Via Chris Stock
Here's a few things of what I'm hearing about the thought process with Miami and Al Golden....
*** Ideally, the administration does not want to make two decisions on a head coach in the next year. Meaning, if they choose to move on from Golden now and hire a new coach, that coach could be replaced in a year with the new president coming in following Donna Shalala's retirement in May. So they would prefer to just wait a year when the new president is in place and that person can make a decision on the head football coach moving forward either Golden or someone else in addition to the athletic director if they choose to do so.
*** I do not have firm confirmation of Golden's contact (and really only about 10 people really know the details of the contract since UM is a private institution), however it is very likely that a buyout will drop in 2015 because of the original deal Golden signed in 2010 that lasted four years. Golden signed an extension in 2011 and I'm hearing that there was some give-take with the buyout that would begin in 2015.
*** The university does have money. It is a misconception that they don't. They have enough money with the nearly $3 billion raised (by 2016) by Shalala over her tenure to cover a buyout of Golden, but again it goes back to the administration not wanting to potentially pay for two buyouts in the next year. They would prefer to just wait a year and see how it shakes out and go from there.
*** The $1.5 million donation by former Hurricane Ken Hunt when the team was 6-5 partly because of Hunt's belief in Golden meant a lot to Blake James and the administration. Hunt's donation is the largest by a former Hurricane player.
*** Golden has not yet had his end-of-the-season press conference and will not have it this week according to UM media relations. The plan is to have it sometime next week although a date has not been set.
*** Just wanted to add this... I have not seen this kind of negativity surrounding the program in the offseason and I just don't see how the program can endure this for the next nine months. But I guess it's never as bad as it seems and time could change some things. However, regardless of the negativity surrounding the fan base, I honestly think James, Golden, UM personnel, and the administration think fans and even media are being "typical Miami fans" and that everyone is unhappy for no reason and that not enough patience is being showed for a program that had an NCAA cloud for the first 2-3 years since Golden took over.