New Hurricane coach tells of vision.
He's a man with a 300-page plan in a state full of new plans. A plan that placed him above the other Head Coach applicants.
Coral Gables - January 13, 2011 | Al Golden's vision for Miami sits in a desk drawer. It's been a few, frenetic weeks for the new football coach. He's sleeping at a hotel. His dress suits are in a football locker. His dinner diet is M&M's and Pringles.
Golden just hired an offensive coordinator Thursday, is organizing recruiting plans for the weekend and works from an office with a still-moving-in look to it. Folders are piled. Clothes hang from the door, including an orange-and-green dress tie someone gave to color-coordinate him.
There's a motivational book on the floor from a former Temple player called, "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs." Stacks of other papers are beside it with titles like, " Partnerships Influence Performance."
Golden, you see, believes in the power of the written word.
"Once you write something down you're more committed to it,'' he said. "You can refine it from there. I write everything down I believe in and want to do."
Oh, he speaks directly and strongly. Like when he says something like, "We're going to get back to developing young quarterbacks here that want to go to the NFL."
Or when answering what will be different about these same Miami players next year: "Finishing. The way we will run to the football on defense and finish plays. The way we'll finish plays on special teams, finish runs on offense, finish blocks, finish games. Finishing. That a glaring issue to me."
What Golden is saying there, essentially, is Miami players were lazy last year. Or sloppy. That isn't him. Here's a story: While a Boston College assistant, Golden got word a recruit was deciding the next day.
When the dinner ended at 9 p.m., he drove four hours to the recruit's New Jersey home, left a note on his porch and immediately drove back to Boston. Did the kid sign?
"Of course he did,'' he said. "I didn't do all that to lose him."
There that idea in that story again: The written word. And Golden's believe in it in something like a porch note. He reaches into a draw of his desk now and there it is in a bigger way. There's his vision of Miami.
It's the 300-page, spiral-bound book he took to his interview with Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt. The book is printed in Miami's colors, says, "Deserve Victory" on the cover and, under that, "The Pillars of Performance" with a picture of the Greek Parthenon. On the pillar are words like "discipline" and "work."
"Inside here is what I've developed over 14 years of coaching,'' he said. "The mission statements for coaching, the five rules for student-athletes – and I only have five."
What are they?
[It's a secret; to be unfolded after the 1st 4 years]
"That's for them,'' he said.
He did, however, show the page of the four-step progression players are expected to make from freshmen to seniors: from being directed, to being coached, to having a partnership to having empowerment.
None of that, you would agree, shakes the ground. But it is revealing to how Golden works that it's a written part of his master plan. And what's in here isn't just for show, mind you.
In talking with him about motivational speakers, I mentioned a flight from Dallas to Chicago sitting next to Zig Ziglar, a motivational guru.
"Look at this," he said, flipping right to page 286 in his book. There was a section quoting Ziglar.
Will any of this help on fourth-and-2 against Virginia Tech? That remains to be seen. But it's help get Golden get to this point.
He was a Penn State tight end who describes his one-year NFL career under Bill Parcells in New England thusly: "The worst player on the worst team in the league."
He laughs. "I don't take that too seriously."
But ask him why Miami hired the Temple coach and that emotion changes: "Because the Temple coach did something great. Took over the worst program and won over nine games in four years. Went to the school's third bowl game in 70 years. Inherited 54 scholarship players and got back to Division I levels. And did it basically without any facilities." davehydesports
He's a man with a 300-page plan in a state full of new plans. A plan that placed him above the other Head Coach applicants.
Coral Gables - January 13, 2011 | Al Golden's vision for Miami sits in a desk drawer. It's been a few, frenetic weeks for the new football coach. He's sleeping at a hotel. His dress suits are in a football locker. His dinner diet is M&M's and Pringles.
Golden just hired an offensive coordinator Thursday, is organizing recruiting plans for the weekend and works from an office with a still-moving-in look to it. Folders are piled. Clothes hang from the door, including an orange-and-green dress tie someone gave to color-coordinate him.
There's a motivational book on the floor from a former Temple player called, "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs." Stacks of other papers are beside it with titles like, " Partnerships Influence Performance."
Golden, you see, believes in the power of the written word.
"Once you write something down you're more committed to it,'' he said. "You can refine it from there. I write everything down I believe in and want to do."
Oh, he speaks directly and strongly. Like when he says something like, "We're going to get back to developing young quarterbacks here that want to go to the NFL."
Or when answering what will be different about these same Miami players next year: "Finishing. The way we will run to the football on defense and finish plays. The way we'll finish plays on special teams, finish runs on offense, finish blocks, finish games. Finishing. That a glaring issue to me."
What Golden is saying there, essentially, is Miami players were lazy last year. Or sloppy. That isn't him. Here's a story: While a Boston College assistant, Golden got word a recruit was deciding the next day.
When the dinner ended at 9 p.m., he drove four hours to the recruit's New Jersey home, left a note on his porch and immediately drove back to Boston. Did the kid sign?
"Of course he did,'' he said. "I didn't do all that to lose him."
There that idea in that story again: The written word. And Golden's believe in it in something like a porch note. He reaches into a draw of his desk now and there it is in a bigger way. There's his vision of Miami.
It's the 300-page, spiral-bound book he took to his interview with Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt. The book is printed in Miami's colors, says, "Deserve Victory" on the cover and, under that, "The Pillars of Performance" with a picture of the Greek Parthenon. On the pillar are words like "discipline" and "work."
"Inside here is what I've developed over 14 years of coaching,'' he said. "The mission statements for coaching, the five rules for student-athletes – and I only have five."
What are they?
[It's a secret; to be unfolded after the 1st 4 years]
"That's for them,'' he said.
He did, however, show the page of the four-step progression players are expected to make from freshmen to seniors: from being directed, to being coached, to having a partnership to having empowerment.
None of that, you would agree, shakes the ground. But it is revealing to how Golden works that it's a written part of his master plan. And what's in here isn't just for show, mind you.
In talking with him about motivational speakers, I mentioned a flight from Dallas to Chicago sitting next to Zig Ziglar, a motivational guru.
"Look at this," he said, flipping right to page 286 in his book. There was a section quoting Ziglar.
Will any of this help on fourth-and-2 against Virginia Tech? That remains to be seen. But it's help get Golden get to this point.
He was a Penn State tight end who describes his one-year NFL career under Bill Parcells in New England thusly: "The worst player on the worst team in the league."
He laughs. "I don't take that too seriously."
But ask him why Miami hired the Temple coach and that emotion changes: "Because the Temple coach did something great. Took over the worst program and won over nine games in four years. Went to the school's third bowl game in 70 years. Inherited 54 scholarship players and got back to Division I levels. And did it basically without any facilities." davehydesports
