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Jimmy Johnson

JD08 said:
We were also playing with a quarterback who had been in a scooter accident and hadn't played for 47 days. Had Geoff Toretta started, we would likely have another ring.
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Who chose the starter? Jimmy can’t get a free pass on that game as we were by far the best team. Total yards like 450-150.
 
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330 Cane said:
A guy named Dennis Erickson doesn’t get enough credit here. He won 2 NCs and I know “He won them with Jimmy’s guys” Well in 1986 the most talented team in college football history to date lost to a Penn State team that was less talented at every position on the field. That was a game we had absolutely no business losing. Jimmy was a great coach but Coach E does not get enough credit here. He did win 2 NCs. Talk to anyone that ever played for Dennis and all you will hear are great things. A players coach on and off the field.
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And left a mess for Butch...he won 2 NCs with 90% of JJs kids...Total lack of institutional control....
 
Pentagon Cane said:
Miami ran a 5-2 in 1983. Quite frankly the most underrated defense in Miami history is the 1981 team. They played a much tougher regular season schedule and got jobbed twice, first in Austin and second in Starksville. By the end of the year, Miami was the best team in the country.

Defense under JJ did not become what it was until Wanny arrived. He fired Bill Trout. And he did not lose any sleep when Paul Jette left. JJ was a savage as a head coach and had no problem showing an assistant the door.
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Not exactly....they ran a 3-4 and 5-2....One was called Monster (Tony Fitzpatrick is a friend and we talked about it at length)
 
caneinorlando said:
And left a mess for Butch...he won 2 NCs with 90% of JJs kids...Total lack of institutional control....
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I know you are a big Butch guy and he did a tremendous job rebuilding, leaving Larry with maybe the best roster in college football history. That being said what happened in the early to mid 90s was not only on Coach E, The NCAA wanted Miami badly, they got what they wanted. The country wasn’t ready for what UM brought to the table. The celebration rules changes were known as the “Miami rules” in the officiating world.
 
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Ethnicsands said:
This. Dennis doesnt deserve mention alongside JJ, or Howard, IMO. He tanked the program and save for a team only Butch could have assembled, it aint recovered since.
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You have no idea what happened when Coach E was here. The Pell Grant dealt went much deeper than the head coach. If Dennis won 2 with Jimmy’s kids, why did Jimmy only win 1 with Jimmy’s kids??????? Talk to players that played for both guys, I happen to know several dozen and they rave about both guys who always had their player’s backs. Dennis Erickson is loved by all who played for him at UM and is a great guy. Again I’ll go with players opinions every day.
 
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JJ proved he was a defensive genius and a great HC. He loved the U and we loved him. If he would have been allowed to call the shots with the Fins he could have made them champs, but a washed up Marino was running the show.
 
Defenses are constantly adjusting to counter changes in offenses and more recently, changes in rules that almost always benefit offenses. The old 5-2 was essentially an odd front 3-4 but with both OLB on the line of scrimmage. It was effective in it's day against a lot of the primitive offenses that were popular in college football at the time. Most of the younger crowd doesn't realize how many teams rarely threw the ball in the 70's and 80's. Teams running a "pro style" offense with a downfield passing attack were considered cutting edge at the time. (Thanks Schnelly) Wishbone triple option teams dominated the landscape.

The Jimmy Johnson 4-3 over defense is well known for "ending the wishbone". Everybody knows about Jimmy's insistence on using smaller faster players but on top of introducing speed, his scheme was a better fit for the more athletic defenders he preferred. In many ways it's very similar to what Manny Diaz is running currently. Jimmy put a premium on "disruption" plays. Figuring that putting these run heavy option teams in second and third and long situations would ultimately force them to throw (something they didn't do well). Instead of hoping to stalemate an opponents offensive line with equally big and strong defensive fronts, he used quicker guys that could dart into the backfield and disrupt the offenses timing. He figured it was more valuable to gamble on making negative plays and leaving opponents in tougher down/distance scenarios than to attempt to hold the opponent to short gains over and over.
 
330 Cane said:
A guy named Dennis Erickson doesn’t get enough credit here. He won 2 NCs and I know “He won them with Jimmy’s guys” Well in 1986 the most talented team in college football history to date lost to a Penn State team that was less talented at every position on the field. That was a game we had absolutely no business losing. Jimmy was a great coach but Coach E does not get enough credit here. He did win 2 NCs. Talk to anyone that ever played for Dennis and all you will hear are great things. A players coach on and off the field.
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Jimmy guy's in Erickson's scheme
 
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330 Cane said:
You have no idea what happened when Coach E was here. The Pell Grant dealt went much deeper than the head coach. If Dennis won 2 with Jimmy’s kids, why did Jimmy only win 1 with Jimmy’s kids??????? Talk to players that played for both guys, I happen to know several dozen and they rave about both guys who always had their player’s backs. Dennis Erickson is loved by all who played for him at UM and is a great guy. Again I’ll go with players opinions every day.
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You can talk about love all you want. I’m talking about coaching pedigree, accomplishments and ability. I don’t think it’s close. And I give Dennis more credit than most around here.
 
rokulika said:
Who goes down as the better program builder - Schnelly or Butch?
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Gotta be butch, based on nfl talent alone, the problem was an imbecile took over after him! As far as game day readiness, and all the other headcoaching intangibles, jimmy thus far is still #1, him being from Port Arthur, Tx it was a perfect match for him coming to Miami up under the mental tutelage of ONE JEROME BROWN and others!
 
