Where are all the 5-stars Balki! Larry ain't gonna be happy when he sees this mess!

Last weekend was the big one for recruits, with half a dozen or so on campus, checking out Coral Gables and Coconut Grove’s finest. This weekend, the last before National Signing Day, is a more subdued affair. Notable on the list is Ray Ray Armstrong, who, if he lives up to his high school hype, will no doubt become my new favorite, rotating Cane. He plays my favorite position, and is being compared in some circles to my favorite Cane of all time, Sean Taylor.

“Miami coaches just tell me to be ready when I get there, work hard,” Armstrong said. “I see myself playing right away, making a big impact.”

“They say I have a nose for the ball like him (Sean Taylor),” Armstrong said.

Up until this off-season, I actually abhored recruiting. Felt it was an unnecessary exurberance, a gluttonous affair, something for the unemployed or wanting to be unemployed males to argue about on message boards. Last year, after Randy signed the incredible class, I was, at best, ho hum. “I’ll pay attention when they see the field,” I said. “Call me when they show some game results,” I responded to excited friends.

After last season, I am a changed man.

Watching Sean Spence wreak havoc, Aldarius Johnson make spectacular catches, Travis Benjamin near Hester-esque returns, Laron Byrd’s coming out party in the Emerald Bowl, I now am a believer. Sure, recruiting is still a hit and miss game. Always will be when you are choosing a commodity that is not fully grown. I’ve said this before, but since most of you are fresh readers, I’ll say it again. In the words of one of my heroes, Clarence Worley, “I’d rather have a gun and not need it, than need a gun and not have it.” No matter what anyone says, the results speak for themselves.

A true Death Match.

Yes, yes, give me some more, yes!

This is great news for Canes fans. The longer this figurehead CEO Grandpa sticks around, the longer he alienates Jimbo Fisher, the better it is for all of the country. FSU was 9-4 this past year, but I think that record is deceiving. Sure, they killed Wisconsin in the bowl game. Ok. You’re point? Third tier games like the Champ Sports Bowl are meaningless, unless I have money on the ‘Cuse against Ga Tech, thinking I’m sitting pretty after a strong season finish, and hellloo 5 touchdown loss. Thank you, Paul Pasqualoni! Then again, Miami played almost the same schedule, lost to FSU, and went 7-6. But we are the eternal optimists ova hea!

Most know the stipulation in Jimbo Fisher’s contract, stating if he is not the HC by 2011 FSU owes him $5 million. And does anyone out there think he will actually get the gig at that time? I sure don’t. Bowden has the “drive until I’ve backed into four Toyota Camry’s in the local Publix, daggumit, no, I won’t give up my license, no I’m not blind, I read the bottom row didn’t I? Ann! This young feller is trying to take my license away!” written all over him.

Here’s to Bobby Bowden, and not to career brevity!

Step back kracka!

With all this craziness regarding the new OC hire, we can’t forget the most important part of the off-season, getting fresh Miami Thugs ®. Miami signed another OL this past week in Malcolm Bunche, a 3 star recruit on Rivals.

Bunche is #39 at his position, and is a whopping 6′5” 315. Miami definitely can’t sign enough O-linemen, and I hope they bring in some corn-fed Iowa boys as walk-ons, just to get beat up every day and called Krackers for their overalls and haircuts.

Bunche’s other finalists were Rutgers and Maryland. Always good to steal someone Schiano wanted. (Recruit your own state buddy! Learn to manage a game! Joe Pa is never retiring!) Anyways. Manny Navarro has some more details on Bunche, and speaks the truth when he says most recruiting posts are Height/Weight/40 time/Star Ranking/Next!, of which I also fall victim. But that’s why they get paid! To feed us information, of which we just throw a great, fantastic opinion on, no doubt hilarious in its efforts.

Men at Work is a great movie.

When one comes, they all start rolling in-

Our second interview with a former Coach Whipple player today is with his D-1AA national title winning QB, Todd Bankhead.

Bankhead came to UMass the same year as Coach Whipple (1998), from Palomar Junior College in San Marcos, CA. And just like our previous interviewee Jason Peebler, Bankhead set all kinds of passing records while at UMass. Lets do this!

Todd, being a Miami Hurricane fan, and having to endure two years of Patrick Nix led offensive play calling, I’m sure you can imagine our excitement level right now with this Mark Whipple hire.

You both came in to UMass in 1998. How did he help change the team offensive dynamic? I realize you were coming from a JUCO, but how did other players on the team react to his style?

(Note: All bold emphasis in Todd’s answers is mine.)

Hey Tony,
I’m happy to answer your questions about Coach Whipple, I still keep in touch with him and just recently saw him at our 1998 National Championship reunion back in October. I think you guys will like what he brings to the table.

Before Whip and I got to UMass they were 2-9 the previous year. They were running the option which is night and day compared to what Whip likes to do. I don’t think it was quite the same situation with the Canes because of the winning tradition and expectations there, but at UMass the players immediately bought into what Whip was trying to do because we were hungry. I think it is quite remarkable what he was able to accomplish offensively because he was bringing in a whole new system with players who were accustomed to something totally different. One of the cool things that I think personifies his style and system was that he was ultra confident more towards being brash about establishing what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it (what I mean by that is he told us from the start we were going to be potent and hard to stop and kind of instilled that into us).

The stats for your Junior and Senior seasons speak for themselves. You broke all kinds of school records in passing. What kind of scheme does Whipple run? We Miami fans really have nothing to look at in terms of his style of play calling.

