1) Legendary program.... current down in the dumps-- the guy who comes in to turn this around will also become a Legend-- like a Jimmie Johnson legend.
2) The LIGHTS are bigger and brighter in Miami... international city with big time recognition. This poses distractions to players/coaches, but for those with discipline and focus to be the best-- this is where you can make your name-- think Lebron coming to South Beach...
3) Recruiting EPICENTER....yes for 18 years Miami has been 50/50 on keeping kids in the crib....that's because we have not had that legendary potential coach yet. Imagine if we had a Saban, Dabo level coach PLUS the Best coaching assistants?? This program would be dominating every year like Bama as well.
4) MONEY-- this is where Miami FAILS...if Miami were willing to pay $5million for HC, $1+million for OC and DC and over $400K for position coaches (like they do at Bama, Clemson, OSU)... then #1-3 would be activated and meaningful.
The U has all the ingredients to return to the TOP 3 EVERY ***KING YEAR--- EXCEPT for the will/desire to pay big-time money for the football program....
That is LITERALLY all the keeps us from chasing Championships every year like we did in the late 80's and early 90's.
(1) The opportunity to "turn this around" isn't there anymore as this program used to be ahead of its time regarding speed and talent—which allowed UM to make up for any deficiencies it dealt with as a smaller private school. That, and the last guy to "turn it around" is down the street at FIU and never became anything close to a "Jimmy Johnson legend"; failing at Cleveland before ******** things up at North Carolina and waiting a lot of time out of work in-between. Two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys made Jimmy Johnson a legend. One national title at Miami simply put him on the map. Without his NFL success and that legendary Herschel Walker trade, JJ's story would be as memorable as Dennis Erickson's.
(2) The world has changed and Miami is back to being just a playground for these college kids. Look no further than Tate Martell falling in love with some instafamous model who has his football brains completely scrambled. Miami is also known for being a bandwagon, front-running events town—not a sports town. Everyone is back on the HEAT's jock this season because of the fast start; when you couldn't give away tickets to those games the past few years. Miami isn't where college football players "make their name" anymore. Sorry, but that ship has long sailed. Yeah, guys will still reach the league—but name one next-level NFL great playing today that was a Hurricane? A serious next-level guy? The last was arguably Jimmy Graham; a one-year tight end who gave up basketball for football. Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Clemson—that's where guys make their names now—and once they're rich and in the NFL, they'll use Miami like the off-season playground it is.
(3) Miami should be able to keep more kids home, but the college town environment, football facilities, fan support and next-level experience kids get in Tuscaloosa, Athens, Columbus, Clemson, Baton Rogue, et al—any great coach would still lose his share of kids. When Miami dominated, the gap wasn't as big facilities-wise with other programs. Now it is. The Canes also just had to recruit against FSU and UF—whereas you now have a half dozen programs in state trying to recruit talent—kids that get to play elsewhere immediately (as the days of stockpiling talent are long gone), as well as the SEC, BigXII and BigTen with direct recruiting in-roads and pipelines to South Florida.
Georgia has a $7M annual recruiting budget. Alabama's is just shy of that. The money these programs have to recruit—versus what Miami has—is why they're getting talent and Miami isn't (as well as bag men dropping big cash on players at a level UM doesn't.)
(4) And that money will come from where? You realize this is a business, don't you? Georgia just dumped $200M into their program—as a "do more" campaign to get their already rolling program closer to Alabama level. They signed up 1,100+ new members to their Magill Society in 2018 at a MINIMUM donation of $25,000 per person. State schools with big alumni bases—results in ongoing alumni-donated dollars to the program. Miami is a fan base made up mostly of non-alum who don't write checks—and check out on the program when things go south; whereas alum have an emotional connection to their respective colleges that runs deeper than just sports.
UM's 11K undergrads in comparison to Georgia's 30K, Alabama's 38K, Florida's 38K or Ohio State's 54K—multiply that over a decade regarding graduates, a growing alumni and money being donated back to the school. It's a completely different ballgame.
Georgia is signing up new donors left and right at $25K a pop (minimum)—while Miami fans donate money to GoFundMe campaign for banners and billboards, while wearing old Nike gear, complaining about the old days, threatening to boycott games or not renewing season tickets for a stadium that is barely 2/3 full most weekends.
You figure out where that money is going to come from, with this fan base of non-alum, quick to check out when things go south—and you'll find a budget for a real AD, a real head coach and a quality staff of assistants. Until then, get used this and quit waxing poetic about what this program "should" look like, versus the reality of what is.
