All - I hardly ever post (prefer to read) but wanted to share a letter my Uncle wrote and sent to Blake James and posted on another Canes site which he is a member of. I think it's one of the most thought provoking letters around and really hits all the points in a constructive manner regarding this horrific nightmare all of us Cane fans are suffering through.
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Mr. James:
I have been a season ticket holder since 1987 and currently I have 6 season tickets. I just received the e-mail below. Candidly, it is insulting.
In order to build championships, there must be high standards in place from the athletic director to the training staff. Neither you nor Al Golden exhibit those standards, so it takes a lot of nerve sending out an e-mail asking for my help.
What exactly are you trying to build? Will you, or your head coach articulate a time table for building championships? To date, all you have done is lower bar. Instead of competing for national titles, the new goal at Miami is winning the Coastal Division. So far, Al Golden is 0 for 4 (even though the Coastal is the weakest of all Power 5 conference divisions and even though Miami has out-recruited each team in the Coastal by a significant margin over the past four years).
To recap…After the embarrassing end to the 2013 football season (including the bowl debacle against Louisville) Al Golden made a choice: keep his entire staff and defensive scheme in place (even though every single metric showed they were a complete failure - they were historically bad). That decision was made based upon his friendship with Mark D'Onofrio, Jethro Franklin and Paul Williams. They have been with Al Golden since 2005. Did you know Al Golden has never finished the season ranked in the top 25? Did you know Al Golden does not have a signature win? Yet he has NEVER fired an assistant coach? He believes that after ten years of failure, his friends and his broken scheme will finally get it right. That is crazy.
Al Golden employed the same broken schemes in 2014…What happened, the worst season since 1997 (a team that actually dealt with real sanctions not a make believe cloud). This was despite having the second most talented roster in country (when looking at players that will be drafted); a quarterback with better numbers than Jameis Winston, the school's all-time leading rusher (doak walker finalist); a Butkus finalist; and a Mackey finalist. With that much talent and individual success, the blame falls squarely on the head coach. What was the response? Rather than make sweeping changes (TCU did that to its offense last year and this year it was a hair away from making the playoff) Al Golden let his friendships and stubbornness get in the way of bettering the program. What was your response? To sit there, take it and condone mediocrity.
As John Wooden once said: "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." Well Al Golden's failure to change is fatal to his coaching career and this program's success.
Today - commenting on the new Adidas deal -- you stated: "The University of Miami is polarizing." You are right, but the University and Athletic Department from the top down hide from that image. Miami fans, players and alumni are a different breed. Al Golden believes that U Deserve Victory. However, us old timers that watched what Howard, Jimmy, Dennis and Butch build know better. Victory, like anything worthwhile in life is EARNED.
I can, will and have supported this program through ups and downs. However, I will not support a regime that refuses to put the program's success ahead of personal friendship; nor, will I support a program whose motto goes against everything a true Miami Hurricane is.
Please feel free to e-mail me when you decide to bring back the Miami Hurricanes so that I can contribute. Until then, good luck filling Sun Life.
P.S. The cloud did not hurt Coach Laranaga. I guess it sat over Greentree and not the BUC. Weird.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mr. James:
I have been a season ticket holder since 1987 and currently I have 6 season tickets. I just received the e-mail below. Candidly, it is insulting.
In order to build championships, there must be high standards in place from the athletic director to the training staff. Neither you nor Al Golden exhibit those standards, so it takes a lot of nerve sending out an e-mail asking for my help.
What exactly are you trying to build? Will you, or your head coach articulate a time table for building championships? To date, all you have done is lower bar. Instead of competing for national titles, the new goal at Miami is winning the Coastal Division. So far, Al Golden is 0 for 4 (even though the Coastal is the weakest of all Power 5 conference divisions and even though Miami has out-recruited each team in the Coastal by a significant margin over the past four years).
To recap…After the embarrassing end to the 2013 football season (including the bowl debacle against Louisville) Al Golden made a choice: keep his entire staff and defensive scheme in place (even though every single metric showed they were a complete failure - they were historically bad). That decision was made based upon his friendship with Mark D'Onofrio, Jethro Franklin and Paul Williams. They have been with Al Golden since 2005. Did you know Al Golden has never finished the season ranked in the top 25? Did you know Al Golden does not have a signature win? Yet he has NEVER fired an assistant coach? He believes that after ten years of failure, his friends and his broken scheme will finally get it right. That is crazy.
Al Golden employed the same broken schemes in 2014…What happened, the worst season since 1997 (a team that actually dealt with real sanctions not a make believe cloud). This was despite having the second most talented roster in country (when looking at players that will be drafted); a quarterback with better numbers than Jameis Winston, the school's all-time leading rusher (doak walker finalist); a Butkus finalist; and a Mackey finalist. With that much talent and individual success, the blame falls squarely on the head coach. What was the response? Rather than make sweeping changes (TCU did that to its offense last year and this year it was a hair away from making the playoff) Al Golden let his friendships and stubbornness get in the way of bettering the program. What was your response? To sit there, take it and condone mediocrity.
As John Wooden once said: "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." Well Al Golden's failure to change is fatal to his coaching career and this program's success.
Today - commenting on the new Adidas deal -- you stated: "The University of Miami is polarizing." You are right, but the University and Athletic Department from the top down hide from that image. Miami fans, players and alumni are a different breed. Al Golden believes that U Deserve Victory. However, us old timers that watched what Howard, Jimmy, Dennis and Butch build know better. Victory, like anything worthwhile in life is EARNED.
I can, will and have supported this program through ups and downs. However, I will not support a regime that refuses to put the program's success ahead of personal friendship; nor, will I support a program whose motto goes against everything a true Miami Hurricane is.
Please feel free to e-mail me when you decide to bring back the Miami Hurricanes so that I can contribute. Until then, good luck filling Sun Life.
P.S. The cloud did not hurt Coach Laranaga. I guess it sat over Greentree and not the BUC. Weird.
