- Kyle Wright still doesn't make the best decisions or have a pocket presence but the kid is fighting through some horrible line play, terrible coaching and drops by a bunch of careless WRs. Wright is the only player left fighting on this Miami team that has quit on the season. Regarding Kirby Freeman, sure he is terrible but the coaches quit on him. Freeman has been successful under Rich Olson and Todd Berry when a gameplan was crafted understanding his limitations. But instead of throwing screens and short passes on roll outs, Freeman played poorly versus NC State and was ripped by the Randy Shannon who won't be accountable for his or his staff's mistakes. (Despite the obvious fact that Freeman was injured) Now Kyle Wright fighting his heart out despite an obvious injury is forced to play two consecutive weeks in garbage time and ends up limping off the field. Randy Shannon keeps asking his team to act like men and has imposed a number of somewhat draconian rules on them to make this point. Time he became a man as well.
- DaMarcus Van Dyke is a track star not a football player. Randy Shannon needs to pull at Butch Davis and shift his scholly to Track.
- Darnell Jenkins looked great on Kick and Punt Returns. Interesting that we haven't seen him in this role since 2004.
- How poor is Calais Campbell? I tracked him for a two drive stretch in the third quarter when the replay came on MASN last night. He took himself out of 6 plays, made a tackle downfield once and was blown off the ball four times. He was single teamed on every play. He was a Pre-Season All American?
- Kenny Phillips has never made the promised impact at Miami. I love how people blame Larry Coker for everything that has gone wrong with this program, but when you consider a guy like Phillips was essentially always the responsibility of Randy Shannon and Tim Walton, you learn what poor developers of talent they are.
- Miami ran so well out of the Power I versus NC State yet we haven't seen the formation since and not so coincidently the running game has collapsed.
- Between 2000 and 2006 Miami lost only three games by more than 10 points. This year the Canes have lost three games by 30 points or more. That points to coaching and lack of game preparation.
- Miami-Providence in the P.R. Tip Off Classic Final at 7:30 ET on ESPN2. Much more on this game later.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Random Thoughts
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32 comments:
Providence has a deep team. Picked to be 7th in the Big East by TSN. Rutgers picked last hung with Florida for much of the first half last night. I think you guys need to improve your point guard play to win tonight. If you do, you'll win and it'll be another feather in the cap for the ACC, America's Premier Basketball League.
Saw this excellent post on another site:
The bottom line is questions about the coaching staff. I admit that filled in some blanks here but I think it is accurate. The specific question asked was why Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was not hired by UM.
Alot of what follows isfrom articles I read during the UM coaching search. I read articles from everywhere, SC, Texas, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach (where Dee came from), Lubbock, NY Times, ESPN etc.
Actually, Dee interviewed Mike Leach at the coaches convention last year. Miami contracted with a private company to recommend a coach (Dee didn't want the responsibility on him) and Leach was their recommendation. Unofficial reports came in that Leach was brash (as if JJ was not), would cost alot of money, and to top it off, the guy actually enjoyed a drink or two during the meeting (isn't that what coaching conventions are for?). By the way, Schnellenberger enjoyed a drink too. After that meeting, Miami fired the private company apparently deciding on Randy at that point.
Before that, and before he accepted the North Carolina job, Butch Davis came to Miami. He essentially announced his availability for the job on talk radio shows since it was clear Coker was going to get canned. He talked fondly of his days at UM, and while not saying he made a mistake in leaving UM to try his hand at the pro game with Cleveland, made it clear he wanted to return to Miami.
However, several prominent boosters at Miami were mad that Butch left after signing day, after telling them he wasn't going to go. However, there is alot more to it than that. Butch demanded job security and a raise for his assistants to stay at Miami when no one knew the Browns wanted him. The trustees were adamant in not giving him job security (as planes overhead had flown over the Orange Bowl demanding he be fired) and he made the deal with the Browns. Afterwords, the Trustees called Butch a liar even though he didn't lie. He lied to the recruits, including those who won the national championship in 2001, but not to the Board. But they refused to forgive him because they were sure they could get someone like Bob Stoops, Mike Stoops, Tommy Tuberville, Steve Spurrier or Mark Richt.
Next year with P. Johnson, J. Harris, Marve, A. Thomas etc we are going to be stacked. I can't wait until these losers leave the building and those who want to rebuild the U come in!
