Andy Staples was at Sun Life Stadium on Saturday for that Clemson Chainsaw Massacre, and in the column he wrote before Al Golden was fired he opined that Golden needed to be fired.
Here's one of the reasons why:
Brad Kaaya getting a concussion did not force Miami defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio to regularly play with a secondary that included only two safeties and two cornerbacks against one of the nation’s best spread offenses. Pop Warner defensive coordinators know to play mostly nickel or dime against teams that use as much field width as the Tigers do.
Think about it this way: Florida State, which has one of the best collections of athletes in the country, uses nickel as its base personnel package against Clemson. The win-loss record the past few years tells us Florida State coaches are better at their jobs than Miami coaches are at theirs. They are also adept at beating Clemson, considering they’ve done it each of the past three meetings. It would seem logical to either follow their lead or at least attempt to swipe some ideas in this department.
And this:
James is smarter than he sounded last week in an interview with ESPN.com’s Andrea Adelson. In that interview, James was asked about the planes hired by Miami fans to fly “Fire Al Golden” banners above the stadium on game days. “I’m not sure what the end goal is that they’re accomplishing,” James told Adelson. “Are they accomplishing the fact that I am aware or someone’s aware that they’re not happy with the results that Al has had on the field? That’s already well known. I think what it does do is it just gives all the great fans a black eye, and I think it gives the program a black eye in a lot of ways.”
The end goal, obviously, is to help speed along a coaching change. James obviously knows that. If he doesn’t want it to seem as if he’s firing Golden to appease a vocal wing of the fan base, he doesn’t have to fire Golden to appease a vocal wing of the fan base. He can fire Golden for losing too many games and for not having his team ready to compete against the best teams in his conference. The Hurricanes are 0–5 against Florida State under Golden. Against Clemson, the presumptive ACC favorite and a potential College Football Playoff participant, Miami looked like an FCS team.
“We got beat from top to bottom. They outplayed us. They outcoached us,” Golden said. “I told the team that’s completely my responsibility for not getting them ready to play. They just beat us soundly in every facet of the game. Period.”
We know Miami has good players. Seven players were drafted off a team that went 6–7 last year. About 90 percent of the coaches in the country, if given a truth serum, would admit that they’d trade their starting quarterback for Kaaya. This team can win, and soon. It apparently just can’t do it for Golden and his staff. Going into the game, Golden thought his team had practiced well. Clemson coaches were nervous because they saw athletes on film that—unlike most of the Tigers’ opponents—might be able to match up. Forty-eight minutes of football later, Clemson’s third-team quarterback (Kelly Bryant) was running for a 59-yard touchdown.
A few Monday pictures (#goacc):
A few Monday links:
-- Zac Ellis says Golden's legacy at Miami was underachievement.
Unfortunately for Miami fans, Golden’s penchant for program-building didn’t translate to the ACC. He compiled a pedestrian 32-25 record with the Hurricanes, a mark that includes a losing record (17-18) against ACC competition. Moreover, much of that conference record came in the weaker Coastal Division.
Golden drastically underachieved at Miami, but his tenure does deserve some context. He inherited a program plagued by NCAA troubles from the Nevin Shapiro scandal, which resulted in probation and a loss of scholarships. Despite walking into an unenviable situation, Golden managed to tie for the Coastal Division title in 2012, his second season in town. Miami withdrew from bowl consideration that year due to the ongoing NCAA inquiry. The next season, the Hurricanes shot out of the gate with a 7–0 record. Finally, Miami started to look like the program that had won five national titles since 1983.
But Golden failed to deliver on that momentum. Since beginning its 2013 season with a perfect record, Miami is 12–14 with two straight bowl losses.
And this:
Miami Hurricanes football is a sleeping giant, and the right hire could galvanize the program and put pressure on Florida and Florida State in recruits’ living rooms. In fact, those two schools are probably more upset than anybody at Golden’s dismissal. The coach did less with more for nearly five seasons at Miami. Now the school has a chance to give someone else a shot at turning it back into “The U.”
-- Dan Wolken gives his take on the Miami opening.
How committed is this school to having a championship-caliber football program?
