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Al Golden - What Went Wrong?

GojiraCane

GojiraCane

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I'm posting this as a thought occurred to me while listening to the Insights podcast where they discussed Manny's hiring; during the podcast they said that Richt had left the program in much better shape and that under Golden so much was going wrong. So my thought - my question - was simply this...has anyone ever posted a detailed insider account of what went awry during the Golden tenure?

Obviously the defensive scheme was a liability, and served to negate the traditional advantages that Miami has enjoyed. Golden's stubborness in sticking with this scheme ultimately proved his downfall, and this is well known. But aside from this, what were the other underlying problems mentioned in the podcast?

Outside of the defense criticisms, these are the only other details that I've ever heard:
- Duke Johnson's mother saying on 12/29/2014 that the majority of the team would transfer if there was no penalty
- Jonathan Feliciano stating in 2016 that Golden made Stephen Morris play with an injured ankle in the 2013 season (even though 5 star transfer Heaps was available). Also that Golden had a degree in psychology and used it on the players, making Chickillo put on 60 lbs, and that the only reason that he played Kayaa in 2014 as a true freshman was that he was concerned with keeping his job

For those more in the know, what other core issues were there that made the Golden regime so wrong (as mentioned in the podcast)?
 
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caneworld said:
D'No... enuff said..
Click to expand...

Right, but going by the podcast it sounded as if there was far more than just a unworkable defensive scheme that was rotting away the Miami program. If so, what was it?

With Randy, it's easy to pin down. Minimal budget for staff leads to gambles and untested personnel being hired. The players do not develop under this staff and get worse as their careers progress. An NFL scout says in 2009 or 2010 that Miami is the worst coached team in college football. Miami refuses to invest in other things that schools on the ascent like Alabama have added, like a nutritionist. Players are eating once a day, and eating at McDonalds. Randy has poor relationships with multiple Florida HS coaches, and as a result key pipelines of talent are gradually shut down.
 
Golden might have been more successful if he didn’t hold on to his bff at Miami
 
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GojiraCane said:
I'm posting this as a thought occurred to me while listening to the Insights podcast where they discussed Manny's hiring; during the podcast they said that Richt had left the program in much better shape and that under Golden so much was going wrong. So my thought - my question - was simply this...has anyone ever posted a detailed insider account of what went awry during the Golden tenure?

Obviously the defensive scheme was a liability, and served to negate the traditional advantages that Miami has enjoyed. Golden's stubborness in sticking with this scheme ultimately proved his downfall, and this is well known. But aside from this, what were the other underlying problems mentioned in the podcast?

Outside of the defense criticisms, these are the only other details that I've ever heard:
- Duke Johnson's mother saying on 12/29/2014 that the majority of the team would transfer if there was no penalty
- Jonathan Feliciano stating in 2016 that Golden made Stephen Morris play with an injured ankle in the 2013 season (even though 5 star transfer Heaps was available). Also that Golden had a degree in psychology and used it on the players, making Chickillo put on 60 lbs, and that the only reason that he played Kayaa in 2014 as a true freshman was that he was concerned with keeping his job

For those more in the know, what other core issues were there that made the Golden regime so wrong (as mentioned in the podcast)?
Click to expand...
Well first he was born.

Then he got a binder.

That was all she wrote tbh
 
The fallacy Richt left this program in better shape then he inherited is the biggest BS. What Diaz has done in a short time is nothing short of remarkable. Remember Richt had 10 guys drafted his first year, Richt didn’t all of a sudden make these kids better. Golden and Richt were the exact same coaches. Loyal to themselves and refused to make moves to better the program. Golden wouldn’t fire the worst defensive mind in football and Richt wouldn’t fire the worst offensive mind in football and his unqualified son.

If taking back Jeff Thomas wasn’t the biggest F U and opened your eyes then I don’t know what is. Exciting times ahead.
 
Jaromir Jagr said:
You’re not going to get serious, knowledgeable answers on this board. Your expectations are way too high with a post like that.
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Potentially. I've always thought though that when there is a coaching change that it would be great if there was some sort of retrospect on what went wrong previously.