PLEASE CANES FAN KEEP THE FAITH , SHANNON WILL TURN THIS TEAM AROUND!!!
U HAVE ABC, ESPN , SPORTS ILLUSTRATED AND OTHER TEAMS AND FANS AGAINST US, LETS NOT GO AGAINST OURSELVES,
I WAS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE BASHING IM NOT ANY MORE, EVER SINCE I READ THIS BLOG FROM OUR FORMER 01 CAHMPIONSHIP PLAYER:
01FORMERCANEPLAYERU ALL ARE SOME PANSIES, FULL OF DISGRACE EVERY FAN FROM OTHER TEAMS ARE TRUE ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR FAN BASE.... U ALL SUCK, CANT BELIEVE I PLAYED FOR YOU ALL.... AS FANS YOU'LL LOST YOUR SWAGGER.....
Your criticisms are over the top and you will be eating your words when Shannon has us back in the NC hunt for several reasons. First, it's only his first year and we all knew this was a bad team coming into this year even if we didn't want to admit it. You picked us to win four games if I recall correctly and we won 5 including a win in Tallahassee. Second, all the recruits believe in him and that's why we have a great recruiting class coming in. Third, we need a guy with his tough guy mentality to change the attitude of this team. These players got complacent, and lost that fire under Coker. It's gonna take some hard love from Shannon to get that fire back. But it will happen soon enough.
Dont hold ur breath, this guy will never get this team turned around. He is a moron. What has he done so far? Let's see, he took the names of jerseys, he took cell phones away, he gave us the worst home loss in the history og the OB, and he has given us our first non-probation losing season in 30 years!!! Yea, go Randy!!! U r the man. U r really doing great things!
I find that the individuals living in a fantasy are the ones that expect this team to have won a national championship.
Just because you do, it doesn't give you the right to talk trash about them.
I've come to the realization that these players are weaker than their competition 7 out of 10 times.
I did expect more out of them because of Shannon at the helm, but this team won more games under Larry Coker.
Did Coker get more out of them than Shannon? What does that say about the coaching? Does that make Coker a better coach? Last year's offense was better for crying out loud.
All I can do is hope, and continue to cheer for my team. Our competitors do a good job of ripping us, why should we as Cane fans?
I can't wait to see the all of you and the author back on here praising Shannon when he gets this thing turned around. It's b/c of jerk-offs like you that UM catches so much heat from everyone else around the country. You got nothing to contribute but to come here and talk sh@t.
What has Shannon showed you as a head coach so far that has impressed you so far? This team is dramatically worse than it was last year and far worse than what it was when the year started. For crying out loud two of the worst offenses in the ACC have run and thrown all over us the last two weeks!
I've already said my reasons for why Shannon is the right guy. If some of you actually came on this blog often and did something else but talk sh@t you would know that. I've never seen you here before today. Maybe you are really a Gator fan trying to rile me up?
The only teams that have had better talent than us who we've played have been OU, VA, and VT. Which means we lost to 3 teams that had far less talent than us. That is all on your great coach Shannon. Now you are seeing what happens when we play a team with more talent. The games are just ugly. We r a very poor team. Notre Dame would probably take us out. I mean, they just killed Duke and we needed a late pick at home to beat them.
I don't see how our talent is so much more superior. The games I have watched, I see players that are just as fast (or faster) than our players. Our offensive line always has trouble. Our D-line doesn't do that much better, and our DB's have been burned on a consistent pace.
I keep hearing that we are loaded on talent, but I just don't see it on the field. The one guy that comes to mind that shows up making plays consistently is McCarthy, and by the looks of him you can't say that he is above average on raw talent.
i don't expect these Canes to win half their games by just stepping on the field.
I believe that's our worst mistake as fans, coaches, and players. The team that won the National Title (when recruited) wasn't built on players that just walked on the field and the other team automatically gave up.
We came to expect that because those players developed into monsters on the field.
This reality check on us as fans has been hard. We don't have those type of players anymore.
This team will suck for years. They are simply awful! Way to hire an assistant from the staff that killed what could have been a dynasty.
Screw you then.......go back to rooting for the Gators. You're not a UM fan anyhow.
Not a fan? Did you sit through the FIU and Duke games like I did, big talker?
