The Larry Coker Thing.

[The Ancient Enemy]

I think his record is 51-15, or 59-15, something like that. My question is, why the hell did they wait till the last game of the season to fire him, then say "you can coach the bowl game"? I dont understand that mentality. Why did they wait until after he beat a ranked team, got the team's motivation up high enough to become bowl eligible against a pretty good BC squad, and then fired him? That doesnt make any sense. The problem with Coker was that he inherited all those great players from Butch Davis, players Davis recruited. Coker won a national title with kids he did not recruit. Since that national title, Miami has been steadily getting worse every season under Coker, culminating this year w/ a 6-6 record and a very disappointing season for kids who should have been developed properly. There is no debate on whether or not the Miami roster has an enormous amount of talent. Those kids stopped getting developed under Coker's watch.

Miami is the worst place to go if you want to be a head coach. The administration are all idiots, starting w/ president Donna Shalala, who should be working for the White House, because every other week she is apologizing for something that someone did. That woman has rocks in her head the size of grapefruits. And you can further evidence that by the fact that Miami completely knew Coker was gonna be gone, and they screwed around and didnt chase Butch Davis, because there are people in the Miami administration who are holding a grudge b/c of how Davis left for Cleveland. See... this is the whole problem with Miami. It starts at the top level, and trickles down. Because you have a university who demands excellence in their football program, because the university itself is a private school w/ a reasonably small enrollment and small campus in comparison to others. That football program fuels EVERYTHING at Miami. They built that program on the talents of kids who were amazing athletes but also very, very troubled. They took kids who were great, that other schools wouldn't even touch. Then you see how those kids acted under Johnson and Erickson. Miami built themselves a reputation of these things. It seemed like they were getting better (or getting better at keeping things under wraps, at least) but then you have the 2006 season. So what we have here is basically an administration who demands excellence in football, knows they are firing the head coach, and still does not go after the guy who took their program to the superhuman level, because of a childish grudge. So which is it???? Do you demand perfection at any cost, or do you want to hold a grudge against Davis and take a chance on someone else? It is ridiculous how Miami has handled things w/ this firing.

When the heat came down on Coker, they told him to clean house or else he was out. Coker fired a bunch of assistants, and made the horrible mistake of going after NOSTALGIA instead of talent. He went and hired that offensive coordinator back from the mid 80's; the guy hasn't coached in 20 years. How in God's name can you take a 20 year break from something and then come back and expect it to go as well as before? This is idiocy on the part of Larry Coker.

Miami doesn't know what they want to do. They say "we demand this and that", then they act like idiots on the same token. Now Davis is signed to a contract with a conference rival who I guarantee you is about to blow up, but more on that later. As a big Miami fan (they've been my second favorite team since I was little) I am disgusted by how this is turning out, and how they expect brand new coaches to keep a hold of a bunch of kids who belong behind bars. Now, we throw ANOTHER coach at them, this time a head coach, who is gonna change everything to HIS way, which probably also will not work.

If I was Randy Shannon, I would have been on the phone since about midseason looking for a head coaching job. This guy has been the only decent bright spot on that team, for years. He deserves better, and I hope he gets it. What Miami should have done, was fired Coker a couple of weeks ago, and let Randy Shannon take over the head coaching duties. Let's see what he can do as a head coach. Then, if he does well, you obviously hire him as the head coach. Now you keep the job in-house, and dont risk losing him to another school. Plus, these kids need someone there who isnt a new face. I really, really think Miami blew a huge opportunity by not doing this. Keep in mind also that I do not advocate firing a guy midseason very often, but if it is completely inevitable, like it was with Coker, then let Shannon run the roost for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Is there anyone who is dumb enough to go coach at Miami, from outside the program?

[S Cube]

Is there anyone who is dumb enough to go coach at Miami, from outside the program?

Is there anyone out there who wouldn't want the job at Miami? Yes, they have been in a steady decline for the past 2 or 3 years and yes they still have a piss poor administration. But the bottom line is they are still 'The U' and they still are one of the most prestigious football programs in the nation. Any coach worth his salt will be able to go recruit with that football history.

If Greg Schiano (canes d-coordinator 99-00) bolts New Brunswick for Miami, look for the Canes to get their 'swagger' back.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Yes, look for Schiano to sell-out and lie to Rutgers just like Meyer did to Bowling Green and Utah.

And yes, look for Miami's woes to continue w/ Schiano as head coach. I guess you didnt take into consideration the extreme differences in academics between Miami and Rutgers.