Breakdown of Miami's Team and Coaches

Much has been written about the recent failure of Miami football and how the Hurricanes do not even remotely resemble the team that was terrorizing College Football a few short years ago. The debate has turned emotional and ugly with South Florida talk shows and message boards becoming to quote one local sports talk host “all Coker, all the time,” but Larry Coker isn’t solely responsible for Miami’s current troubles. (and this is from a market with four professional sports franchises.....sure Miami fans don’t fill he Orange Bowl on a regular basis, but they fill the sports bars around town in greater numbers then any of the local pro teams.

First we’ll look at the current squad and then delve into coaching and administration.

Who is doing their job:

Before the season, I had two major misconceptions about the Hurricanes weakness. Firstly, I believed that Miami’s receivers’ corps would be the worst in the ACC outside the state of North Carolina. On that score I was dead wrong as Miami’s receivers, depleted as their numbers may be are probably the only solid unit on the team. Lance Leggett who was according to some recruiting services the number one High School Wide Receiver in the nation three years ago is finally showing some signs of reaching his potential. True Freshmen Sam Shields and Ryan Hill appear to be big playmakers in the making. Darnell Jenkins while playing through a torn PCL will continue to provide steady leadership and big play ability.

Secondly, I believed Florida State had a substantial advantage in talent over the rest of the ACC and roll Miami and the rest of the league. While I was correct in predicting FSU would beat Miami, I did not expect a close game. Secondly, I never would have guessed that Clemson would go to Tallahassee and humble the Noles. The weakness of Florida State gives Miami an opening if they can improve dramatically. After all, as much as Larry Coker is vilified in South Florida he is still the better of the two ACC Head Coaches in the state of Florida.

Who is not doing a good job:

Sorry Kyle Wright fans. After watching the Louisville game again this weekend I realize that my initial praise/sympathy for Wright was totally misplaced. Several times in the first half, Wright failed to recognize open receivers, often times Tight Ends Chris Zellner or Greg Olsen. While Wright connected on two long passes to Darnell Jenkins and Sam Shields, both balls were under thrown and had the receivers been hit in stride, Miami would have been much more competitive in the game. Wright also failed to show any sort of fire or leadership when things began to go badly in the 2nd half.

Wright’s problems are largely due to a lack of confidence and inept pass protection. Tyrone Moss, is Miami’s best blocker among tailbacks. But due to Moss’ continued recovery from injury, Charlie Jones, Javarris James and perhaps Derron Thomas will be called upon to pick up blitzes and help protect Wright. None of these backs have proven they can pick up a blitz and several of Wright’s mistakes can be attributed directly to the poor blitz pickup.

Obviously the Offensive Line needs to improve, but even when they provided time for Wright to deliver the ball, he was inaccurate and hesitant to deliver bullets. Kyle Wright’s record is as bad as that of any Miami Quarterback over the past 25 plus years. He has thrown only one fourth quarter touchdown pass in 15 starts and under his leadership Miami has not scored a second half point in the 5 losses in which he has started. If Kyle Wright cannot exhibit leadership and work through the circumstances on the field he should be replaced by Kirby Freeman. Nobody in their right mind is going to argue that Freeman is a better Quarterback then Wright, but perhaps Freeman is what this team needs with such poor line play and a clear leadership void.

Before the season when Miami’s defense was being touted nationally, I raised the alarm bells and felt the defense wasn’t even average by Miami standards. Sadly, I was dead on.
The Hurricanes Defensive Line has been horrible. They have not gotten close to laying a hand on the Quarterback in the two big games thus far this season and they have been pushed off the ball by supposedly less physical and strong offensive lines. Miami’s Linebackers have a bad habit of over pursuing plays and not following the ball, and seem to get caught flat footed in the flow of play. This has led Defensive Coordinator Randy Shannon to place Miami’s two outstanding Safeties, Brandon Merriweather and Kenny Phillips in the box to try and support stopping the run and stimulate a pass rush. The result has been that Miami Corners have been left on an island covering speedy Wide Receivers without any Safety help. Both Randy Phillips and Glen Sharpe are excellent corners, but they aren’t Deion Sanders and they have a hard time holding their coverage for seven seconds while the opposing QB has all day to throw the football.