Cha Ching!!!! $500 baby! Thanks Miami! That will take care of part of my season tickets. I'm sure I can get the rest next week after BC kills us. I called a 30 point loss pre-game. That was like stealing from a child, I'm sure Va tech feels the same way. If BC is favored by less than 20 points I'm stealing again!
Some of you guys are ridiculous. If you blame the team's downfall on coach Shannon, do us all true Canes fans a favor, pick a new team to cheer for. Shannon and his crew tried everything to improve this team this season. When we win you all cheer and yell "Randy!". While when we loose, "Fire Shannon!" That's pathetic. Rebuilding a team is not gong to happen in one season. Basically this year, Shannon lay the rules down and the team's character have changed since last year. Not only does Shannon coaches X's and O's, he teaches the players to have great characters. Having a team with a character is a foundation to a great coach and a great football team. All you people who want Shannon to be fire just need to face the fact...he's not going anywhere, people with common sense know he's not going anywhere. Get some sense before you speak out about firing a coach. I will always bleed Orange and Green even though my alma mater may actually be one going bowling this year!
You want Nix to make it easier, I don't know if it can get easier short of running every down and thereby ruining receiver recruiting. Coach Nix is calling plays and getting guys open, mixed up the balance extremely well, the OL is pass blocking this year and we can't execute a damn thing in the air despite it always being there. Our WRs stink and the RBs can't get involved in the passing game. We are a joke personnel wise. Nix and Shannon are good coaches who need time to turn this around.
Anyone that doesn't think that Kyle Wright is tough doesn't understand what 'tough' is. He's tough, and mildly talented. He deserves better, and probably regrets choosing Miami every day. It's not his fault that the offensive (no pun intended) staff has been in a constant state of flux since he's been here. If he were my child, I would have pulled him out of Miami after the second OC change. Sitting out a year would have been better than this...
Having said all of this, let me also say that Wright is NOT a 'child', and should have done whatever is necessary to learn how to play the position - on his own, if that's the case.
And, he's played with some great players. If his game hasn't improved much since his freshman year, he must accept some of the blame. As does every player on the current team. Is every single player on this team better than they were three months ago? If not, whose fault is that? Is the film room old and rundown, too?
Sorry, but no excuse.
Nix base his play calling on how the players are executing. if you keep seeing Freeman under throw those long passes, why would you risk it? In VT game today i saw plenty of little dump passes available for KW but he never saw them. Most of the pass plays they ran have RB read option but the QBs only read through one or two WR reads and then started running. You can just tell on tape KW always look at his target and rarely look for the RBs or 3rd or 4th read. And when he does decide to go to the lil dump passes, its either dropped or gain for short yardage.
The biggest problem on the D is the same problem on the O, an overall lack of talent. Think about it, how many sure fire NFLers are on this team? I count two definite NFLers. Two!
This is the weakest dline at the U in years, probably can say the same for the linebackers. The receiving core is terrible, they don't even use the tights ends, it goes on and on.
Wright has a bad ankle and UVA blitzed us all day and was very successful. I'm sure Nix had planned for this. Just because our offense can't execute doesn't mean Nix didn't have a good game plan IMO. I def think this offense needs some kind of makeover though.
Well lets see what happens at the end of the season, Shannon has to see the same things the fans are seeing, and he still has a chance to make changes, to get UM back to it's winning ways. Yes it will be harder to make changes now then it would have been at the start,but as anew HC he has more leeway to do so, also Shannon isn't stupid and he realizes his job is also on the line.
Watching the game yesterday I noticed a significant improvement in the offensive play calling. Why was it different then in the Virginia game or the NC state Game? We should have been dumping the ball over on short passes for a while now. A lot of different guys caught the ball. I think that when we have a more consistent quarterback and when out young receivers improve we will be able to put up some good points. The defense is another story, I just do not think that this scheme is working. I feel that we need a new, non-UM, defensive coordinator. I don't think this will happen, but I think it will help.
Nix is actually a decent coach but the offensive players have been so "cokerized" and the defense so "shannonized" that we have no chance. We will be the second worst team in the ACC ahead of only Duke for the foreseeable future. Thank goodness for Basketball and Coach Haith's boys, a staff that has already produced two head coaches elsewhere. Do you think anyone off of Coker or Shannon's staff will EVER be hired as a head coach somewhere else??????
