Winning creates swagger, not other way around

Seems to be an ongoing battle and and unanswered question every off-season when in a “chicken or the egg” type way fans began the age old discussion; does swagger come from winning, or do you need that swag to get back to winning ways?

Let’s end the debate once and for all – winning creates swagger with the right mix of kids, not the other way around. You can’t have swagger when you lose, but you win, even the most uptight player starts to get a little bounce in his step.

Hell, even equipment guys get rowdy when the program is on a roll.

Need proof? Look no further than the infamous Headset Guy, three inches from the grill of Xavier Beitia moments after a potential game-winning kick sailed wide left.

Yup, when Miami is on a roll, even the hired help has attitude.

The Canes were swagger-free in the late seventies before Howard Schnellenberger showed up and injected life into the program. Schnelly had some bounce in his step, promising a title within five years and delivering. Beyond that, he locked down South Florida and recruited local kids with an attitude and chip on their shoulders.

The anti-establishment Canes were winning ball games and when Howard left, the arrogant and brilliant Jimmy Johnson took over, which took UM to another dimension. In the hunt for a title year one, playing for and losing a title year two, winning it all year three and getting snubbed for as shot at one year four.

Swagger didn’t win those ballgames. Good coaching and prepared players did.

Dennis Erickson didn’t come to Coral Gables with any swagger, but definitely had some by the time he left. Erickson won a title year one, fell short year two, won again year three and lost a title game year four. Year five produced the first three-loss season the Canes had seen in just under a decade, but year six Miami was right back in the mix losing to eventual champ Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

DE brought his own offense to ‘The U’ but knew better than to mess with a fast, hard-hitting and swarming defense. The result of not meddling wound up being a 63-9 run and two championships over a six-year span.

On Erickson’s watch, the swagger did get out of control – most notably, the 1991 Cotton Bowl, where No. 4 Miami rolled No. 3 Texas, 46-3 and tallied up 202 yards in penalties, most of them for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Canes had game, but also the egos to match and unable to keep things in check, Erickson’s Canes sent the program into a downward spiral that ended in lost scholarships, a lost bowl game and on the field losses UM wasn’t accustomed to.

Butch Davis came in, put a cap on the swag and rebuilt from the ground up. At times Davis’ Canes would still dance, but didn’t back it up. In 1996, a home loss to a good Florida State team was followed up with an embarrassing 31-6 upset at the hands of lowly East Carolina. It marked the first time the Canes had lost two straight at home since 1984.

A year later Miami brought some attitude to Tallahassee, hoping to upset top-ranked Florida State, but left on the wrong side of of 47-0 shellacking.

Slowly but surely, Davis’ Canes started getting a little bounce back and by the end of the 1998 season, glimmers of ‘The Old U’ was resurfacing. Miami lost the Big East title 66-13 at Syracuse, but rallied a week later to upset No. 2 UCLA, 49-45, killing the Bruins’ championship game aspirations. Edgerrin James ran for 299 yards and became a household name while Santana Moss caught bomb after bomb while the injured Reggie Wayne cheered his position-mate from the sideline.

The Canes were creating that NFL U pipeline again and by 2000, Miami reached No. 2 and finished the season 11-1, having upset No. 1 Florida State, taken down No. 2 Virginia Tech and thrashed the hated Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl in the rivals’ first meeting since the 1988 season. The

The Larry Coker era Canes won ballgames, but did it in a professional manner. 2001 was the men against the boys and with guys like Ken Dorsey, Ed Reed and Joaquin Gonzalez leading the team, it was business as usual week in and week out. Clinton Portis and Jeremy Shockey oft played their swag cards, while guys like Jon Vilma and D.J. Williams quietly took care of business.

The most dominant team in UM’s history probably at the least swagger of any championship bunch.

As the wins piled up, Miami felt invincible – as did the new crop of recruits. Guys who got on board when winning ways were the norm, so a sense of entitlement kicked in. A completely different mindset than the guys who came to Coral Gables when the program was down, taking on a blue collar approach to righting the ship.

Coker’s Canes went from undefeated, to one loss, to two losses, to three losses and were eventually a six-loss club the year Larry was canned. Early in that 2006 season, the biggest display of faux swagger ever shown by a Hurricane squad when the No. 17 Canes rolled into Louisville to take on the No. 12 Cardinals.

