Welcome to another meltdown…

Dirk Koetter? Chose Jacksonville. Kevin Sumlin? Staying at Oklahoma. John McNulty? Rutgers is the place for he. Who’s next? We’ll see.

In the interim, let’s attempt to make sense of what’s going on at The U as the fan base is in full meltdown mode and stones are being cast at first-year head coach Randy Shannon.

I’m about to do something really crazy and out there. An attempt at logic instead of reverting into that “sky is falling” mentality so many of our fans choose.

Make no mistake. Koetter was Shannon’s first choice. Homeboy headed straight to Boise in the dead of winter to check out Miami’s bowl practice and was in Coral Gables days later to ink a deal week one into Shannon officially taking over as head coach. Koetter and Shannon had a work-related friendship these past two years and all signs were pointing to “Koetter to Miami”.

It looked like Randy got his #1 guy and all should’ve been well in Coral Gables. While interviewing for he Miami OC job, Koetter got the call from the NFL. Jacksonville called about the quarterbacks coach position, interviewed the former ASU head coach and days later offered him the offensive coordinator position with the Jaguars.

That’s neither an indictment on Shannon, the city of Miami or our fine program. A better opportunity came calling and Koetter took it.

You’re about to leave the bar with a pretty girl and Gisele Bundchen walks in with a better offer. Does that make the other girl any uglier? No. But in this case Door #2 is much more appealing than Door #1. Don’t count that as a strike against Shannon. Call it was it is; crappy timing.

Plan B? To interview everyone else on his list. A handful of “second choice” guys who were all good, but not on Shannon’s radar the way Koetter was.

The most most recent names were Sumlin and McNulty and neither are Miami bound. Some reports say they turned down the opportunity and others say neither was officially offered, just interviewed. Choose what you want to believe. Just remember that these are the same folks who told us Mike Leach to Miami was damn near a done deal and that Kevin Rogers was a shoo-in to get the OC gig.

Sumlin might’ve been a good fit, but trying to poach a guy from a big time program is never easy. OU has the resources and deep pockets to keep him around. If the Sooners are going to offer him more money to stay, why wouldn’t he? You’re talking about leaving a proven winner for another proven winner, except one is in “maintain” mode and the other in “rebuild” mode.

Toss in wives, families and the stress of moving and it makes complete sense that Sumlin would stick around Norman.

As for McNulty, I don’t see why anyone ever thought this guy was headed south and I question how hardly he was actively pursued. He was interviewed and supposedly turned it down as he’s a northeast guy who married a Jersey girl. He says he enjoys Rutgers and feels they’re on the brink of something special, but let’s read between the lines here, people.

McNulty knows good and hell well that his boss Greg Schiano covets the someday vacant Penn State gig. McNulty is a Nittany Lion and would love nothing more to return home. Miami may be Shannon’s dream job, but bet the house Penn State is McNulty’s and he knows Schiano will bring him back when his days in Piscataway are up.

My two cents? I’d like to see Miami focus more on the up-and-coming, lower tier guy from smaller programs. Where are the offers and interviews regarding John Bond (Northern Illinois OC) and George McDonald (Western Michigan OC). Guy who are hungry and primed to be the “next big thing” type of assistants? Coaches like Bond and McDonald are both at smaller programs and you’d think they’re salivating at big time opportunities and a chance to climb the coaching ladder.

Koetter? An NFL guy who already was a head coach at two major programs. Sumlin? Part of the Oklahoma machine, one of the most dominant programs this decade. McNulty? Comfortable at RU until the big boss jets for both their dream gigs at PSU. Same to be said for a guy like Paul Petrino at Louisville, a name Miami fans oft throw out.

Why would Petrino leave a successful UL program for The U? He already has a good gig and isn’t leaving there for anything less than a head coaching opportunity.

At day’s end, Shannon was blindsided by Koetter getting the call from Jacksonville and is still going through the second tier assistants. Give it time. If you’re set to pay an assistant just shy of half a million dollars while you’re on the clock for the first time as a head coach, you need to choose wisely.

For days I’ve stated that I could give a damn about the process. I’m just concerned with the result, as is Coach Shannon, I’m sure.

Relax. Once we have our guy in place, no one’s going to care or remember what it took to get him there.

.:Canes305:.

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