If you're a coach (with a brain), you don't 86 your career for a "friend". What Golden did with NoD was really unwise. He went from a hot coaching commodity (as someone that resurrected a struggling doormat at Temple) to HC at Miami to position coach only (TE). His biggest single mistake was hiring (and then retaining NoD when it was super clear it wasn't working). Terrible mistake that likely cost him $2-$3 mm a year and a huge demotion to position coach.
Manny needs stud coaches (and great recruiters) on the Defensive side of the ball. At times this year, the D looked nothing like what a Miami defense should look like. It also looked dramatically different than when Manny himself was DC under Richt.
We need to get back to being tough & super fast on D:
1) DL that brings the pain on every play. Also need more Wilfork, Kennedy, Sapp type DTs back in the program
2) Linebackers that erase @%$! fast and knock some heads off along the way (see Vilma against Nebraska or Barrow against FSU). We used to dominate the middle of the field
3) Ballhawks & sure tacklers at the DB position. In his first couple of years as DC, turnovers were a huge part of Manny's D. This year, the turnovers were largely AWOL. We are light years from the days of Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, PBuch and other great ball-hawking DBs. We need serious speed, instinct and high football IQ back at the DB position
Hope Manny makes the right decisions.