I can only imagine that since coaching in the NFL he has become all the more innovative, but in terms of what he was doing at UMass, he was wide open.  That isn’t to say he just wanted to air it out every game, because we had a great running back who played in the NFL for 7 years (Marcel Shipp), but he was innovative in that he knew how to expose other teams and how to utilize mismatches.  As far as a scheme goes, we ran everything from off-set I formations to 5 wide empty sets (Yes!).  It was definitely more of a pro scheme and not all this spread option Vince Young stuff you see. (However, if he had a Vince Young he would definitely utilize those talents and work that stuff in).  I think what you guys will like is that he is not predictable, and he is kind of fearless when it comes to play calling.  The only difference is he is not the head coach and he might be reigned in a little bit, but we went for it on 4th a lot and he was willing to take chances like throwing out of the end zone when most coaches would try to pound it and give themselves some space.  One thing is for sure, you wouldn’t classify Whipple as being conservative.  Definitely fun to play for and fun to watch.  The thing I liked most about his offense, it wasn’t overly complicated for the players to pick up (his plays weren’t a paragraph long with hundreds of variables for each player to read on the fly), but it was very tough for defenses to defend against.

What kind of coach is Whipple? Players coach? Disciplinarian? Does he demand a lot?

That is a tough question to answer because at UMass he was as fiery as they come.  I’m sure coaching in the NFL is a lot different because you can’t really get into guys like he did, because that probably wouldn’t work. As the Head Coach/OC, he would light into me like nobody’s business, but would also coach me and congratulate me for doing something good.  I’d say we had a great relationship but he was not hesitant to unleash his wrath when I or someone else screwed up. He also knew who he could do that with and who wouldn’t respond to that type of coaching. I’m very interested to see how he is at Miami because they are college kids but are also high profile recruits who have egos. He will know how to manage whatever situation he is in because he knows how to deal with people. You need to get a microphone on that guy because he says some funny stuff when he goes off. I don’t think you get that impression from interviews and stuff like that, but as a coach, he is as fiery as they come.

I see you had some experience in the professional ranks after UMass. Can you give us a brief rundown? And also, how did Whipple prepare you for the next level, especially being a QB?

After college I ended up in the CFL and Arena League for 4 years.  I would say Whip helped me tremendously with being able to recognize things and take advantage of mismatches.  He definitely instills toughness in his players and expects a lot from them, which gets you prepared for just about anything.

For all my UMass readers, what are you up to right now? How is life treating you? Was it hard giving up the game?

Right now I’m a Police Officer in San Diego. I work for an agency that is different from most because we do a lot of different stuff from traditional agencies. For instance, I’m a scuba-diver and do a lot of work on the water with boats as well as marine firefighting, along with traditional police work in a patrol car. After playing football, I thought I would get into coaching but I was sick of the job instability thing and tried some of the 9 to 5 jobs, but didn’t care much for that.  I never thought I would be a cop but I love it and have a blast.  Life is great, I’m married and have a 10 month old boy who hopefully takes after his mother (she was a college volleyball player who is much more athletic than me).
 

Last question. Here is the situation: 4th and 3, on the opponent’s 40 yard line, up by 2 points, 2:00 minutes to go, opponent has 1 time out left. Conference title on the line. What would you guys do?

Honestly, we were in that type of situation plenty of times. I would have to say Coach Whip would want to put it away and go for it kinda like Pete Carroll does it at SC.  In 1998, we were huge underdogs early in the year to the #5 D1-AA team that year.  It was the 4th quarter and we were down by 1 or 2 points.  We drove inside their 20 with about 8 seconds left and called timeout. All we had to do was play it conservative and we would have a good shot at winning on a field goal. On the previous play I completed a ball for a 6 or 7 yard gain and Whip saw something that I didn’t and wanted me to throw it in the end zone to a different receiver. When I came to the sideline he Mother F’d me like you’ve never heard….just going off. When he settled down, he called a play and told me if we got a certain look the backside receiver would be open on a post route. We go out after the timeout and line up to run the play and the defense calls a timeout.  During the timeout, Whip walks out on the field and starts screaming at their defense, “Give us a fucking look” as if they were a scout team defense or something.  I was like, this dude is crazy. I’ll tell you what, it got our guys jacked up and probably dumbfounded their team’s defense.  On the next play, sure enough, we got the look we wanted and we hit the backside receiver for a touchdown to win the game.  It was awesome and really I think it propelled us that year to go on and win the National Championship.

I think you guys will really love Coach Whipple. He is as good of a coach as there is out there.

Todd

Ok Canes fans. That officially does it. I have to go buy some extra kleenex because I just made an excitement pee in my pants. And I believe we can also officially start a new calling card, a new catch phrase….. “GIVE US A FUCKING LOOK!”

We have landed our first exclusive mini-interview with a former Whipple player! A recent commenter on this site, Jason Peebler was kind enough to indulge me in my questioning, when really all I wanted was assurance the Canes are going to push some teams’ shit in next year. Peebler was an All-American WR with UMass, setting all kinds of team receiving records, and played under Whipple from 2001-2003. Lets do this!

How did Whipple help change the team’s offensive dynamic?

I was recruited out of high school by Coach Whipple, and one of the main reasons choosing UMass was because of his spread attack. He puts a lot of pressure on opposing team’s pass defenses by spreading defenses thin and throwing the ball on first down.

Whipple is going to line up and look for the mismatch on defense and abuse it. With the speed of the skilled positions at the U, he should have no problem putting up nationally recognizable numbers.

