What's really funny about "the effects of the cloud" stuff is the fact that Al Golden was the biggest enemy to the University of Miami during that time. Who in the world spoke about it more than him? How many times in interviews did he bring it up when it wasn't even part of a question?
Al Golden latched on to "the cloud" and used it two ways: to excuse his on the field failures, and to weasel his way into a contract extension.
The impact of "the cloud" is already overstated by ignorant fans who think because you're being investigated, you can't beat horrible ACC teams that you have more talent then. But the real crime is that Al Golden was the biggest promoter of "the cloud" out there. If he was a real leader, his constant response would have been that him and his team will not answer questions about it, it is not affecting them in anyway, and it is not a big deal. Instead of pushing it aside and downplaying it publicly, he latched on for dear life to this excuse life raft.
I always laugh when I read "uh he guided us thru da N C double EH invesagashiooonn." No, he didn't. He strengthened what little impact it already had by constantly building it up into this insurmountable monster. He parlayed this into an extension and extra time with ignorant fans by severely exaggerating its impact. Any coach worth a squirt of **** would've shot down the investigation and not built it up into some monster he did. Al Golden talking about "the cloud" was worse than any pending investigation or their penalties.
The people that support the theory that it is, or in any contributed to, how bad he's been, have definitely sent a Nigerian prince their account # at some point in their lives.