330 Cane said:
A guy named Dennis Erickson doesn’t get enough credit here. He won 2 NCs and I know “He won them with Jimmy’s guys” Well in 1986 the most talented team in college football history to date lost to a Penn State team that was less talented at every position on the field. That was a game we had absolutely no business losing. Jimmy was a great coach but Coach E does not get enough credit here. He did win 2 NCs. Talk to anyone that ever played for Dennis and all you will hear are great things. A players coach on and off the field.
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I agree with you and said the same thing about coach E! My only gripe about Erickson was that he became a very poor talent evaluator. He hated the recruiting thing and just used data from recruiting gurus and by doing that he signed a lot of bust! He also let the guys run with a lot of undesirables and in turn Miami suffered with the NCAA sanctions! Other then that he brought one of the most prolific offenses we've seen here!!
 
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Fzac75 said:
I still have nightmares to this day of Olivadotti there and then with my Fins, God help me I still have Football PTSD because of that man. Golden and D'no aren't even the left nut of this ******
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Holy sh*t he was bad with the Phins...wasted Marino's best years.
 
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330 Cane said:
You have no idea what happened when Coach E was here. The Pell Grant dealt went much deeper than the head coach. If Dennis won 2 with Jimmy’s kids, why did Jimmy only win 1 with Jimmy’s kids??????? Talk to players that played for both guys, I happen to know several dozen and they rave about both guys who always had their player’s backs. Dennis Erickson is loved by all who played for him at UM and is a great guy. Again I’ll go with players opinions every day.
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Stop it....Ericksons drunk *** let the players absolutely run wild....Its about personal responsibility on the HCs part....His *** ran a 4.4 leaving Hecht in early 95...Would have been a 4.2 if not for a bottle of Whiskey in his back pocket...Did he Win 2 NCs...Of course....but also lost one because of a stupid *** Off scheme against Bamas AA Def line, leaving Torretta a sitting Duck....Lets stop the nonsense....and don't start that he Won with Howards kids in 87...Thats simply not true....
 
330 Cane said:
I know you are a big Butch guy and he did a tremendous job rebuilding, leaving Larry with maybe the best roster in college football history. That being said what happened in the early to mid 90s was not only on Coach E, The NCAA wanted Miami badly, they got what they wanted. The country wasn’t ready for what UM brought to the table. The celebration rules changes were known as the “Miami rules” in the officiating world.
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DE wasn't inept..
.. and certainly not in JJ or Schnelly's league.
But he had his own in-house albatross called Tad Foote.
That and joining Comissioner Trained Geese's Big Least conf stuck a knife in our program...
 
Let’s not revise history too much. Jimmy went 0-3 his first three bowl games, each time with the more talented team. And he was throughly out coached by Paterno in the Fiasco Bowl.

But he’s still a God to me.
 
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caneinorlando said:
I posted this a few yrs ago, and thought I'd post again...These are JJ's own words to then UM DC Tom Olivadotti in a very Heated exchange shortly after Shnellenberger left UM about the Superiority of the 4-3 D...vs the 3-4 D....(When I met JJ during a trip to the Keys, I asked him if this was true and accurate, and he laughed and said it was)
"Quote"....Look *******, the Selmon Bros were AAs in an Upfield Pressure Def at Oklahoma, while you were coaching at some place called Salesianum Prep School in F*cking Delaware. Did you ever happen to wonder who might have thought up the Oklahoma Upfield pressure Defense that got the Football worlds attention?, all the way to Salesianum Prep in F*cking Delaware??.....
ME...Thats who....The Point is...my Scheme, with the right talent to execute it, can disrupt ANY Offense...Now, I know you believe otherwise...and I couldn't care less....We WILL be running a 4-3, regardless of what you, or anyone else thinks....
Olivadotti quit shortly afterwords....Talk about Savage......My favorite UM HC ever...(with Butch a close 2nd)
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I don't think Tom ever forgave us for his ignominious exit.... i remember seeing him at Greentree for a draft combine during Erickson's era.

Tom looked like he never wanted to be there and his disdain for the program was palpable....
Kinda explains why we never had any key players from the vaunted D years, drafted by the 'fins
 
Erickson was a NOTORIOUS lazy recruiter in 92-93....And left a pile of Dogsh*t for Butch to deal with....Did I Love the 89-92 teams??...Of course I did...but Cot ****...only misinformed people would argue how he left the program....and please stop with everyone hated us for Celebrations...Lol...What the f did that have to do with Pell Grant fraud...and a plethora of other matters that hurt us terribly for yrs to come....
 
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