View From Bennett Avenue

Not one of the big three college football powers from the state of Florida is ranked in the AP top 25 for the first time since 1982. That is stunning, but not surprising for various reasons.
The obvious one is that the many talented players in the Sunshine State get recruited by all of the major powers. Miami, Florida and Florida State rode the surge in talented Florida high school players that began after the post-war state population growth to great heights beginning in the late 1970s. But all three of those powers won with experienced coaches who knew how to exploit all of that talent in men like Bobby Bowden, Steve Spurrier, Jimmy Johnson and Dennis
Erickson. Even coaches like Butch Davis and Howard Schnellenberger, who had limited or no head coaching experience, arrived at Coral Gables with extensive NFL experience.
But now, with the competition for in-state talent fiercer than ever, those three programs entrusted these difficult, yet plum, jobs to men without head coaching experience in the since-fired Randy Shannon, Jimbo Fisher and Will Muschamp. Why?
Don't get me wrong. Every great head coach was once just a coordinator somewhere. And yes there are some coaches, like Bob Stoops, who can do extemely well with their first crack at a head job. But the odds are against them. The overwhelming number of national championship coaches in the modern era have come from coaches who were head men elsewhere. The last nine national title coaches were men who had been head coaches at other schools before their title-winning position. The job has become so difficult that to expect guys without head experience to succeed at high-profile jobs is silly.
Making matters worse is the individuals hired for these jobs. The first was Shannon, who had done an excellent job as the Miami defensive coordinator and was a respected former Hurricane player. The problem with Shannon's hire was that the university expected him to win every game and clean up the program (in terms of player arrests and getting kids to class, not as we know now with player purchasing). So Shannon no longer took every troubled kid from the area and was tough on his players in terms of behavior. With the wall enclosing South Florida high schools now breached, Miami could not overcome a host of problems and slipped accordingly.
Florida State, meanwhile, jumped on LSU QB guru Jimbo Fisher as their coach-in-waiting while Bobby Bowden's career wound down. Replacing a legend like Bowden would have been tough for any coach but to expect a guy whose claim to fame was good quarterback meetings with Matt Mauck and JaMarcus Russell always seemed like a stretch to me. He could recruit but so can 50 other guys.
Florida was in a weird position due to Urban Meyer's mind changing over his future. But again, all the school had to do was look at its record with recent hires. Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer both won at second tier schools before winning titles with the Gators. Ron Zook was a former coordinator who could recruit. Sound familiar? Zook was fired after three seasons. So now they hire Muschamp, who seemed to have gotten the job because he is exciteable.
What is particularly stunning is that not one of these programs can even claim to have a better future. Miami will soon be put on probation. By the time Florida figures out a QB, offensive stars Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps will be playing in the pros and FSU will need a new QB next year too. It was telling that after FSU lost to Wake Forest yesterday, three of its higest-rated recruits for next year de-committed. The best Florida kids can go anywhere--why should they play for rebullding squads?

Miami is Screwed

Good riddance. I am not one of these who think anyone has to be good for college football to be popular and I especially do not place Miami in some special category of programs to be spared. The sport will do well without them--as it did for the decades when they were minor league--which is a good thing as the Hurricanes will be hammered for this latest problem. They will get a bigger punishment than they did in the 1990s and will disappear for awhile. Heck, they have been cheating for a decade and slipped from national power to also-ran. Even if they do not get te death penalty, they will become homecoming fodder for the ACC.
Meanwhile it is ridiculous what some reporters and Miami fans are advocating, that it is the work of one rogue booster and some teenagers (plus the everyone is doing it bs which is untrue). But almost all cheating is done through outside agents and the inability or desire of the program to stop this guy after years and years and scads of money is enough to hit Miami hard. That coaches were involved and compliance officers were aware of this bozo is very damaging. An example must be made to the current program and to otthers, like Paul Dee who was there when this all began and is now at the NCAA and Missouri basketball coach Frank Haith who okayed payments to his basketball players. I want heads to roll.

Sunshine State Hires

Now let me get this straight. Florida once went to a second-tier school to hire an ambitious, offensive-minded head coach (Steve Spurrier) and hit a home run. After a great run he moved on and the school hired an excitable defensive guy without head coaching experience (Ron Zook). That did not go so well. After he was fired the school then pounced on another ambitious offensive-minded head coach from a second-tier school (Urban Meyer) and hit another home run. He then retired. So, now needing to hire a new head coach, Florida again hired an excitable D guy without head coaching experience (Will Muschamp). Good luck.