You mentioned in a comment on a previous post that Coach Whipple’s offensive schemes are “nightmares for opposing defenses.” Can you elaborate on this?

I think the best attributes that Whipple brings to any team is his ability to put together a good game plan and motivating his players to play at their highest abilities. I know his offensive mind has grown even more after spending a few years around the NFL. He helped me by his commitment to motivate his players in all aspects of the game, on and off the field.

What kind of coach is Whipple? Players’ coach? Disciplinarian?

The most interesting part of this signing is what approach Whipple will take in the locker room and on the field. Being a head coach you have a lot more pull and how the ship was run. He is a very disciplinary coach and always would hold us accountable for our actions. I am glad to see him back in the college ranks because he can make such a strong impact on 18-22 year old males trying to find their way in life.

For all my loyal UMass readers, what are you up to right now? I see you were signed as a free agent with Philadelphia after college. Was it hard giving up the game?

As far as life after football, it’s definitely something that I miss, day in, day out. I have a son on the way in two months, and am just working and doing the family thing. My little brother Jake Laudenslayer just signed to play QB at Marshall University, so I look forward to watching his games and being supportive as he battles for the starting job.

Ok, last question. Here is the situation: 4^th and 3, on the opponent’s 40 yard line, up by 2 points. 2:00 minutes to go, opponent has one time out left, what would you guys do?

On 4th and 3 on the opponents 40, up by two, we definitely would line up in 4 wide and run slants on the front side with a smash concept on the back side. Outside receiver runs a 5 yard hitch and inside receiver runs a corner. Hopefully they were in man and we hit it over the top.

Wow. That play sounds so awesome I almost can’t comprehend its awesomeness. Jason added that one of Coach Whipple’s best assets was the ability to recruit Florida. Convincing players to come from Florida to Massachusetts? Natch. Getting them to stay in the State of Miami will be nothing.

I want to thank Jason for his time in answering my questions. He really gave us Cane fans that were in the dark with Coach Whipple’s tendencies and schemes something to latch onto. Lets all start creating unhealthy expectations for the Spring Game!

Miami will announce today that Mark Whipple will be taking over the reigns of the offense for “Mr. Spreads No Huddle McGee” Patrick Nix. Hopefully we will all survive the transition.

Since my original assessment of Whipple, I am definitely in his corner, and even more so now. I have received feedback from people up in the Northeast, obviously more well-versed in his offensive style. In fact, we received info from a direct source, one who has played for Whipple.

From commenter JP:

“…I played WR for Whipple at Umass from 2001-2003 and his offensive schemes are nightmares for opposing defenses.”

Now that is the type of details I want to hear, even if it is a vague assessment. I don’t believe Miami has ever had an OC that has created nightmares for opposing DCs. In fact, they have spent the past 5 years sending out prancing unicorns carrying burlap’s of gold and honey into their dreams.

Whipple took a 2-9 UMass team in 1997, one he did not coach, came in and revamped the entire team, and they won the D1-AA national championship in 1998 with a 12-3 record. Also of note, for those who read into these things too much, was his win in the title game against a Paul Johnson led Georgia Southern team. This guy knows what he is doing with an entire program, let alone just the offense. If Whipple was holding out for an Assistant Head Coach title, who really cares? All titles after the HC are arbitrary anyways. All that matters are who gets the wins, and who calls the plays. I could be the Assistant HC for jebus sake.

Marcel Shipp, a long-time Arizona Cardinal and UMass alum, had this to say about Whipple:

“When we hired Whip, he said in his press conference that we were going to win a national championship,” Marcel Shipp, the all-time leading rusher at UMass, said. “I was like, has he seen the team?

“But somehow he made us believe,” Shipp said of coach Mark Whipple. “They made it happen for us because we had the talent here, but we didn’t know how to use it. They brought us to another level and I take my hat off to the whole staff.”

Yes sir. I need to go find my dancing shoes.

The LB corps just got themselves another private this weekend, ready to enlist. LB Shayon Green (6′2” 235) committed this weekend after his official visit. He was previously committed to Purdue, so this was obviously not a hard choice for him. Green has family in Homestead, and also cited  “the weather,” always a killer for them slow ass Big 10 schools. Green forgot to mention the “lack of backwoods rednecks” for fans, and “an extreme inferiority complex to Notre Dame” for additional reasons for de-committing, but we can just go ahead and assume he just forgot.

Green has 4.67 speed, which puts him exactly .01 of a second slower than my fastest 40 time, but we’ll let him slide on that one. His senior stats are sick (120 tackles, 2 sacks, 5 forced fumbles) and Miami coaches believe he will start right away in the fall. In high school Green played DT, DE, and LB, and I can see him easily gaining 30 pounds and being moved to DE if it suits him.

All in all, a good late pick up for Randy. Green is listed as a 3-star by Rivals.

Mark Whipple was spotted at Hecht Athletic Center on Friday (no doubt to be fitted for his future national championship ring) and was reportedly offered the OC spot by Miami.

Whipple reportedly has stated he will make his decision by the end of the weekend. All setting up for a great Monday press conference for the U. We’ll have to wait and see.

An interesting name has been branded about for Miami’s new defensive coordinator position, and is a very surprising candidate. Norton’s only DC experience was at Hamilton High in LA back in 2003.

