Whipple: The Reason For Optimism This Season

While perusing ESPN.com earlier, I saw “Cane Mutiny” author Bruce Feldman’s pre-season Q&A. I scrolled for a Canes-themed question and finally stumbled upon one asking about Miami’s shot at an ACC crown. Feldman didn’t discount it, going as far as quoting strength coach Andreu Swasey as saying, “it feels a lot like it did 7-8 years ago when you had all these explosive athletes ready to take off.”

While I’m not quite Swasey-esque and willing to compare the ’09 Canes to the ready-to-explode talent of ‘01-‘02, there’s definitely reason for optimism. Contrary to negative opinion, Miami is going to turn some heads this season.

Those of you not quite willing to believe, I get it. This fan base has been burned lately and burned often. Teased in ‘03 by a supposedly ‘famished’ team, hungry to re-reach their third straight title game and falling short. (Where was that hunger in Blacksburg or the second half against Tennessee?)

A pre-season top ten team in 2004, on OT thriller over the Noles, a 6-0 start… only to limp to a 9-3 finish year one in the ACC.

An eight-game win streak after a season-opening loss at FSU. Ranked #3 in the country mid-November and a month later on the wrong end of a 40-3 bowl game beat-down.

Kirk Herbstreit called Miami a dark horse in the National Championship race when 2006 kicked off. A few new coaches on board courtesy of LSU, yet the same result – a second straight Labor Day loss to Florida State.

Thumped at Louisville thanks to some immaturity and false bravado. A brawl against FIU and an almost-loss a week later at Duke. The murder of Bryan Pata and two especially painful road losses.

After dropping four straight, the lone bright spot – a win over BC on senior night. Pata was recognized, honored and his spirit willed UM to a win that looked impossible after a disastrous first half.

The consolation prize; New Years in Boise and an eventual 7-6 record, making for the longest off-season in recent memory. Larry Coker literally found a way to take Miami to a darker place than Tony Russell and a Pell Grant scandal did a decade prior.

Those quick to question Randy Shannon and looking to turn up the heat year three? Re-refer to the 2006 break down a few paragraphs and rethink that.

The Shannon Project is barely 2 1/2 years underway and the clock just started ticking. The foundation has been laid and new coach’s sophomore campaign showed promise. Could’ve easliy been 10-3. Could’ve again been 5-7. Games were that close.

A Thursday night win over Virginia Tech, proved the Canes biggest win in three years. Same foe, different venue and less on the line – but an important step forward in the overall growth process.

Defensively, Miami showed it had the potential to ‘bring it’… just not consistently. Offensively, identity-less, inconsistent and for the most part, ineffective.

The Canes haven’t truly clicked on O since Kellen Winslow II’s would-be game-winning Fiesta Bowl touchdown. Ken Dorsey proved irreplaceable and a year later, Brock Berlin had an up/down year under his belt while Rob Chudzinski was lured to Cleveland to coach tight ends for Butch Davis.

A few months later, an undeserved in-house promotion for quarterback coach Dan Werner. The result – a two-year 18-6 run for a program coming off a 46-5 stretch. Werner’s eventual firing led to the short-lived Rich Olson/Todd Berry era – Olson, pushed on Coker because the admin didn’t have faith in Berry, a Coker buddy from his Oklahoma State days. The retread and the newbie, a complete and utter disaster when attempting to join forces and run an offense.

Four years after the first chink in the armor surfaced, it was officially time to clean house. Miami canned Coker; a first time head coach and lifelong signal caller who ironically enough was did himself in by not finding a quality offensive coordinator. 

Shannon was hired and eventually settled on Patrick Nix, a risky experiment nipped in the bud after two seasons. A lesser coach gives Nix one more shot to revamp the offense. Shannon cut bait, started fresh and reeled in a big fish.

The Canes former defensive coordinator made Miami’s biggest offensive splash in two decades; the hiring of Mark Whipple. If at first your fifth choice, no name OC doesn’t succeed… try, try the NFL.

Whipple’s resume isn’t Olson-esque, an NFL assistant landing where his buddies hire him. Atop Whipple’s ‘has-done’ list, helping mold Ben Roethlisberger and most recently, getting Donovan McNabb back on track with his best showing since 2004. McNabb threw for a career-best 3,916 overall yards, with a 23-to-11 TD/INT ratio. Philly coach Andy Reid offered a promotion to keep Whipple, knowing the fifth-year quarterbacks coach would turn him down.

“I’ve learned a lot and I want to put it to work,” Whipple told Reid. The successful quarterbacks coach missed calling plays.

A riverboat gambler-type in his six-year stint as head coach at UMass, Whipple possessed a devil may care attitude too brash for a team leader, but the man knows how to run an offense and develop a quarterback. Two things the University of Miami has been void of for over half a decade. Whipple is the Canes’ missing link.

That intangible that kept a ‘pretty good’ Berlin from being ‘great’. The skills to make sure “can’t miss” five-star Kyle Wright doesn’t miss. A resume to lure in better prospects, especially if he works his magic with Jacory Harris; the type of superstar who grew up on the hometown and wants to make a difference – something the Canes thrived off during all those championship runs. Whipple is the remedy to all of that.

Harris/Whipple has potential that Miami hasn’t seen in forever. Dorsey was phenomenal, but don’t confuse Rob Chudzinski’s offensive prowess with the fact the ’01 Canes were as loaded as loaded could be. (A year later, where was the game plan when Ohio State’s defense came to play all night long?)

The last time Miami boasted a tandem with this much going for it, rewind two decades to the Steve Walsh/Gary Stevens era or Craig & Dennis Erickson show.

I’m not drawing a comparison before the season’s first play has been called. It’s simply a statement. On paper, Miami is inching their way back. Offensive needs are being addressed and it’s high time the Canes are get back to high-spirited offensive performances.

Hard to be brash and full of (that overused-yet-relevant-here) “swagger” when a beat-down defense is grinding out 16-14 wins, picking up the slack for an incompetent offense for half a decade now.

You want to fill a stadium? Find this generation’s “Thrill Hill”. Put that ball in the air and make some plays. For God sake, we’re talking about an offense where receivers used to print “BOMB SQUAD” on their hand towels.

The Dink-N-Dunk era is over. Miami will soon again be flying high and lighting up scoreboards. The defense finally gets its chance to feed off the other guys. Playing with a lead or knowing you can score at will – that’s when you see a defense loose and making plays. That’s when you get you turnovers. When it’s “feel” and not “forced”.

We’re a long way from knowing where this season will wind up and for the skeptical folk, I get it. I don’t choose to see it that way, but I understand why you’re not sold. You have valid reasons for not buying in just yet. That said, at least acknowledge the potential of Harris/Whipple. Give Randy credit for the hire and recent recruiting haul-ins.

Wide receivers galore, all entering year two after a hit-the-ground-running freshman campaign. Depth at running back and a beefed up line, offensive coordinator and quarterback are looking at the most talented squad since ’02.

Nowhere near that level of talent, but nowhere near 2006, either. (Oh Kirby where art thou?)

Skeptics, you have your first reason to believe. Proceed with caution if you choose, but get back on board. This ship is officially back on course.

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