Randy Shannon himself deserves a fair amount of criticism. He is married to a Cover two philosophy based on having superior speed and talent. Right now, Miami doesn’t have a talent gap with anyone in ACC save perhaps Duke and North Carolina. Moreover, Shannon never seems to make the necessary halftime adjustments to slow down the opposition. This is a rampant problem throughout the Miami Coaching staff and it seems to emanate from the head man himself, Larry Coker.

Coaching:

Larry Coker has been roasted by the media and fans alike. Much of the criticism has been justified, but some if it has not taken into full account the circumstances of Miami’s demise. While the Hurricanes are struggling, they have yet to suffer multiple five loss seasons this decade like Florida and Florida State, nor a run of mediocre seasons in a row like Nebraska or Southern Cal (prior to Pete Carroll’s hiring) or even multiple losing seasons like Penn State or Oklahoma (prior to the hiring of Bob Stoops.) Miami’s worst record this decade is 9-3, which is the still the second “best, worst” record in the nation for any school in a BCS league. (Only Texas has a better “best, worst” record)

Larry Coker has also been severely handicapped by the University Administration’s desire to improve Miami’s academic reputation upon joining the ACC. Miami currently has a higher minimum standard for admission of athletes then required by the NCAA and higher standards for admission of athletes then 93 of 117 division IA football programs. (this includes key rivals, Florida State, Florida and Virginia Tech.) These increased academic standards have been cited by many pundits as the reason why the Miami job which was once so attractive to many of the top coaches in the nation is now so unattractive to many. The reality is that it is now difficult to get marginal kids into Miami, and each year several top recruits that sign with the Hurricanes end up playing somewhere else.

In addition, Larry Coker unlike Bobby Bowden and especially Frank Beamer has felt the need to suspend players for minimal violations of team policy and to provide a character litmus test to all members of his team. As a result, Miami has not had a single player on its roster charged with a crime during the entire tenure of Coker. On the other hand, Beamer and Bowden seem to suspend players only under extraordinary circumstances. I have no hesitation to say Marcus Vick would have never played a down for Larry Coker. It could be strongly argued that Miami would have beaten Florida State this season had star running back Tyrone Moss not been suspended for missing a study hall.

Coker has cleaned up Miami's national image. Once seen as thugs and criminals by fans across the nation, Miami is actually likable these days. Critics would claim that this has muted the intensity with which the Canes play with. Some of this appears to be true, but when the Hurricanes play with fire, as they did last year in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech, they can still be successful.

But it is results that matter in a market like South Florida where the success of the Hurricanes is viewed as an entitlement (unlike the local pro sports teams of whom not much is expected by the average local fan). Larry Coker’s results have gotten progressively worse every season he has coached the Hurricanes. Player development has been severely lacking under Coker, and Coker’s decision to fire several assistant coaches following last season was an attempt to shift the blame on this very issue. This off season, the new assistant coaches, who were hand picked by Coker seem to have had very little impact other than Marcus Mosley the new Receivers Coach who has worked wonders with Lance Leggett.

Coker’s inability to make in game adjustments and properly motivate his team for games with lesser opponents is especially worrying. Part of the problem is that Miami has hard time getting up for every game, whereas every opponent gets up for Miami, because it’s Miami! The last nine games of this season will indicate whether Coker can motivate his players for every game and whether or not his hand picked assistant coaches can develop players adequately. This will be key. If the new coaches appear to be making headway with the team, Coker may get a pass. Coker has the remainder of the season to make Miami, Miami again. If he continues to fail, look for the University to buy out his contract and hire a coach that stresses discipline and character. The new coach will have to accept Miami’s stringent academic admissions standards and be willing to work within the framework of not allowing problem children to run rough shot over the Football program. Finding this coach may not be easy, and perhaps the best candidate for the job given these stringent requirements is Larry Coker himself.