However, his USC resume speaks for itself. Linebackers coach since 2005, his list of All-Americans at the position reads like a college defensive Hall of Fame: Matt Grootegoed, Lofa Tatupu, Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga. Multiple All-Americans, All-Pac 10 teams, first round draft picks. He was a star as a player in college and the NFL, and he knows how to make stars of his players now.

Norton is also known as a fantastic recruiter, and with his extremely strong SoCal ties, this could be absolutely fantastic guy for Miami to grab hold of. Miami has never been all that strong in the hotbed of Southern California, but Norton would definitely go towards changing that. Now, it’s not like players from SoCal are going to suddenly stop going to USC and move across the country to go to school, all because Norton came to Miami. It’s a proven fact that the number one factor in a recruit’s choice of school is proximity to home. If Norton can get one or two 4 star, or even one 5 star each recruiting season, from his former stomping grounds, that will be considered a success for Miami. And then unleash Norton and his boxing gloves on all of Florida, let him set these guys up, get ‘em all primed, and bam! In comes the Randy the closer to sign the deal. A perfect tandem to start bringing in loads upon loads of defensive talent.

Now, we have to talk about the obvious con to hiring Norton. The guy has no play calling experience. I trust that Shannon knows what he is doing, but that does not mean we cannot question his thought process in bringing in a non-proven DC. Tim Walton was the same thing-a great position coach, trusted by Randy, and did a horrible job. Randy knew it, and got rid of him after year one. Norton obvsiouly has a better reputation, but still, he hasn’t been a play-caller. Perhaps Randy will assist in the DC duties behind the scenes, until Norton is up to speed. Something I don’t think will take long, with his great history as a player. But if he can start bringing in some 5 star LBs, more Dan Morgan’s, Jessie Armstead’s, and (ironically) Michael Barrow’s, it won’t matter and we’ll all end up happy with the results.

With the OC search possibly over, although not yet official, grabbing Norton in the same week would be an incredible turn of events in the national PR department. Only last week all the Cane message boarders were up in arms, claiming Randy was in over his head. This should shut dem up nice and quick.

In the end, this D will run itself once it gets some players, and more importantly, some quality depth. Lets bring in Norton and his SoCal recruiting ties, start inching into ole Petey’s stomping grounds, sign this recruiting class, get all this shit over with, and start thinking about where to tailgate for the spring game!

One can never trust anything said by any coach anywhere, so take this how you wish.

Oregon State HC Mike Riley has pretty much killed the hopes and dreams of lots of Canes fans with a few choice words.

“The story never was real,” said Riley, shooting down the message boarders with five words.

“I’ve been with Danny since Monday, driving around Texas and Oklahoma. … Danny doesn’t know (UM coach) Randy Shannon, he’s never been contacted by anyone from the school.

“He doesn’t know anything about it.”

Ouch. Again, we never can tell with these things, but why would Riley say this at all if it wasn’t true? He has nothing to hide here. Personally, I’m moving on to another candidate as my top choice.

Miami announced their finalized 2009 home and away schedule.

This is not their actual schedule with dates for all games, as the conference slate is still TBA.

Home:

Oklahoma  10/3

Florida A&M  10/10

Duke

Georgia Tech

Clemson

Virginia

Away:

Florida State  9/7 (most likely)

Central Florida  10/17

South Florida  11/28

North Carolina

Wake Forest

Virginia Tech

God the ACC slate sucks. I don’t know how Seminole fans survived the ’90’s.

This one is so illogical, so dumbfounding, so incomprehensible……

Wait a second….phone transcript coming in over the AP wire….

Tommy Tuberville: ‘Ello?

Randy Shannon: Tommmmeeeeee!! What’s going on?

TT: Randyyyyyyyyyy!!! What’s up my brother from anotha motha?! (pause) Oh, you know, nothing much.

RR: You busy?

TT: Well….yeah, Randy, I kind of am-

RR: Tommy, hold it right there. Did I ever tell you the studs I have on my defense? Look at this list of guys. Look!

TT: That’s great Randy, I remember the kids we used to get down there in the ’80’s with Jimmy, but…like I said…I’m kind of busy right now-

RR: Tommy-did you say Jimmy? What a coincidence! I have him on speaker right here! (whispers into Jimmy Johnson’s ear).

Jimmy Johnson: Huh-what! Randy, goddamit, you said I could borrow your car to drive down to the Keys. I have this week off you know!

TT: Jimmy! Hey! But Randy, what’s this all about? I’m pretty busy up here.

RR: Well, Tommy, you might of heard, but….

JJ: Randy! I’m out! Tubs-adios! Randy-I’ll have the car back by Super Bowl Sunday!

RR: Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. No problem coach. (Door slams). Uh, Tommy, like I was saying, we, you know, sort of, have an opening-

TT: Randy-you’re not giving me your smug cocky face over the phone are you??

RR: (blushes) What! No! Never to you Tubs! (uncomfortable pause) So, yeah, Tommy, about that open spot….aren’t you hurting for money a little bit now that Auburn let you go?

TT: Hahaha! Hell no! And as part of my severance they gave me my own transportation service. And it’s Green. I just have to feed it bananas every twenty minutes. (pause) Randy… (laughter) wait-are you asking me to come be your Defensive Coordinator? As in, I’d be under you?

RR: Uh……well….

(inaudible laughter over receiver, hard to decipher words)

(30 seconds pass)

RR: So….anyways Tommy….can I count you in?

TT: (stifling laughter) Randy….(more laughter)….Randy, uh, I’m kind of busy. I need to clean up my yard. I haven’t been back there since the Iron Bowl. How about a rain check on that thought, and I’ll get back to ya?

