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Al Golden - What Went Wrong?

Golden’s problem is he brought the Temple mentality to Miami and it didn’t translate. He had a good eye for talented athletes but at the same time he was getting guys that could never compete in the ACC whereas at Temple he could get away with a few misses on the field along with his legit finds. The level of competition allowed him to do this. He also had some terrible assistants, headlined by D’Orito. He never brought in anything new like an IPF or a nutritionist and even guys like Swasey were 10 years behind in training methods. Golden’s concept of fattening players up for the sake of just making them bigger reeked of Big 10 football in a league that was becoming more spread oriented. A recipe for disaster and I’m just touching the tip of the iceberg from my perspective.
 
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What happened is he should've NEVER been hired here in the first place.

Folden was a sh*t corch at Temple & showed in year 2 after getting shellacked by K State & losing to a 4-8 UVA squad that he had no business being here at all.

Al Folden completely sunk this program to the absolute bottom of the pit of ****, Richt tried hard to bring us back above sea level, but we're still to this very day feeling the impact on the recruiting trail of just how awful Folden was.

Some people say Coker, some people Shannon, but to me Folden hands down no question was the worst Coach we've had in the modern era.
 
Liberty City El said:
What happened is he should've NEVER been hired here in the first place.

Folden was a sh*t corch at Temple & showed in year 2 after getting shellacked by K State & losing to a 4-8 UVA squad that he had no business being here at all.

Al Folden completely sunk this program to the absolute bottom of the pit of ****, Richt tried hard to bring us back above sea level, but we're still to this very day feeling the impact on the recruiting trail of just how awful Folden was.

Some people say Coker, some people Shannon, but to me Folden hands down no question was the worst Coach we've had in the modern era.
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who cares if he was a coach at temple. rhule is coaching baylor and he's doing one **** of a job there.
 
HawaiiAndTheOver said:
golden wasn't a fraud he was a good coach. he was given a team with no talent, no depth, and abunch of cry baby south florida kids/fans.
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Disagree with the so fla take but if i were a group of 5 school I could do a lot worse. Can’t deny how he turned Temple around. He’s the guy that turned that place around and the reason it’s been a respectable football place for about a decade.
 
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)?
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You cannot answer this question in a vacuum. You have to understand what happened to the program structurally and culturally under Coker and Shannon also, what happened in CFB during that time, and what happened at UM outside of the program at that time (administration). Golden improved some things, dealt with sanctions, but also botched scheme and staff and recruiting, and didn’t get culture right (but nor did coker or shannon). It wasn’t just one thing. The result is what it was.
 
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Ethnicsands said:
You cannot answer this question in a vacuum. You have to understand what happened to the program structurally and culturally under Coker and Shannon also, what happened in CFB during that time, andy what happened at UM outside of the program at that time (administration). Golden improved some things, dealt with sanctions, but also botched scheme and staff, and didn’t get culture right (but not did coker or shannon). It wasn’t just one thing. The result is what it was.
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nah he came here with sanctions and zero talent/depth. period. it's hard to recruit like that. along with a fanbase that thinks every SFL kid belongs in the HOF ad we should blow everyone out by 4 TD's because "we miami". sad.
 
HawaiiAndTheOver said:
who cares if he was a coach at temple. rhule is coaching baylor and he's doing one **** of a job there.
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Folden & Rhule aren't the same person, so that has absolutely nothing to do with my point. And the reason why it matters what he did at Temple because the same issues that plagued him at Temple followed him to Miami.

His team's routinely lost games they shouldn't have, he lost to Buffalo, Bowling Green, Ohio, Western Mich, Kent St, Villanova, UCLA & a bunch others at Temple. It showed his track record was of an average coach that NEVER got his team's to play all out for him, his team's always FOLDED up when it mattered most.

The same sh*t happened at Miami, starting off with a loss vs a Maryland team that finished the season at 2-10, losing to K-State, UVA, BC, then in 2012 K State, UNC, UVA & I wanted him gone after that season. Then in his "best" season, lost to Va Tech & Duke & got steamrolled by FSU & Teddy Bridgwater's Louisville. Then the following year got smacked around by Louisville again, he should've been fired after that game, I never wanted him in the 1st place but BOTH LVille games were the perfect opportunity to get rid of him, instead that kept him on longer & he did more damage to the program with his incompetence.

We finished 2014 with a 4 game losing streak, should've been fired again, but nope let'em hang around for another season & after losing to Cincinnati should've been fired, but nope took another L to FSU & then the worst loss in school history in the disaster vs Clemson before the adminstration decided to step up & get rid of that fckin bum.

He did near irrevocable damage to the program & it's going to take winning the ACC & making it to the playoffs in the near future to truly reverse & repair what he did to Miami. He was complete fckin joke & should've never been hired in the first place.
 
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If he could have beaten FSU and canned his best friend he might have lasted longer. The school wanted to do right by him after he lied and said he wasn't aware of an impending investigation when hired. There was obviously no choice after losing 58-0 but the RAB vs Louisville was when he should have at least fired his co-ordinators.
 
A former Cane from the Shannon era told me that Folden made Canes who played in the NFL feel unwelcome at the facility. They more or less disassociated themselves from the program. The former Canes returned when Richt took over. It’s not the main reason why Folden failed, but it does point to the cultural mismatch during his tenure.
 
[QUOTE="Canesfan0024, post: 3831208, member: 10229"]The fallacy Richt left this program in better shape then he inherited is the biggest BS.

It never fails to amaze me as to the cluelessness of some.

Let me ask you this question...do you think the indoor practice facility made the program better?

How about hiring Coach Diaz, did that make the program better?

What about convincing the BOT that assistant coaches salaries had to be materially increased?

How about College GameDay visiting the UM campus for the first time ever and all of the positive PR generated from said broadcast?

How about winning the ACC Coastal for the first time ever?

How about being invited to a major bowl for the first time in double-digit years?

Yes, last year was very disappointing but to even hint that Coach Richt didn't greatly improve the program after the..."Golden Years"...is patently false and absurd.
 
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)?
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Hi Al
 
He came in and installed a defensive scheme that didn’t fit our roster or the athletes in South Florida. 0 aggression and read and react. Never forget “don’t rise to the occassion, fall back on your training.”

He alienated alumni and local coaches

He shared the philosophy with Jason Garrett that it’s better to try not to lose and slowly bleed out a close loss you can swing to the media than go for a win.

He relied on recruiting jags like Robert Knowles and Ryan Mayes to fill up the recruiting class to put up the mirage that we were doing well while missing on program changers like Dalvin Cook and Amari Cooper and pretty much any big time recruit within 50 miles of our campus that supposedly grew up Canes fans.

He couldn’t adapt his game to the ACC and when real Canes like Hurlie would bring around actual athletes he listened to Paul Williams and Donofrio wanting 4.8 40 safeties to play 20 yards off the ball and play like they did at Temple.
 
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Too much
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Not enough
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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.
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Yeah, people make it sound like Richt took over the 1997 squad or something. I will say this for Richt, from a standpoint of infrastructure, facilities, etc, he did move the program into the 21s century
 
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...


U started this thread.
 
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