Until Coker, new coaches passed on success whereas Coker failed

[simplycanes]

I’d like to revisit the Lou Saban era as well.

Schnellenberger, Johnson and Butch passed on better programs than they found.

Richt did not have enough time, and we got him too late in his career, but he did a lot of good here with what he had left in the tank.

Erickson was a wash- cutting edge offensive philosophy, mixed bag on talent.

Coker, Shannon, Golden and Diaz all had major deficiencies which left black holes throughout the program.

Coker and Shannon did the most damage, whiffing on the greatest run of local talent conceivable. It setup so much failure we're still working through. Wouldn't have happened on Butch's watch.

 

[bacane]

Saban kick started the program, but antsy by nature & didn’t stay long enough to have an impact. Howard was a hard-***, Bear & Shula disciple, who brought structure & goals to the program as well as old-school insight on how to recruit (figure this one out). We know how it ended as well as Jimmy’s great success & departure. Dennis was innovative offensively & kept it rolling, but had his own issues & by the end he was starting to lose control & probably best that he moved on. Coker, bless him, is trashed by many, but he was the players’s choice & won a championship & should have had another. Unfortunately, the talent pipeline dried up & Coker was recruiting off published lists & lacked reputation or money to attract quality assistants. Folks point to the Ohio State debacle in the Fiesta Bowl as starting the program’s decline, though what stands out was the blow out in the Peach Bowl vs. a young Les Miles & LSU. They beat the **** out of us on the field & in tunnel post-game, coaches were arguing amongst themselves & with players on the sideline, staff shake up after the game. It was the ultimate **** show & taken decades to recover, thanks in part to professionalism Richt brought & commitment given Mario & his relentless drive.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

My ******* dog could have coached that 2001 team to a national championship. Coker was pathetic

I don't know your dog, but I'm certain you're correct.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

Ok, granted. Those teams were also very, very good. The 1991-1994 teams had the best defenses in school history, along with the 2003 team later on.

The Dennis slander on this board remains insane. He'd run circles around anyone who's come since. Frankly, he already did.

Interesting on Dennis. I was in school when he was at the helm. We sure didn't lose very often. I look back and think of him as a smarter version of Coker. I don't mean that in a slanderous way so much as I mean it like he was handed the keys to the Bugatti like Coker was, and told not to crash it. Coker totaled it like he was in a demolition derby. Dennis returned it with a couple dings and forgot to change the oil. Knock the auto analogies all you want, but you gotta see what I'm talking about. I also saw him at Duffy's more than once as I downed a devil dog with a beer. I imagine that's the sort of burnt out you mentioned later on.

If Dennis had achieved significant success elsewhere, this wouldn't be a discussion at all. The fact he didn't, sort of lends some creedence to the idea that maybe he rode Jimmy's coattails, no? I got it - he won 2 rings and played for another. Not many coaches can make that claim. He also let a Pell Grant scandal happen which didn't help the roster.

Is what I wrote slanderous? I think it's fair, but I'm also kind of biased about my opinions.

 

[Caned Peach]

I don't know your dog, but I'm certain you're correct.

 

[Jonnyblaze]

It is pretty amazing that Diaz is the first former Canes coach since Butch who got another P4 HC job or better.

Speaks volumes about the quality of coaches here in the past. With the exception of Golden and Manny, no other HC or coordinator has been heard from since leaving Miami, and Golden had to settle for being a coordinator.

 

[Luke Caneswalker]

Interesting on Dennis. I was in school when he was at the helm. We sure didn't lose very often. I look back and think of him as a smarter version of Coker. I don't mean that in a slanderous way so much as I mean it like he was handed the keys to the Bugatti like Coker was, and told not to crash it. Coker totaled it like he was in a demolition derby. Dennis returned it with a couple dings and forgot to change the oil. Knock the auto analogies all you want, but you gotta see what I'm talking about. I also saw him at Duffy's more than once as I downed a devil dog with a beer. I imagine that's the sort of burnt out you mentioned later on.

If Dennis had achieved significant success elsewhere, this wouldn't be a discussion at all. The fact he didn't, sort of lends some creedence to the idea that maybe he rode Jimmy's coattails, no? I got it - he won 2 rings and played for another. Not many coaches can make that claim. He also let a Pell Grant scandal happen which didn't help the roster.

Is what I wrote slanderous? I think it's fair, but I'm also kind of biased about my opinions.

Dennis’s failure years are better than every coach between Butch and Mario. Yes it was a fall from being a Dynasty but we were still a progrum not a slapdick program.

 

[FuriousStyles]

Dennis went 63-9 with two national titles and played for a 3rd. We didn't "hit a bad spot" until Butch. We had the best run in the program's history. LMAO.

@Brains @GojiraCane or anyone else I’ve had a question about Erickson that’s been in my head since ‘93.

A guy from my neighborhood who was a few years older than me told me he wanted to commit to Miami but Erickson was pretty emphatic that he didn’t want guys playing two sports. The guy would’ve been in the same class with Kenard Lang had he come here. In fact, Erickson did come to our school to visit him multiple times (I never saw him though) but alot of other people did and it was pretty big news. A few MLB teams would come to see him too. I remember being within earshot of him telling some people “he was waiting to commit to see if Coach Erickson would change his mind about him playing baseball and if he did he was going to Miami”.

A couple weeks later he committed to UGA and he was teammates with Kirby Smart. He did play both sports at UGA. I know Butch was okay with two sports athletes… but was that a known thing for Erickson to be against playing multiple sports?