1-1 after losing to Florida State and beating Florida A&M, Miami talked some big talk the week of the Louisville game. Cards linebacker and Miami native Nate Harris trash talked his hometown team, which prompted a response from then-Canes quarterback Kyle Wright on the Dan LeBatard Show:

“Anytime somebody comes out in the media and basically ‘tries’ your whole program, of course you’re gonna get bent out of shape. You know? We’ve been challenged.
We’ll be there Saturday. They just need to make sure they show up.

We’re gonna go out and play Miami Football. We didn’t come out and have a great game the first game. To me, what’s gonna define our team is how we’re gonna respond from that.

We’re not gonna let some kid from Louisville – who couldn’t get into Miami; determine how we’re gonna go out and play. Of course it gets you fired up, but it has no effect on me. We want to go out and kick their ass.”

Would’ve been a great soundbite if the Canes came out and rolled heads, but after an idiotic pre-game logo stomp, Miami was on the wrong end of a 31-7 beat down.

From there, four wins over patsies, an on-the-field brawl with lowly FIU, a miracle win with a depleted team at Duke and four straight losses – with the murder of Bryan Pata taking place midway through the losing streak.

The Canes limped to a final record of 7-6, capped off with a Blue Turf Bowl game win over Nevada, a month after Coker became the first Canes coach fired in three decades.

There were glimmers of swagger in the final years of the Randy Shannon era, but there was no consistency. Miami opened strong in 2009, beating Florida State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in three of the first four games, but faded down the stretch – pissing away a shot at the ACC Championship game with losses to Clemson and North Carolina, where eight Miami turnovers were the difference.

Championship caliber teams with true swagger don’t play stupid football at crucial points of the season.

In Shannon’s final season, an eight-day span mid-season summed up the state of Hurricane football under the soon-to-be-fired coach.

After an impressive win over North Carolina, Shannon’s Canes couldn’t find the post-game media fast enough. Chest bumps between players and coaches during the game, spilled over to the locker room where guys were all smiles and soundbites.

Fast forward a week to an upset by a Virginia team who finished 4-8 and guys weren’t talking. Two days later when it was meet the press time on campus, Ryan Hill, LaRon Byrd and Micanor Regis were the only Canes on an eight-five man roster who faced the music.

Shannon’s on-the-field mistakes were bad enough, but for a man who preached discipline and accountability, there were many missed opportunities for regarding life lessons and growth experiences. If you want a team to play like a team, consistent and fully believing in the guys on each side of them, you teach them how to handle wins and losses accordingly.

In the end, the result of mismanagement means you don’t have a team. You have some guys who are in it for themselves, while others have team goals – but without unity and properly managing different personalities, you never get consistency, you never get on a roll, winning doesn’t become the norm and without wins, true swagger is impossible to form.

First-year head coach Al Golden now has the task of rebuilding a damaged program, turning a roster of different personalities into a team-first bunch. Bad seeds or guys that didn’t fit have been weeded out, while some Golden kids were added to the most recent recruiting class and twenty more have verbally committed for next season.

Any championship caliber Miami squad played like a team and winning became infectious; it became the only option. Great teams always find a way. That’s how the 1983 Canes upset top-ranked Nebraska for a title. That’s how the 1987 squad came back from a last 19-3 deficit at Florida State, winning 26-25, because Steve Walsh and Michael Irvin wouldn’t have it any other way.

That’s how Erickson’s Canes exacted revenge against the Fighting Irish in 1989, rolling the defending national champions, 27-10 in front of the loudest Orange Bowl in history. Five years later, a similar moment when the Noles rolled in after winning their first title and were sent home bruised after a 34-20 beating.

Teams with true swagger can always be counted on in do or die moments. It doesn’t ensure victory every time, by the preparation is there. Penalties, boneheaded mistakes, turnovers and sloppy play aren’t part of the game plan.

A new process is underway and in time, we’ll see how it plays out. Coach Golden will have to regulate this swagger fans clamor for. It’s more than just chest bumping after a big play. It’s about slowing gaining steam and confidence on a weekly basis as the wins pile up. It’s about the coaches knowing the right buttons to push with kids; tailor-made motivation to each personality time in effort to get the best out of each individual for the sake of team.

Chart the progress this year. From the season opener at Maryland to the finale against Boston College. How does this team grow? Where does it step up? When is that turning point moment when you see true swagger, versus the fabricated stuff that’s been seen in years passed?

The flip side to a rough half decade of Hurricane football – the fact that there’s joy in the rise up and ascension. Each milestone should be appreciated and celebrated.

There’s no doubt that Miami will regain a true swagger. It’s just a matter of when, now that the right pieces seem to be in place.

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