I hardly post but after watching this season and talking to those in the “know” - most of our fans live in the “what if world” versus reality. What if we got a new coach. What if we got T2 or what if we got TRob! Who cares. One coach, one player, one internal change won’t be a monumental shift in fixing the problem, and maybe we were never that far behind, but maybe the elite got that much better and re-calibrated their map to become that much better in today’s landscape? Watching the games yesterday and this season further reinforced my opinion for what it’s worth, but outside of 6-8 teams we are not playing the same game - and nobody else is - not even Notre Dame. It’s the Power 8 vs everyone else. Those programs are Bama, OSU, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, TAMU, and maybe Florida. Now you may think I’m crazy to include Texas, TAMU, or Florida but the resources and ingrained institutional cheating of SEC programs coupled with minor changes would fix them pretty quickly including Texas but they are the weakest of all with the most money (and as I write this they fire Herman). While it may seem as the last few years it’s a 4 team race, the others are much closer to being in that conversation than Miami. We can’t compete at that level and everyone else is fighting for scraps. No other teams are built like those, not even ND who looked like everyone else against the best.
Miami will always be a regular Top 25 team but the days of being a perennial Top 5/10 team unfortunately are a distant past and I’m not sure we can get there. This isn’t the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. We aren’t playing in the same arms race. It has nothing to do with Manny, Blake or whatever, it starts with the Board of Trustees, but even then it’s not a guarantee. I’m close with someone who is involved at Wisconsin and they know they can’t compete with OSU, they don’t pay and they’ve accepted they can be a great team, develop talent but 5 stars and high level 4 stars aren’t going there. They can strive for Rose Bowls occasionally,
but playing for Championships it’s not in the cards. Winning at all costs in ingrained in the institutional fabric of those Programs. Nothing more and will settle for nothing less. Saban / Dabo are Yuri Orlov from Lord of War. We are the agent trying to catch up and can never do it.
Here are a few of my big issues besides money to start. Yet - money is a key component all these issues.
Miami will always be a regular Top 25 team but the days of being a perennial Top 5/10 team unfortunately are a distant past and I’m not sure we can get there. This isn’t the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. We aren’t playing in the same arms race. It has nothing to do with Manny, Blake or whatever, it starts with the Board of Trustees, but even then it’s not a guarantee. I’m close with someone who is involved at Wisconsin and they know they can’t compete with OSU, they don’t pay and they’ve accepted they can be a great team, develop talent but 5 stars and high level 4 stars aren’t going there. They can strive for Rose Bowls occasionally,
but playing for Championships it’s not in the cards. Winning at all costs in ingrained in the institutional fabric of those Programs. Nothing more and will settle for nothing less. Saban / Dabo are Yuri Orlov from Lord of War. We are the agent trying to catch up and can never do it.
Here are a few of my big issues besides money to start. Yet - money is a key component all these issues.
- Eyes - all those programs are littered with so many eyes on the program they can see and spot deficiencies far faster and attack them far quicker. Having ex coaches as Analysts is a huge “X” factor that cannot be dismissed or ignored. This is not a knock on Manny - he’s not Saban, Dabo, or even Urban Meyer’s hand picked successor. Track record matters. I deal with this in my business. Heck Terry Bowden was a GA at Clemson - whether you like him or not - they guy is smart and knows football. Paying players to come is one thing, but more than that - they have eyes to spot anything and everything and they feast on getting the best and most eyes.
- Players / Skill And Trenches - Macho said it best the other day. We just aren’t getting the best Football Players. Our guys just don’t look the same. Our 4.3/4.4 guys look different than Bama’s 4.3/4.4 guys. Our lineman both on the OL and inside DL look different. Finding those hidden gems as Butch did is a thing of the past. Just looking at the SEC guys they dress different, they walk different, they LOOK different. Technology, recruiting sites, camps , 7 on 7 teams, YouTube, etc. make it a lot easier to uncover and find the best and the best frequently go to those top programs. Compounding that - it’s a massive indictment to this program when the average Joe on this site has a better eye than our coaches in seeing players. I wish @DMoney , @Cribby , @Liberty City El @LCane and @Coach Macho @LuCane and there are a few others I’m forgetting but had Analyst roles at Miami.
- Coaching - We all agree nothing really needs to be rehashed here - big problem both on staff and accountability / favoritism.
- Roster Management - PR, press, whatever - these programs drop guys fast and cut bait when they realize a guy can’t play. Stay at school or transfer. They take full 25 man classes yearly. We welcome back OLs like Hillary and Herbert who couldn’t crack 2nd string. Also we have poor depth because of it. Not to mention Public Universities and in-state tuition make it much easier to have more walk-ins and preferred walk-ons.