There was a good book called Shark Amongs Dolphins that chronicled Jimmy Johnson's first year with the Miami Dolphins, and it goes into great detail on the dysfunction of Don Shula's last team in 1995. That gave background and context to what had gone wrong. I was hoping that someone had some insider knowledge of the disarray (if it existed) under Golden's tenure.
 
I will always believe that if in his 3rd season, if Al had the capacity to see that his D and his BFF/DC were not working and had gone to an aggressive style of D, he wouldn't have gotten fired and could have built us into champions. He was a good talker, a good recruiter and many of his guys went on to do well in the league. It wasn't just one thing for sure, but if he has gotten a quality DC, his story could have been much different.

There were problems with S&C as well, but if he'd had the ability to see the need for change defensively, he would have made a change with S&C as well.

But, that's a big part of the job, isn't it? Being able to be honest with one's self, see reality for what it actually is and place personal loyalties aside for the good of the program. Same core thing that sunk Mark.
 
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What went wrong was that Al Golden was a fraud who had convinced not just UM, but the entire industry that he was a big time head coach. He was nothing of the sort. But again, the entire industry thought this guy was the next up and coming hot coaching commodity.

When things went sideways for UM due to the Nevin Shapiro scandal UM ended up doubling down on Golden about 15 minutes before everyone in the industry realized he was a huckster extraordinaire. At that point we were stuck with him until it was too late.
 
GojiraCane said:
I'm posting this as a thought occurred to me while listening to the Insights podcast where they discussed Manny's hiring; during the podcast they said that Richt had left the program in much better shape and that under Golden so much was going wrong. So my thought - my question - was simply this...has anyone ever posted a detailed insider account of what went awry during the Golden tenure?

Obviously the defensive scheme was a liability, and served to negate the traditional advantages that Miami has enjoyed. Golden's stubborness in sticking with this scheme ultimately proved his downfall, and this is well known. But aside from this, what were the other underlying problems mentioned in the podcast?

Outside of the defense criticisms, these are the only other details that I've ever heard:
- Duke Johnson's mother saying on 12/29/2014 that the majority of the team would transfer if there was no penalty
- Jonathan Feliciano stating in 2016 that Golden made Stephen Morris play with an injured ankle in the 2013 season (even though 5 star transfer Heaps was available). Also that Golden had a degree in psychology and used it on the players, making Chickillo put on 60 lbs, and that the only reason that he played Kayaa in 2014 as a true freshman was that he was concerned with keeping his job

For those more in the know, what other core issues were there that made the Golden regime so wrong (as mentioned in the podcast)?
Click to expand...

He was to defense what Richt was to offense.

Jaromir Jagr said:
Thanks for proving my point.
Click to expand...

I said we'll get you when we're ready, thank you for proving your own.
 
Canesfan0024 said:
The fallacy Richt left this program in better shape then he inherited is the biggest BS. What Diaz has done in a short time is nothing short of remarkable. Remember Richt had 10 guys drafted his first year, Richt didn’t all of a sudden make these kids better. Golden and Richt were the exact same coaches. Loyal to themselves and refused to make moves to better the program. Golden wouldn’t fire the worst defensive mind in football and Richt wouldn’t fire the worst offensive mind in football and his unqualified son.

If taking back Jeff Thomas wasn’t the biggest F U and opened your eyes then I don’t know what is. Exciting times ahead.
Click to expand...

I'll respectfully disagree on that.

Randy Shannon - Left the program inbalanced. The majority of the best talent entering the 2011 season were 3rd and 4th year players. His final class was down to two players when he was fired. Recruiting had become a disaster. There was no nutrition program under Shannon, and players consistently got worse the longer they played at Miami under him. As an aside, he also had absolutely no emotion on the sideline and the team began to take on those trademarks.

Al Golden - The team that he left Richt had much less depth, but talent was relatively balanced across 1st to 4th year players. He got the nutrition program approved, so there's that. And unless I'm wrong, I'd say relationships with HS coaches were improved and recruiting turned up quite a bit compared to Shannon.

That's not to excuse what went wrong under Golden's tenure, but I think that the program was left in a really bad place under Shannon. It would have taken a Saban or Meyer type of effort to quickly pull the Hurricanes out of the hole that Shannon's tenure dug for the program. Miami's reputation was worse after Golden, but paradoxically the foundations of the program and infastructure seemed a bit stronger for the next coach.
 
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