RR: (sighs) Yeah, ok. That’s fine. Talk to you later.

TT: Ok, great Randy. Good talking to you. Bye.

(They both hang up the phone. )

TT: (quiet laughter) Whew. Man, that Randy! Always a jokester!

(Phone rings)

TT: ‘Ello?

Lane Kiffin: Is this Tommy Tuberville? Former Head Coach of….(whispers) fuck, where is it….former Head Coach of Auburn?

TT: Yes. Who is this?

LK: This is Lane Kiffin. I’d like to offer you a spot on my staff as Second Assistant  Secondary Coach. Interested?

TT: Wait….Kiffin…Kiffin…the little fucker who just got hired at Tennessee? And is bringing in all that coaching talent so even he can’t fuck it all up? Who hasn’t proven jack-shit and just replaced a close friend of mine with a national title? That Lane Kiffin?

LK: Yessir. That’s me.

TT: How much we talking here? I’m kind of busy right now.

LK: $1.25 million.

TT: Where do I sign?

(end transcript)

Lets review:

There is no way in the name of The Judge that Tubs comes to a private school for a step down career wise. This guy just spent that past 14 years at public schools, in the SEC, which also have no NFL teams. And he’s going to come to Miami? Favors and past lives do not count for that much in life. Let’s all move on now, please.

Back up that truck load of offensive talent in Coral Gables, right here...

John McNulty is next on our OC search list. Promoted to Rutgers’ OC in 2007, McNulty has been with former Miami DC Greg Schiano since 2004. Also Rutgers QB coach, he could fill this role like Nix did, saving Randy and the school their much needed (blah) money.

Shannon actually went after McNulty when he was hired at Miami back in 2006, and McNulty turned him down, citing the lack of offensive talent. Uh, dickhead perhaps? Shouldn’t Randy disqualify him on those grounds alone? Some retribution? As much as we’d all like that, pure hatred is dead in sports these days. You have the obvious relationship stemming from Schiano from his Miami DC days, so that no doubt is playing into Randy’s thought process. And McNulty was up for the Alabama OC job last year, so that will definitely add some reputation clout to his hiring potential.

Rutgers’ offense this year was actually pretty good, considering they don’t really have any talent, no matter what ESPN will lead  you to believe. Schiano is overrated. Any competent coach should be able to take any BCS school, even the perpetual shit storm that is Rutgers, to a great season or two. In this day and age of 85 scholarships, the playing field is leveled out. With the offense losing stud Ray Rice, many thought QB Mike Teel would be total shit this year, but guess what, he was pretty good. Sure, some of that can be attributed to him being a senior, but Rutgers had zero rushing attack this year, and finished second to last in the conference.

The good for McNulty? Rutgers conference finishes this year:

Passing Offense: #1 (270 yards per game)

Passing Efficiency: #1 (60 % completion rate; 144.79 rating)

Scoring Offense: #1 (29 ppg)

Total Offense: #1 (398 yards per game)

We all the Big East is not exactly an offensive powerhouse. In fact, with Louisville in the shitter and Rich Rod gone to Michigan, Cincinnati is about the only team with a competent offensive name branded coach. But compare those stats with what Miami did this year under UberCoach Nix (196 passing ypg, 117.91 passer rating, 29 ppg, 326 total ypg), and McNulty is working it with less talent and against arguably better defenses. Throw in the fact he recruited a 4-star QB recruit in Tom Savage to Rutgers, who is #8 nationally at his position, and McNulty could have the makings of a nice fit to a name brand school to be surrounded by shit loads of talent. I’m still for Langsford and Whipple over him right now, but wouldn’t be crying for Rob Chudzinski’s return either if he got the gig.

I'll be right up there Coach. So when you want to let the media blame another 3 loss season with your underachieving team on a coordinator, you know where to find me.

First in our rundown of potential defensive coordinators is none other than a home grown Coral Gables product, Willie Martinez. Currently serving the same position with Georgia under Mark “I get way too much credit for multiple 2 and 3 loss seasons” Richt, he has been in that role since 2005.

Martinez’s name is already being thrown around Miami because of his previous relationships to the school. It is his Alma Mater, he is from the Gables, and even played on the 1983 national title team. I like that he was a DB when he played; I always feel that creates better coaches, I don’t know why. Maybe I just think being further back from the ball you learn and see more of what’s going on.

I am on record as saying Georgia was vastly overrated this year, with their marquee win coming against another team, Michigan State, that didn’t have a quality win of their own in a horrendous year for the Big Ten. Georgia got smoked against the two teams it played with a pulse, Florida and Alabama. And then they were torn a new one by Paul Johnson and his triple option. Well, us Cane fans are used to that! Somebody get this guy an offer letter!

Then you look at this paper stats, and they are not looking good. Maybe the Dawg fans are correct in their assertion they would welcome Big Willie’s dismissal or resignation. Stats?

Ouch. Dem Stats don’t lie. Georgia’s defense got progressively worse since his arrival, culminating with their 10th place finish in the SEC this year in Points Allowed. I was talking myself into Martinez as the perfect caretaker of the soon to be talent rich Hurricane defense, the guy who knows the Gables personally, can sell the recruits on the area and specifically the program, but those stats are eating away at the logic in my brain. You don’t get worse almost every year and warrant a new gig. I still think Martinez could be a good choice, even a great one. I’d rather Randy be calling the plays, but he’s said that the duties of the HC are too much to also run the defense. So, I guess I’m on board for the Martinez hire. The SEC is much tougher than the ACC. Miami will have superior athletes. Sean Spence is a beast. (That’s right Anton, talk yourself past those stats….)

