Coley hire can't be overstated

Coley hire can't be overstated

Peter Ariz
Peter Ariz

Comments (102)

Def an intriguing hire, but risky.

Success does not come without some risk in any walk of life. Keeping the topic on football, Kaepernick keeping the starting job was a risk, and the Ravens firing their coordinator was a risk.

In life people that work for corporations making 100-150k and living a nice life with their families, quit all the time to start their own venture. They take the risk to succeed higher in life. Don't be a B or a C in life. Be and A or an F. Take the risk
 
I'm really willing to bet Miami doesn't go with a shotgun spread predominately. Golden knows Miami needs to be pro-style.
 
What Al Golden was able to pull off today by hiring James Coley could turn out to be a defining moment of his Miami career. Some people would argue, "What's so special about an offensive coordinator who has never really had to call plays on a consistent basis?" This hire is more than what scratches the surface. It's more than the fact this could lock up Matthew Thomas and Denver Kirkland, amongst others. It's more than the fact that Coley's recruiting ties in South Florida are stronger than almost anybody in the country (we will get to this shortly). It's about where Coley is coming from and how this all went down.

James Coley has been considered Jimbo Fisher's right hand man and top recruiter since he joined FSU's staff in 2007, which is what makes this move so bold. Coley was the only name heavily rumored for the Offensive Coordinator position at Miami since Jedd Fisch left to the Jaguars last week, which tells me that this was Miami's #1 target for the job since last Saturday. This was a huge recruiting job by not only Al Golden, but also Mario Cristobal, who has close ties with Coley back to their days at FIU together. Miami was able to pry Coley away from his alma mater and it is even being reported that Florida State even surpassed the monetary offer made to him by Miami, as well as Jimbo Fisher giving him the opportunity to call plays.

To say that this is a monumental hire for recruiting purposes is an understatement. Take a look at this excerpt from a Miami Herald story, which touches on some of Coley's connection to the Miami area:

At Miami High from 1998-2000 he coached Roscoe Parrish and Andre Johnson. He then served as the offensive coordinator at Miami Norland when Dwyane Bowe and the Vikings won a state title in 2002. He was then a grad assistant at LSU under Nick Saban for two years before moving onto the Dolphins with him for two more years.

A number of South Florida area coaches I speak to absolutely love Coley and spoke extremely highly of him when he was at Florida State. Here are a couple of the responses I'm getting from a couple South Florida area coaches that I've talked to about the hire:

Awesome, it's huge. I'm a huge fan of his. Crazy.

Coley and Cristobal together...it's on

He puts in work as a recruiter

It's not only the coaches that love him, but the recruits as well. Even current Miami commits that were recruited by Coley have a great respect for him. For example, last night I tweeted that I expected Coley to be named Miami's next offensive coordinator, and Miami commit Jamal Carter responded with this:

dat would be love!

The question that remains to be seen is the fact that Coley has never really had to call plays besides a lone season at FIU in 2007. Coley's philosophy is more of a spread than pro-style. While Miami fans may be hesitant about this "change," can you really describe what Jedd Fisch did over the past two years as a true pro-style offense? Coley will be handed the keys to a Maybach for next season and it's going to be really interesting to see what he does with it.

"Big names" don't always equate to success in terms of a coaching staff, but there's no way anybody can argue that this isn't one of the most star-studded staffs in the country right now. As I eluded to earlier, this is very likely the final push that Miami needed to lock up Matthew Thomas and Denver Kirkland. As a matter of fact, Booker T. Washington Head Coach Tim "Ice" Harris coached James Coley when he was a quarterback at Miami High. I'm not sure it will have much of an affect on Alex Collins, who is already leaning towards Miami at this point, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Same goes with Stacy Coley.

If Miami's fortunes over the next day continue into Signing Day, this could be a close for the ages.

Just couldn't resist huh Ariz.
 
Florida State's staff has been raped and pillaged this off-season.

Mark Stoops and DJ Eliot to Kentucky
Greg Hudson went to Purdue
Eddie Gran to Cincinnati
James Coley to Miami
Dameyune Craig to Auburn

Three of their very best recruiters, too.

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He hasn't run and offense since FIU. What did he run there?
 
He hasn't run and offense since FIU. What did he run there?

Irrelevant. Was Mario's first year there with the worst roster in the world. They did anything they could to score a few points.
 
he'll probably still run a pro-style but with more lining up from the pistol
 
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Play calling is overrated! Give me every high school stud in South Florida, develop them and you will for sure win with them.......
Do you think Alabama play calling is what won championships for them?
I know I maybe blasted for this but I really think when Butch/Coker were here we won with a bunch of very talented, hungry and tough kids more than play calling.
 
Is there a bit of a risk in this hire?

Sure there is

But greatness can not be achieved without some of it

UM has been stuck in the box for too long on certain things. Time to be bold
 
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Play calling is overrated! Give me every high school stud in South Florida, develop them and you will for sure win with them.......
Do you think Alabama play calling is what won championships for them?
I know I maybe blasted for this but I really think when Butch/Coker were here we won with a bunch of very talented, hungry and tough kids more than play calling.

this

easy to see and cant understand the playcalling logic at the college level. Unless he doesnt mix it up which im sure he will.
 
It's not like Coker and Chud were genius playcallers when we were piling up wins. They pounded the ball with our stud running backs and used it to open passing lanes to our stud tight ends and stud receivers, as our stud QB was protected by our stud o-line.
 
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Florida State's staff has been raped and pillaged this off-season.

Mark Stoops and DJ Eliot to Kentucky
Greg Hudson went to Purdue
Eddie Gran to Cincinnati
James Coley to Miami
Dameyune Craig to Auburn

Three of their very best recruiters, too.

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And their replacements aren't really that special. Guys like Randy Sanders and Sal Sunseri. Solid coaches but not the all that special. Tennessee people hate both of them with a passion..
 
It shouldn't be hard to see what we have, and then get them the **** ball. What we put on the field on offense athletically, that group of bad mother****ers on the OLine, and Duke, hopefully Coley can see that. I doubt he would stray too far from what we've done, just add in a few formation wrinkles in his play calling. McDermott, Feliciano, Seantrel, Bunche and Flowers, only Andy Reid wouldn't run behind them.
 
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