There was a time when the Miami Hurricanes were the envy of the college football world. From 1983-2001, the Hurricanes won five national titles and they also sent a who’s who of talent to the National Football League which ranged from defensive tackle Russell Maryland to safety Ed Reed. However hard times have hit Miami as they have not recorded double-digit wins in a season since 2003 and they haven’t finished a year ranked in the top 25 since 2009. But the bottom might have officially fallen out for the Canes last Saturday when they lost 58-0 at home to the Clemson Tigers. The loss to Clemson marked the worst loss for Miami in school history and it also symbolized the end of the Al Golden era as their head football coach as he was fired the very next day. But for anyone who believes that simply firing Golden will change things for Miami has another thing coming.
Like many schools, Miami saw more money in a different conference and they ran with it. In 2004, Miami left the Big East Conference in favor of the Atlantic Coast Conference and a bigger payday. But Miami’s success hasn’t carried over to the ACC. In the Big East, Miami won nine conference titles while they’ve failed to win any in the ACC along with being unable to reach the conference title game.
SunLife Stadium
The Hurricanes are a football team that is theoretically homeless. The Hurricanes played at the Orange Bowl until 2007 when it was demolished to make way for a new home for Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins. Since then, the Canes play at SunLife Stadium which is also the home of the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins. But SunLife Stadium is 21 miles from Miami’s campus in Coral Gables which doesn’t make it easy for the student body to attend games.
The Canes have also lacked state-of-the-art football facilities for some time now which has hindered them from getting quality recruits. Several ex-Miami players claim that they want to see a “Miami” guy take over the program. But a former Hurricanes player did run the program when Randy Shannon was Miami’s head football coach from 2007-2010 and he was only able to compile a record of 28-22.
But what everyone who is involved with Miami’s program must do is to take a step back and simply have a reality check. The Hurricanes are not a desirable landing spot for recruits and coaches alike as this a program that really needs to consider starting over from scratch being that they are long removed from their glory days. The top recruits don’t want to come to Miami and the top coaches don’t want to touch Coral Gables right now with a 10-foot pole.
Al Golden
When Golden came to Miami, he took over a program that was hit with NCAA sanctions from a previous regime and it was tough for him to overcome. Miami wants and needs to hit a home run with the hire of their next head football coach, but they are lacking the ability to get it done. Current Texas Longhorns head football coach Charlie Strong laughed at the suggestion of going to Miami while Penn State Nittany Lions head football coach James Franklin vehemently denied any interest in leaving Happy Valley for Coral Gables. Job security is important to coaches and Strong and Franklin are each employed by universities that have two of the largest endowments in the nation. And it also doesn’t hurt that Texas and Penn State respectively have some of the best football facilities in the nation.
Miami will put on a full court press to find a coach and you can expect to hear the names of Houston Cougars head football coach Tom Herman, Memphis Tigers head football coach Justin Fuente, and Temple Owls head football coach Matt Rhule come up in conversation about being Miami’s next head football coach, but I believe that each man won’t leave his respective school unless he is completely blown away by an offer to take over a bigger program. Miami should at least contact current Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly to gauge his interest in the job, but I doubt that he’s ready to go back to college. And you can also expect to hear the name of former Rutgers Scarlet Knights head football coach Greg Schiano who was once as assistant at Miami.
But the problem’s with Miami’s program begin with the university itself as they must become committed to their football program as opposed to simply expecting their football program to take care of the school. Former Miami president Donna Shalala talked about working with a potential Major League Soccer franchise in Miami to build a joint stadium at the Port of Miami which has never come to fruition. Now current Miami president Julio Frenk must fortify a plan in order to give Miami better football facilities that will revitalize the school’s football program. The Miami area is littered with great football talent, but unlike the 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s, that talent is either headed to Florida State, Florida, or out-of-state altogether to schools such as Alabama and Georgia.
The appeal and pride that were once in place to play for the Hurricanes and wear the iconic “U” on the side of the helmet is gone, and it doesn’t help that Miami is no longer outfitted by Nike as they’ve shifted to Adidas which has given them some very questionable football apparel to say the least. But the folks in Coral Gables must realize that Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson, and Dennis Erickson are not walking through the door anytime soon, and if they do, it will only be to talk about the old days when Miami was unstoppable.
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