Golden appears to have many of the strengths that made Urban Meyer successful, but with none of the hang-ups.”

And there you have it. So simple, even a logical Nole can see.

Golden isn’t the second coming of anything, but he’s definitely something — a factor in this game and a missing piece that caused Miami to turn into a disaster that was 35-29 in the five seasons before he took over. Golden critics will play the, “he never beat a MAC team with a winning record” card, but fail to leave out more important details, starting with what he took over and what he walked away from.

Not too many coaches would’ve touched Temple with a ten-foot pole. A Big East reject that was 3-31 before his arrival and on the brink of shutting the program’s doors for good, Golden went all-in and started the clean-up process.

Over the past few years over a half dozen Owls reached the NFL. Kids that were recruited to a doormat of a program in Philadelphia, grew as players and men, bought into their coach and in turn reached a level few ever expected them to reach.

Golden start 1-11 and within years went 9-4 and 8-4 his final two seasons. He reached a bowl game during the nine-win season and deserved one his final year. His squad took Penn State to the wire once, led late against UCLA in a bowl game and knocked off eventual Big East champion UConn in Golden’s fourth and final season, which might not sound like much to the Miami or Florida State fan, but for those who followed Temple all their lives, Golden did the unthinkable with his turnaround.

Golden handed the keys to for Florida coordinator Steve Addazio after leaving for Miami, who just put together a 9-4 season with Golden’s kids while this weekend’s New Mexico Bowl win over Wyoming marked the program’s first bowl win since 1979 and fourth bowl in school history.

Golden built as big of a winner as was going to be built in Temple and he’ll build a winner at Miami. That doesn’t mean a repeat of what Hurricane fans saw Davis assemble over a decade ago, but a squad that can compete for ACC Championships annually while earning national attention and staying in the title hunt? Absolutely.

We’d all love to see four straight BCS games, back-to-back title games, another 34-game win streak and 19 first rounders over a four-year span, but that’s simply not reality. Not in 2011, not with all this money and parity in the game and not without selling out completely, turning your university into a football factory like an Alabama or LSU.

This upcoming season will be another step in “the process”, though, and that’s what will keep folks like Bud pecking away, building a case that Miami is done if positive results aren’t immediate.

Out with the old and in with the new. UM may take another step back before making that large leap forward, but with the proper pieces in place, ‘The U’ will rise again.

Give Golden and this staff – Miami’s best in well over a decade – some time and watch where this thing can go. – C.B.

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