Well I guess now that I have some time, I must shine light on my Miami Hurricanes football team, and the troubling year, or should I say years. Growing up, I have always had true passion and heart for this team as both a fan, and a critic, living 5 minutes away from the old orange bowl as a child, to now as i live almost 900 miles away, in South Carolina, I must say I have been very disappointed in the past 5 seasons.
There has been no excitement, no SWAGGER, no winning. We have yet to snatch a bid for a conference championship, in the lackluster ACC conference, as our fierce Rivals keep beating up the competition including MIAMI. It is surprising that after our move from the Big East which we dominated for years, we have yet to have a 10 win season, while there have been 7 seasons in the ACC with a team with 10 or more wins. Miami is a power house, a team that is a house hold name, a team that every kid that plays football not only in the Sunshine state grows up hearing about and watching, but every player in America knows about. This is known for creating swagger on the gridiron, it is responsible for the longest Home winning streak in the History of College Football (58 Straight) which lasted over 10 years and through 4 presidents. It is the team that assembled probably one the most successful and the most talented football team in the history of College Football in the 2001 National Championship team, which included names such as Andre Johnson, Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, and Willis Mcgehee. All which have gone to be pro bowlers in their respective positions. This is a football program that has had one alum score in over 250+ consecutive weeks in the NFL, and most importantly holds the longest streak for most consecutive 1st round players drafted to the NFL... SO WHATS MISSING FROM THE PICTURE??
Program Stability: Coaching has been ever so hard for us to bond with, our concept of coaching I can say has been misconstrued to an Idea of doing so-so and dealing with it. Since Butch Davis left his ever so perfect class that allowed Larry Coker to win 34 games straight and a Nat. Championship in 2001, our program has been in shambles. We hire almost always internally, which can be a positive thing, but sometimes it is good to expand your options. Larry Coker, hired internally, and his coaching faltered once the masses of Davis's players gradated or went on to make millions. Randy Shannon, also hired internally, never got his foot down as a head coach as it seemed he could recruit the players in South FLA, but never have an overall good performance on the field, which eventually costed him his job as coach a few weeks ago.
The other two programs: FSU and FLA, two other powerhouses, have had better performing years in the past 6 years than MIAMI, which has cost us, recruits, money, and opportunities to play and to gain respect from the media and players across the high-school platform. We don't play UF every season, as we play them every 4 years as of now, which hurts our instate rival, and the most crucial game of the year against FSU, has had it's spotlight diminish because of lackluster play... This has to change in order to show the Nation who we truly our in our place in the College Football World.
Academics Yes, But Swagger??: Our attitude, our way of play, our vision, and mission, are truly missing, unless they are waiting for something major to happen to turn the winning ways back in our direction. I mean if anyone can explain why we cannot even come close to beat any ranked team, and most of all, struggle to beat Duke in the past two seasons, they need to contact me right away.. This is most likely the biggest question people have about my favorite squad, but I know as a true football fan, there is something missing, and that thing is mental, and must be done by the team as a whole...
A solid QB: Everyone knows I love Jacory Harris, but c'mon man, you can't throw a legit slant, or even a ball to the numbers. Everything Jacory has done the past two years has actually been detrimental, we need to find some consistency at this position, and most importantly get some better coaching to these guys because we have mad talent behind the center. This must be done fast, Jacory should learn and learn quick from the new coaching staff, and an open competition should be held in the spring instead of just naming him starter.
Talent but all talk: OUR PLAYERS MUST LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS. ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT.. IGNORE RECRUITING CLASS RANKINGS AND DO WORK.
Finally, I must end this by saying that as I was disappointed to see my boy Randy leave the program under such circumstance, I am very optimistic to see what Al Golden will put on the table for the next 5 seasons, If he makes it.. Ill Tell you what, he better recruit harder than ever, because players are disappointed in my hometown, and have no idea about this guy, and are quickly loosing respect for the program.
On that Note, If miami does not contend for an ACC title next year or win a Championship in the next 3, This program is in bigger trouble than ever before...
Im going to leave you with this...
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