Randy hates the cold. And all you Polly Prissy Pants Cane fans. Pull on an officially licensed wool coat and grow a pair!

Well at least this loss was quick and to the jugular. News becomes public yesterday afternoon, 24 hours later, he’s gone. I like the brevity.

Now, what is next for Miami? Will the hell fires reign down on Randy’s defensive recruiting class until Urban steals every last one of them and Miami goes 0-12 next year? Uh, maybe? I keed, I keed. Bill Young was not known as a recruiter by any means. He was a 61 year old X’s and O’s guy. I didn’t want him to leave, but I don’t believe there really will be any drop off.

This year’s defense was either tremendously young or tremendously shittay, depending on the position. Either way, it couldn’t tackle, let alone find, who the hell had the ball against Ga Tech. There is no depth, especially on the D-Line. Each recruiting class will address this problem until it becomes a strength.

Randy subscribes to the theory of “He who has the best players, wins.” His vaunted defenses of his coordinator days would run a basic 4-3 scheme, rotate in two waves of D-linemen, get relentless pressure with just the 4 man rush, and let the back seven create plays with their athelticism. Once Dorsey and Co. put some touches on the board, said D-Line would pin it’s ears back and really start the ruckus. Start the mother fuckin’ ruckus! Bam. More turnovers, short field, touchdown, rinse, repeat. Game over.

The new DC, even if Randy decides to wisely take over the reins if he doesn’t find a suitable candidate, will be able to put this side of the ball on auto-pilot. Teach them up in practice, make sure they are making the correct reads, and let them play. It’s the offensive side that needs to give the D a lead to work with. Just like a pitcher in baseball.

The “turmoil” of the past few weeks is completely media and crazy fan base driven. Randy Shannon and Miami are in the early stages of a fantastic partnership, not unlike that of Bill Belicheck and the Patriots. Yeah, yeah I know Randy has not done shit yet. But do the Pats fans worry when they lose coordinator after coordinator to other teams? Of course not. They learned post Weis and Crennel that the only guy who matters is the top dog, Billy B. Give him solid quarterback play, and he will get you to the playoffs 4 out of 5 years. Give him great play and he will take you undefeated and on the cusp of the best season in history. It’s a difficult argument to make at this point, but I believe we are in the Browns days of Belicheck’s career with Randy right now. Miami just doesn’t have the depth or the experience of players to lead to compete right now. You want to get rid of the best chance in the history of the program to have a stable coaching situation for the next 15 years? Randy is creating something special, we just have to be patient and see it out.

Lieutenant Anton out.

Don't we all wish we had a T Boone

Okstate.com has confirmed Miami’s DC Bill Young will be leaving the Canes to take the same position with Oklahoma State. This is definitely an unexpected turn for Randy in his OC search, let alone leading up to National Signing Day in a couple weeks. More to follow soon.

This is old news, and I only caught it after reading the ultimate Canes writer Bruce Feldman link to it, but it’s too great a story to pass up. 

Jamaal Green, who led the 2001 National Title team in sacks, has re-emerged as a Border Patrol agent in El Paso, TX. Talk about a career change. I think this story is fantastic. He got his degree in Criminology, and spoke openly about his health being more important than a long term NFL career. 

“They (co-workers) said, “That’s crazy that you would do that, leave your dream to come to the Border Patrol,’ ” Green said. “I tell them that was never my dream….In my position (as defensive end), it’s so brutal that by the age of 45 you might not be able to walk straight. My health is more important than the extra money.”

This is also a great excuse to pimp a great underrated movie, one forgotten too soon, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Barry Pepper is one of my favorites actors, fantastic in The 25th Hour, and also pretty good in this. Gotta love the Southwest Texas landscapes. 

Now, if Jamaal somehow manages to catch my namesake, trying to cross over into Juarez, he deserves a fucking Congressional Medal of Honor.

Dammit! Get your Jesuit ass back here! What happened to getting all the second best Catholics in the country???

These guys with Boston College ties just won’t die! In comes another well-talked about OC name in Steve Logan, most recently the offensive coordinator under Jeff Jagodzinski. I guess once Coach Jags deciding to get himself fired Logan wanted out as well. Can’t really blame him. BC is at best a perennial 9 win team, with the once every 15 years squad who gets a Matt Ryan type player during the perfect season of an entire down year for all teams, and they still end up with a bunch of losses. You’ll never win an national title there, and now that they got all “That’s my Gameboy!” and had to follow Va Tech and Miami to the ACC, they won’t be winning any league titles either. When you can’t beat a one trick pony Virginia Tech team two years running, it’s just not going to happen.

Logan best resume guaging ability was his time with East Carolina, Head Coach from 1992-2002. He is their all-time winningiest coach (69-58), and pretty much put the program on the map with 5 bowl appearances. I recall vividly a 1999 Thursday night win against Miami that seemed huge when I was in high school.

I think a lot of Hurricane fans are putting too much thought into the fact Logan was the Head Coach of the East Carolina team that demolished Miami 31-6, back in 1996. Get over it people. This guy grabbed lightning in a bottle with Matt Ryan, and they both had a great year together. Give him credit, because Ryan was not that great his junior year, definitely not top 3 NFL draft pick material. BC, Jagodzinski, and Logan all benefited from a huge downturn in the entire ACC conference.

