A Poisoned Well

Written By: Nathan Skinner
                    Canes Rising Contributor

The hat show, a show that Miami fans rarely find entertaining. 

If you are new to Canes Rising, you'll notice that there's a lack of recruiting articles.  We don't interview recruits, we don't post offer lists, and we will never do so.  We've gotten questions about why we don't participate in the recruiting feeding frenzy, and the answer is simple: We don't participate because we can't get the full story.  We refuse to participate in the process, knowing full well that recruits, and their handlers can say anything, and the University cannot respond on the record.  We can't hold anyone responsible for anything, and that's wrong.

If you are new to college sports, NCAA rules prohibit any school employee from saying anything about any recruit, unless the recruit has signed his Letter of Intent(LOI).  On the first day of Journalism 101, we're all taught that unless you have two sources, you don't have a story.  How can we report, if we can't even confirm that a player has been offered? We would be going on the word of recruits, and their handlers, and that's a dangerous game.  Why should this matter to you, the fan? It matters because you are being misled by people who have their own agendas.  They are telling you that certain players haven't been offered, or aren't being recruited, merely to justify them being steered to other programs.  You the fan end up being misinformed about what is going on with this program.  You end up assuming that the coaching staff is ignoring South Florida, when it's obvious that isn't the case.  A dark cloud comes over the program, and that affects the product Al Golden can put on the field.  Without our local community, this program can't be a player on the national scene.

  It's been said that Miami wins DESPITE the local community.  As a person who grew up outside of South Florida, I found that hard to believe. That is, until I became involved, and started following The U.   In my home state of Texas, there's support structures in place for the major schools.  Those support structures are designed to ensure that few elite prospects leave the state, and that the local schools get first pick.  There's very few street agent types, very few "mentors" steering kids to schools outside the state, in exchange for favors.  That's the atmosphere I grew up in, that's the environment I assumed existed everywhere.  Living in Florida has shown me an entirely different side of amateur sports, a darker side.  I've never seen a place in which the best interests of the player are routinely ignored in favor of greed.  I've never seen so many "coaches" steer their players to programs in which the player doesn't fit.  I've never seen so many coaches/players slam a local program, but then hype up a program that didn't show interest until a week before Signing Day.  Kids who are interested in Miami, are sometimes steered away by people who give the recruits erroneous information*, or just flat out denies members of the program access to the recruit. 

This atmosphere makes it harder for a program like Miami to compete.  The one thing Miami has is access to the best talent in the country.  That's the one thing that can keep this small private institution with a limited financial base relevant in the national scene.  The problem is that that talent is now being corrupted by people who are either financially involved with other schools, or have their own agendas.  Coach Golden has done a ton to bridge the divide with his camps, with his outreach programs, but it seems to be that he's fighting an uphill battle.  Should Golden just concentrate on getting the local talent he can get, and supplementing it with non local talent?  Should Golden just assume that people like Uncle Luke will always work against him, and slander his good name in the press? I don't think Golden has an answer to those questions, but those are questions that he will have to answer one day.  They are the same questions that Butch Davis,  Larry Coker, and Randy Shannon had to answer.  If the answer is correct(Davis), a dynasty is born.  If the answer is wrong(Coker/Shannon) mediocrity ensues. 

For Miami to stand a chance, it has to have a talent well that is not only deep, but accessible.  A poisoned well does nothing for the program, it only leads to a slow, painful death.   It's time that the few committed 'Canes  fight back.  It's time to out the coaches and "mentors" who feed misinformation to uninformed high school student athletes, it's time to end the reign of the talent pimp.  It's time to ensure that The U can fight an even fight in our own back yard.  When Al Golden can play on an even playing field in South Florida, the product on the field will take a quantum leap towards what fans expect, and deserve. 

* http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/02/university_of_miami_abandoning.php