Miami recently upgraded its football facilities on campus, and that’s terrific. It was way overdue, and it won’t be the huge obstacle to hiring a quality coach the way it was in 2010.
But this is also a program with some limitations.
This is a relatively small, private school in a market where support and interest is always going to be fickle. You play in a pro stadium that is nearly hour away from campus and too big to fill unless it’s just a massive game. And from a budget standpoint, Miami operates financially more as a “have-not” than a “have” within the ACC.
By that alone, you can pretty much cross any coach making $3 million or more off the list. Barring an administrative about-face from the way Miami has operated recently, this is going to be more of a bargain-basement type of hire than a big splash.
-- Bruce Feldman says Golden was just a really bad fit, and gives his list of possibilities for the job.
He also compares the Miami and South Carolina jobs:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to college head coaching jobs. Different things appeal to different folks. USC is open and it is a better job than Miami. South Carolina is open, too, and I suspect several guys on my list would view it as a better job than Miami.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how these two programs stack up: Miami has the much better recruiting base (it’s the best in the country) and it has the better history. UM has won five national titles and played for a few more in the past 32 years. South Carolina has won one conference title in its history. Back in 1969 when it was 7-4 and won the ACC. Miami’s brand — the U — still has a big NFL presence and lots of credibility with kids.
On Sunday I’d asked Luther Campbell, the godfather of youth football, if the ’Canes pull is still strong with kids there. He said it was. "Everyone of them come up and want to play for Miami,” he said, adding that Amari Cooper and Devonta Freeman, two of the best players to come out of South Florida really wanted to play for the ’Canes, but the program dragged its feet in showing interest. “All these kids down here, their parents are ’Canes. Everyone around them are ’Canes."
South Carolina can pay a lot more than UM, perhaps as much as $2 million a year more. South Carolina, according to industry sources, also has much more realistic (or manageable) expectations. The facilities — most notably the stadium — is a much, much better situation than what Miami is dealing with. Of all of Miami’s issues, its stadium issue is the worst.
The Gamecocks also have stronger fan support. South Carolina plays in the SEC, which is the best conference in college football, and yet Carolina is in the easier side of it as a member of the East division. Then again, the Gamecocks are still only the fourth-best football job in that side behind Georgia, Florida and Tennessee; and if you include the West (behind ’Bama, LSU, Texas A&M, Auburn and maybe Arkansas), it’s probably only the ninth-best job in the league.
People can point to shots of empty seats and knock the facilities, but the truth is Miami had those issues when it won national titles.
-- Staples ranks Clemson No. 2 behind LSU on his projected playoff bracket.
1. LSU (7–0)
If you look at my previous few projected playoffs, you'll notice LSU isn't in there. Upon further consideration of what the Tigers can do when sophomore quarterback Brandon Harris is on, I've decided to place them here, which is essentially the spot reserved for the least flawed team in the nation (this week). And if you're reading between the lines, you've probably also guessed who I'm picking in the LSU-Alabama game on Nov. 7. If the Crimson Tide prove me wrong, I'll swap them right back in.
2. Clemson (7–0)
Sophomore Deshaun Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and his ability to change plays at the line of scrimmage has raised the degree of difficulty for defending the Tigers. Until this season, when Clemson wanted to change a play, the entire offense looked over at the sideline. The time spent signaling gave defenses time to adjust. With Watson changing plays and signaling only to his affected teammates, defenses usually don't have time to make adjustments. Add to that a defense that makes quarterbacks miserable thanks to junior end Shaq Lawson, and the Tigers look like a national title contender.
3. Baylor (7–0)
I'm leaving the Bears here because they won by almost three touchdowns, in the rain, on a Saturday when their starting quarterback broke a bone in his neck. They'll have to prove they can keep winning with freshman Jarrett Stidham taking snaps. Art Briles is typically reluctant to play freshmen in his offense because he worries they won't operate it fast enough, so we'll have to see how Stidham performs.
4. Ohio State (8–0)
There may be something to this whole J.T. Barrett-at-quarterback thing.
-- Finally, a band called The Family Crest. My guess is you'll either love them or hate them.
LW