Steve Logan is definitely one of the better coaches available. Could Logan do wonders with Miami’s talent level? Absolutely. I just feel he would sign his offer letter with Miami, and while he’s walking to his new office, would be thinking when he will start contacting new places for his own HC job. This guy is too NFL. Miami needs someone more ready to stick around for at least 4 years, someone less name-proven. And frankly, BC sucks. Anytime I watch them, even with Ryan last year, I never got the sense their offense was tearing it up. Ryan would have some deep balls thrice a game, and that was that. Next!

Be sure to catch the second part of my ACC recruiting over at Canespace. Today I breakdown the aptly named Coastal division, home of the Canes.

Part 2 here.

With all this Bill Young to Oklahoma State talk garnering steam, I still want to squeeze out some more names being thrown around for the OC job. 

Mark Whipple, currently an Offensive Assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, is a candidate many on the Hurricanes message boards and blogs want badly. To be honest, I had never heard of Whipple before a few weeks ago. His most notable position is definitely his stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a QB coach, from 2004-06. He was around for Big Ben’s rise to NFL stardom, and was given the appropriate credit. But, it doesn’t seem like Big Ben has had any drop off since Whipple’s dismissal, so add that into the mental equation as a candidate.

Whipple does have extensive college coaching experience, however, all of it was in D-1AA. Stints at New Haven, Brown, and UMass, he won the AFCA coach of the year award in 1998, so he has that going for him. Only 51 years old, Whipple would have a lot more years to give to Miami, and probably still harbors thoughts on leading his own D1 program. 

Personally I don’t have him in my top 3. He seems to me just an NFL guy, who hasn’t even been a coordinator, with a (very short) rep as a good QB coach. Maybe Andy Reid is repping him hard (uh oh), but I’m just not sold on the guy. I’d much rather have a young gun, ready and willing to take chances, to lift Jascory into the next stratosphere.

You want to go back to this Bill? And where's the 30 foot high Jesus statue with the thumbs up?

Damn Pokes are trying to steal Miami’s DC. All of us are worried and frettin’ about whom Randy is going to hire for the OC, and now T Boone and “I’m a Man” Mike Gundy are coming after Young, who just finished his first season with UM. Supposedly, the deal would be for $700k a year, twice what Young is making now. Um, holy fucking shit? And, it’s his alma mater. Did someone just get the deal of their lifetime, and at age 61, in his twilight years? I think so.

But Young took a pay cut to come to Miami last year, and has repeatedly stated he knows what is coming in the next few years, how great this team can be, how high the program can get back to. He’s no fool. This okie ain’t no Coker. My personal opinion is he will stay. No reason for him to have left Kansas last year if he wanted to always be in the judgemental Bible Belt, with all the jesus freaks and their promise rings.

Take a look over at Canespace, a pretty substantial Hurricanes site, for a guest post I did on ACC recruiting. There are two parts, one for each division. I’ll link to the second part as well when it’s posted.

Part 1 here.

Fiesta Bowl sucks...bring back this Historical beauty

Everyone has one, so I might as well post mine in public, to be on the record.

First I will give the scenario, then the reasons behind it. Note: this is an all encompassing, cure-all scenario. Meaning, some parts might be unrealistic in terms of money (i.e. getting away from all conference title games).

16 teams, all 11 conference winners receive automatic bids, 5 at large bids, seeded according to BCS standings (computers only, no polls), and most importantly, home games for the higher seeds until the title game, which will be played on a rotating yearly basis at the Rose, Cotton, and Sugar Bowl sites. Bye bye Fiesta, bye bye Orange. If you don’t still play in your original site, we don’t want you. Conference title games are unnecessary and banned, as each team will play a round-robin conference schedule, a la Pac-10. All teams play 12 games, just like now, with the usual extra added in for the Hawaii game whenever it’s wanted. 

This is, in my opinion, the closest NCAA D1 football can come to it’s basketball brethren, which is the only thing that will calm all the people disagreeing over everything. You give every team that wins it’s conference a bid. No arguments there. With the round robin schedule, it’s simply black and white. 

Now, some round robin examples, because all is not fair, and this will most definitely be the biggest argument against my playoff version. For example, the Big East only has 7 conference games, so they get to schedule 5 out of conference games. The SEC however, would be playing 11 conference games, so they only get one out of conference game. MAC plays all conference games with 13 teams, etc. Now this is a win-win to me for both ends of the spectrum here. No team lucks out like Northwestern did during their mid-90s runs escaping OSU. In my scenario, with computers only BCS (Strength of Schedule, Margin of Victory, Road Wins bonus, all added in), every team will now know they need to have as strong a schedule as possible, in case for whatever reason they don’t win their conference. The SEC, however, will say their conference is the strongest. Ok, great. You can play your 1-AA team and get that free win for your 12th game. The Big East will want to play quality opponents out of conference, because they know they need at least one, if not two high quality wins to garner one of the 5 at large spots if they don’t win their conference. These two scenarios apply to all the conferences. This will encourage, and more importantly, indirectly force, teams to start playing harder schedules. Would, say, Florida be upset because their OoC game will most likely be FSU? Sure, but dem da breaks. They will be rewarded hansomly by the computers for a ridiculously hard schedule, and can probably lose one game a year, if not two, and still get an at large bid. 

