Miami Fan Base Has Immature Elements

by Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff

The mere fact that Bill Young is having trouble deciding whether to take a $700,000 a year T. Boone Pickens financed offer to become the defensive coordinator at his alma mater Oklahoma State (Young makes substantially less at Miami) should be a sign that Randy Shannon has engendered some loyalty even by a coach who has only been working with him for a short time.

However if you read the message boards and other Miami Hurricane websites the sky is falling, and this indicates Randy Shannon should be out of a job. Over the past few weeks the delusional and immature behavior of Miami's Football fans has been striking. Whether it is accusing the coaching staff of being poor, complaining about the amount of Basketball coverage on this website and in major local newspapers, propping up the success of Canes in the NFL as some indication that Miami is still the best program in the country, or simply obsessing over losing certain recruits (ie Bryce Brown), the Hurricanes fan base is driving sane supporters of the program nuts these past few weeks.

I'll repeat for the 1,000,000th time. I believe Randy Shannon is doing about as good a job as possible given the circumstances. Is he a perfect game day coach? No. Is he a great motivator? No. Is he a good public relations man? Obviously, not judging by the Robert Marve debacle.

But the bottom line is this: Miami could have very easily faded into the sort of oblivion other once proud programs did with the wrong coaching hire: Nebraska under Bill Callahan, Oklahoma under John Blake, Washington under Keith Gilbertson and Syracuse under Greg Robinson. Miami in 2006 was at a serious crossroads: stop the bleeding and stabilize the program accepting mediocrity for the next 3-4 years and then trying to ascend again, or allowing the program to fall to the depths of Duke, Washington State or Vanderbilt.

The choice was made for the former and Randy Shannon deserves time and the benefit of the doubt going forward. But Miami's fans, many who have no grounding in college football history or reality don't see it this way. For them it has to happen now or it will never happen. For them, every recruit is vital and every statement made by a 18 year old kid becomes a life or death matter.

But do these fans who populate the message boards really know Miami's legacy and tradition? Do these fans understand how Miami became Miami? Do these fans understand that Randy Shannon has a better chance given the disadvantages the school has budget wise to succeed here given his background than any other coach? Do they not remember that Randy Shannon is Miami, and that he can sell Miami better than some transplant?

These fans do a disservice to the program they claim to love with such immature banter and such flawed logic. Do us all a favor: take a deep breathe and think about what you post on message boards and in the comments sections of credible blogs before doing so.