As for Miami, I am a big Al Golden (pictured) fan and like the hire. He will recruit brilliantly and get the Canes D back to its past high level. For his sake I hope he recovers some of the recruiting losses Miami has suffered since firing coach Randy Shannon. It will be good to see the rivalry develop between the big 3 Florida schools and their new coaches.

Chris Henry

Like many of you, I found out that Chris Henry died yesterday through reports from ESPN. Henry, a gifted and talented wide receiver, was perhaps known more for getting into trouble than playing football. After redshirting as a freshman at West Virginia, Henry burst on the scene in his first year of play in 2003 by catching 41 passes for 1,006y. He was named Big East freshman of the year and made second team all conference.

Due to many off-field transgressions, Henry's career really peaked that magical first year. In year two he was tossed from the Rutgers game for multiple unsportsmanlike penalties and suspended for the Pittsburgh game. He finished that season with 52 catches for 872y and then turned pro. Once in the NFL the arrests really began to pile up. You name the misdeed and chances are Henry was accused of it. With the troubles of Pacman Jones, a teammate at West Virginia, also making news, the program in Morgantown was starting to feel the heat. Was then-coach Rich Rodriguez bringing in any type of athlete in a pursuit of wins? Rodriguez later claimed that both athletes, each who turned pro early, would not have been welcomed back at West Virginia for the 2005 season. While it is hard to believe that Rodriguez, coming off of a four-loss season in 2004, really would not have taken back two talented players, we do not have evidence to the contrary.

Many of the football people closest to Henry mentioned that his death was particularly tragic as he had finally matured and started to turn his life around. That seems to be the case and yes his death is indeed sad. But as I watched the ridiculous documentary on the rise of Miami football in the '80s yesterday, I could not help but think of Henry. The filmmaker could not stop fawning over players that were an embarrassment to college football (it only took the NCAA 25 years to finally begin cracking down on the on-field celebrations that the Hurricanes took for granted in their day) and allowed virtually any wrongdoing to be excused away by their troubled pasts and that the school was giving an opportunity to underprivileged kids. But that opportunity comes with responsibility to get an education and represent your school in the best way possible. Many of these players do stay out of trouble and remain focused on becoming proper student-athletes. But those who do not should not be coddled and their crimes should not be tolerated. Nor should they be celebrated in a film years later as members of some wonderful dynasty that greatly changed football.

There is no excuse for Henry's past bad behavior and the multiple chances he was given were harmful to his victims--especially those who were allegedly hurt by Henry years after he got away with his first crimes. We should feel sad that he has died, especially in light of the three kids he leaves behind, but let's also learn that slaps on the wrist, by both football teams and law enforcement, are in no way the proper treatment for athletes like Henry as much for him as the community at large. And please ESPN, no more films that celebrate childish and sometimes criminal behavior by athletes. I guess that is my Christmas wish.

ACC Overview

While many teams open conference play this Saturday, the Miami Hurricanes play their third key ACC game of the young season when traveling to Blacksburg, Virginia for their annual showdown with Virginia Tech. The undefeated Canes are certainly the lead story of the ACC so far this season as the swagger has returned to “The U” thanks to the continued development of the team’s talented young roster. With a win this weekend, Miami can establish itself as the clear frontrunner in the ACC Coastal Division. Win a win this weekend and a win in their next game against Oklahoma, the Canes can establish themselves as a top five team nationally.

If not Virginia Tech, the program that can best derail Miami’s return to glory is coached by a former key component of their past glory, North Carolina. Like Randy Shannon at Miami, coach Butch Davis is in year three of his time in Chapel Hill and he has built a program ready to make some noise this season. Like Miami, North Carolina relies on a talented group of underclassmen, led by QB Tyler Yates who played well last week against East Carolina. Davis is already 2-0 versus Miami and gets the Canes at home on November 14 in a match-up that just may decide the Coastal Division. The Tar Heels open conference play on the road against Georgia Tech this weekend.

As for the Atlantic Division, we will know a great deal more about these teams after this weekend. Although there is only one ACC game scheduled, with Wake Forest traveling to Boston College, the four other Atlantic teams all take on quality non-conference opponents. Florida State hosts South Florida, Clemson hosts TCU, North Carolina State hosts Pittsburgh and Maryland hosts Rutgers as the Atlantic Division has ACC pride on the line this Saturday. A win by Clemson could stamp the tigers as early season division favorites, but we have been down that slippery road before.

The ACC has already had a player set an individual NCAA record as Wolfpack QB Russell Wilson threw his 326th straight pass without an INT to break the record held by recent Kentucky QB Andre Woodson. Wilson pushed his mark to 329 in the game against Gardner-Webb and amazingly has thrown 25 TDs to 1 INT for his young career. Wilson now faces a Pitt team that returned seven of its top eight DBs from last season.