You folks need to chill the hell out with all this RS bashing; this team was not that good, period even with 17 returning starters. A good portion of these current players are probably not going to be here next year. They are either going to graduate, ask for their release or be told to look elsewhere to play college football just because they are not U material.
8 early scholarship players are going to come in January and possibly another 25 in the summer, you will see between 30 or 40 walk-ons try out in the spring including 3 or 4 kickers. There is going to be a massive overhaul of players and attitudes this next season, forget about not having the players names on the jerseys, RS should also implement not having the U on their helmets until they earn it!
the players on the roster are not shannons fault...the poor player development up to shannon becoming head coach does not all rest on his shoulders
however, just about ever position has regressed this year..hell, JJ was not playing like this last year....the secondary was not this bad last year....and when you return 19 of 22 starters you should have some progress
and if the talent is truly this bad then last years coaching staff deserves a hell of a lot of credit for getting this team into a bowl game
First year head coach dudes. FIRST! Not 10th. Randy will getter. Coordinators will get better. Position coaches will get better. Players will get better. What the hell ever happened to a little freaking patience. If we are playing like this in 3 years, THEN you can throw the book at Shannon, not now. I dont know how many first year head coaches I've seen step into a job with marginal players, and a green staff, and have great success.
I'm not a gambler but I can't help but notice yet another disturbing stat for this season:
Against the spread UM, I think, is 2 and 8.
Even when we win we lose!
Finally, I'm glad that others are coming around to my point of view. UM's got lots of problems. But first and foremost we need to be bigger and stronger up front - on BOTH sides of the ball. That's what we need to emphasize in the final days of the recruiting season, if it is not too late.
I said it when it was first announced by Shannon in the Spring and I'll say it again, why the h*ll did he take the names off the back of the uniforms?? We're not whitebread Penn State or Notre Dame we're the U of Irvin, Kelly, Kosar, Blades, Sapp, Maryland, etc. etc. etc. This is a team with a history of playmakers, stars and big names. When he took the names off the unis, he neutered this team and made it a bunch of nameless, faceless players and they're playing like it. I remember when I was in Little League and proud to have my name on the back of my jersey and I felt the same way in high school and when I played college ball. I'm sure the players this year feel the same way. And in this day and age, when stars want to see their names up in lights, I'm sure the recruits feel the same way too. It may seem like a minor point to some of you, and you may even say some of these players don't deserve to have their names on the back of their U jerseys, but I say put the frigin names back so we can at least some of our mojo back.
Some of you need to chill the f%$k out! Give it a rest already! Most of you are pissed because you spent so many tireless months predicting greatness out of this squad. Newsflash! We aren't that good & once you get past our starters we have no depth. Is that coaching? Jimmy Johnson would get his a$$ handed to him with this sqaud. It's a sad state you're in when your freshman RB goes down & you have to rely on your senior! What? That shouldn't be a problem right? You mean a freshman DB has won the job over a senior?
Coker f$#ked us! Who backs up Kyle or Kirby? Noone! Every position you look at is weak. Quit calling for heads to roll! That's definetely not what we need! This staff is young & energetic & it will take time to come around but in years to come I truly believe they will be successful. Why do you think recruits are flocking to come here? They know what's on the horizon.
Stop talking shyte to everybody right now about how good were going to be so you don't feel stupid when the team falls on their face & be patient. Everyone on here thinks they have the answer. The answer is to be humble & support your Canes. When back holding the Crystal it will be that much better. I remember watching our Canes under Butch & thinking how dumb some of things they would do looked. Then the talent rolled in & everything started looking better. Then Dorsey came into the picture & it was like damn! Right now it looks as if this staff can do nothing right. But at least we have a coach that's going to push the hell out these studs coming in & that's exactly what we need. The rest will work itself out.
It's unrealistic to expect that the current cast of players would have produced anything nearing what we canes fans have enjoyed in the past. but whatever - if you look at the fantastic recruiting job coach Shannon and company are doing locally, you'll see that the defense is going to be STACKED, esp the outside. looks like we're going back to the old philosophy of the 80's/90's canes -- defense and quarterback. it's always hit or miss with quarterbacks but i think we have a winner with marve and nix there to help him develop.
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