Now that the schedule is out of the way, we need to kill the argument about the regular season not being meaningful with a playoff. How do we do that? Simple. The home games to the higher seeds leading up to the title game. Perfect example used against the institution of a playoff was this year with Bama/UF, or 2006 with Michigan/OSU. In my 16 team playoff, we know, for a fact, that the loser of those games is going to get an at large bid. However, going from the number 1 overall seed, not having to play a game on the road, to perhaps falling all the way to 4 or even 5 seed, with probably only one guaranteed home game, you’re telling me that game will still be meaningless? Ha. Yeah right. In fact, it makes the regular season even more meaningful. You start right up in your conference schedule, at the latest in week two, and every game is an elimination for your conference crown. 

Next point up, letting in a team like the Sun Belt conference champ in an auto bid over say the third place team in a BCS conference, who ended up sixth in the at large bids and is left out. Is the Sun Belt team better than said 3rd place BCS conference team? Of course not. But you know what? It’s the exact same as basketball, and people don’t complain about that, because it is the situation presented before them. They accept it. A fan can only argue so much that their UGA 3 loss team is out of the tourney and FAU is in, with four losses of their own. The only certainty is if you win your conference, you are in. After that, jigs up. You are leaving your fate in the hands of the computers, and you better have played a tough schedule. And an FAU is not going to win the title, but what makes March Madness so great is the possibility an FAU would beat a 2-seed. You have to let everyone have an “equal” chance of winning the (no longer mythical) national title. Things still aren’t equal, because 4 out of the 5 at large spots every year will come from the BCS conferences. The Sun Belt, WAC, MAC, C-USA, and in most years the Mountain West, will all put only one team in the 16 team tourney. Sounds exactly logical and fair to me. 

That’s my pitch. In essence, what this does is create a year long playoff, not unlike NCAA Baseball. First, you are in your regular season conference playoff (the regionals), then the actual playoff (the World Series). There are 5 spots left open each year which leaves more than enough room available. No arguments on “just missed conference title” teams like Texas Tech this year being left out. Also, all 4 remaining Independent teams have to join a conference. In an extra perfect, I get to do anything I want scenario, Western Kentucky drops to D-1AA, Army and Navy join the Sun Belt (hey, close enough!), and Notre Dame joins the Big East, along with Penn State. Big 10 becomes the Big Ten again, and the Big East gains instant credibility with Louisville and soon to be West Virginia killing all their clout. 

One last thing-Percentage of D1 teams allowed to win the national title:
Basketball: 65/334 = 19.46%
Football: 16/119= 13.45%
This creates an even more inclusive club. 

Done and DONE.

Great article detailing the NFLU of Hurricanes football in the Herald yesterday. Andrew Swasey, Miami’s Strength and Conditioning coach who orchestrates it all, has few people on his level (Barwis be damned! How many NFLers does he have again?) Many people thought Swasey should be let go in the off-season, and were incorrectly informed that he was gone. Hold on there people. This is the guy who Butch Davis brought in back in 2000, and has molded all these first round picks that permeate vast amounts of NFL rosters. 

“Swasey’s offseason visitor list reads like a Dream Team: Jon Vilma, Roscoe Parrish, Kellen Winslow Jr., Sinorice and Santana Moss, D.J. Williams, Kelly Jennings, Plaxico Burress, Chad Johnson, Clinton Portis, Jon Beason and Reggie Wayne — to name some of them. The list includes four other former Canes — Ed Reed, Willis McGahee, Antrel Rolle and Edgerrin James — playing in this weekend’s NFC and AFC championship games.”

Take a look at the sidebar in the article and see the increases for players across the board. Swasey knows what he is doing, and Randy trusts him. Swasey sees a lot of similarities this season in lifting numbers with the 2001 team. It really is just a matter of time. ACC, you’re fucked! Well, except Paul Johnson and his genius triple option. But then you hear this quote from Vilma on a his favorite Swasey anecdote, and you realize once all of Comandante Coker’s joke soldiers leave town, it will all be A-OK.

Vilma, who overcame a major knee injury with the help of Swasey to record 153 tackles this season, plans to share some of his favorite Swasey stories about mental toughness. Vilma’s favorite: The day the national champions conquered the stairs and went out a day later “and ran 16 110s like it was a joke.”

”You got to have that confidence [that] nobody can stop you, and you develop that with Swasey,” Moss said. ‘We’d take on the sand pit and say, `We’re going to conquer the sand pit.’ We’d take on the hills at Tropical Park and say, ‘We’re going to dominate those hills.’ And we did.”

(Quit touchin' me you washed up Okie kracka!) It's all about da U!

Former Cane great Jon Vilma was arrested late last night for obstruction of justice after being pulled over for speeding in and out of traffic. Vilma refused to get out of the car, then refused to put his hands on the hood, then to allow himself to be handcuffed, with each event leading to the next. Vilma was quoted as saying, “You have to give me a reason. I ain’t going anywhere til I know what’s going on.” Damn straight, Jon. Don’t let the man bring you down. Question authority. Fight the power. Fuck the norm. Especially when you are weaving in and out of traffic, in ridiculously high volume Miami, run a red light, and nearly hit two pedestrians. Why stand on that silent platform?

Belligerent was the term used by WSVN-TV in Miami. Nice. A belligerent Cane on the football field usually means badassery will ensue, and national titles to follow. Belligerent on the Miami roads, however, and you are getting yo ass thrown in jail. The current Canes need more belligerence.

No alcohol was involved. I feel that fact will brush this one under the rug in terms of how the media usually reports on former Hurricanes in the news. Also, I just want to plug Vilma’s website; it is prettay sweet.

Vilma has already been released, for all those autograph seekers.