and about how close the team came from being moved from Pittsburgh at one time. This article is from the Pittsburgh Post. I had forgotten that they had owed Mario so much money at one point. Cool that the Pens are now one of the most successful teams around. But, it could have turned out differently (viva Las Vegas anyone?) Los Angeles, I guess, is hoping they get the same result with Magic Johnson. Time will tell.

Dewey and Crow arrive on campus as EE's. Good article and props to Susan at The Herald

CBSSports recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who praised both of UM’s newest quarterbacks, on Tuesday released his Top 25 college football recruiting classes for 2012. He has Miami ranked seventh, behind Alabama, Texas, Michigan, Florida, Ohio State and LSU. National Signing Day is Feb. 1.
“Despite what has been going on with the NCAA investigation hanging over their heads, they’re still doing a great job at Miami,’’ Lemming said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/11/2583495/ready-to-go-miami-hurricanes-new.html#storylink=cpy

depending on where he expects to go in the draft.   If he is likely to go in the first round, he will go according to Miami Herald.  Tommy Streeter on the other hand will be here next year, according to his dad.  Annnnd  apparently next year AG will have use of all available scholarships.  While that is good on the surface, it just may mean that the NCAA's decision will not be final until after NSD in which case any scholly sanctions would come in to play the following season.

 

According to CBS's Dennis Dodd:

 

The agent for Miami coach Al Golden told CBSSports.com Tuesday there have been “overtures made” by the school about adjusting his client’s contract in the wake of the current NCAA scandal.

Golden had expressed frustration about not being told about the full scope of the scandal involving former booster Nevin Shapiro. Brett Senior, Golden’s long-time representative, said at least one Miami official has reached out to Golden specifically about the contract.

Golden is in the first year of a reported five-year deal worth $10 million.  

“I’ve got the feeling they’ll [Miami] do the right thing,” said Senior who has represented Golden since he came out of Penn State in 1991.

Asked about an escape clause in the current deal that would allow Golden to leave Miami based on the severity of NCAA sanctions, Senior added: “I will say this. We’ve got options available to us.”

no not the Ozzie Osbourne kind.  According to SI's Power Rankings we resemble Iron Man.  Although it is nice to be included in their Top 25, the comparison to Iron Man leaves me with  that  creepy image of Mickey Rourke in that movie.  Anyway it is a fun, if not irrelevant read, that gives super hero attachments to 25 teams. Enjoy while you wait for tomorrow night's celebration of the 2001 National Championship Team while we host the Cavaliers.

"I want to make sure I'm clear. When I'm talking about [the lack of] production at the left tackle spot, we've had Fig over there, we've had Bunche over there, we've had now Seantrel over there. Sometimes you need a second guy to push your first guy so you're playing with your best five," Golden said.

"I don't know what the best five are. Certainly Brandon is in the best five right now. He didn't lose his job yesterday. We're trying to create competition at every spot. I know he doesn't like it. But again, what I want to do is make sure is it doesn't become personal in the media. Okay, it's something I've talked to him about. We're both on the same page. It has nothing to do with the North Carolina game. It has to do with his body of work and our want to get Seantrel better, Bunche better going into the game.

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2011/10/brandon-washington-named-starter-at-left-tackle-golden-wants-more-all-around.html#tp#ixzz1bFgB6dzR

Another great video by 3 Penny Films.  While Coach Golden is right, there are no moral victories, Brandon Washington stood up and challenged the team before going back out in the second half. Also interesting in this video is that all the players interviewed are on offense (wonder why).  tomorrow we play North Carolina while the Seminoles play just down the road at Duke.  Here is to hoping that both teams win

Let's Go Canes

A ‘bucking bronco’

Golden was asked what kind of player he envisioned in Armstrong. “Kind of a bucking bronco,” he replied. “He’s kind of a wild horse, so to speak. We’ve got to get him saddled. But what I don’t want to do is saddle his energy, his passion for the game, his willingness to be tough and play reckless.”

The key to refining Armstrong, Golden said, is “to marry” the safety’s unbridled aggressiveness “with the technique of being poised and sound, and then increasing his football intelligence so he can anticipate things better. You want to harness that but you don’t want to suppress it.”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/05/2439063/ray-ray-armstrong-ready-for-his.html#ixzz1a926C9Pc

 

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Miami has lost defensive tackle Marcus Forston for the remainder of the season because of a knee injury.

Forston was injured in practice on Wednesday. The team says he suffered a non-contact injury, making him the second Miami defensive starter to be lost for the season in that manner in recent days. Starting linebacker Ramon Buchanan sustained a season-ending right knee injury in last weekend's win over Bethune-Cookman.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/06/2441346/miami-loses-dt-forston-for-season.html#ixzz1a0O2Oc3o

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced that next week's Miami-Virginia Tech football game, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8 in Blacksburg, will be a 3:30 p.m. kickoff with an ABC/ESPN split broadcast.

Fans will have an opportunity to see the 29th meeting between Miami and Virginia Tech on either ABC or ESPN depending on their regional location.

UM leads the all-time series with the Hokies, 17-11, but Virginia Tech has won the last two meetings. The Canes last beat VT in Miami during the 2008 season.

Before traveling to Blacksburg, Miami will host its third straight game this weekend as Bethune-Cookman will visit Sun Life Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday. That game will be televised on ESPNU.

Saturday, Oct. 8
Louisville at North Carolina, ESPN or ESPN2#, Noon
Maryland at Georgia Tech, ESPNU, Noon
Florida State at Wake Forest, ACC Network, 12:30 p.m.
Boston College at Clemson, RSN, 3 p.m.
Miami at Virginia Tech, ABC/ESPN*, 3:30 p.m.
Central Michigan at NC State, ESPN3, 3:30 p.m.

I knew we were better in this department than last year, but I did not know that we had improved quite this much (or that we used to actually be that awful):

 

"Dorsett is a key figure on a unit that ranks first in the ACC and 10th nationally allowing only 16.38 yards per return."

This is from an article from Palm Beach Post by Jorge Milian that has Al Golden raving about him.

And the loss of his son by Susan at The Miami Herald... Nicolas, one of the quietest Hurricanes off the field, has emerged as one of the most intense leaders on it. As Miami (1-1) prepares to meet Kansas State (2-0) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Sun Life Stadium, Nicolas continues to serve as one of the most inspirational Canes. Last Saturday, Nicolas got his first interception since his freshman season opener against Marshall in 2007. And this one was a beauty. After linebacker Sean Spence tipped an Ohio State play-action pass, Nicolas stretched his 6-1, 200-pound body as far as it could go and lunged for the carom before twisting and landing on his back at the Hurricanes’ 14. "It was a great catch,’’ Spence said. "It’s like it happened in slow motion.’’ Nicolas was converted to a cornerback in the spring and then back to safety after Ray-Ray Armstrong was suspended by the NCAA. He ranks fourth on the team with 10 tackles and has done "an excellent job … seeing the quarterback better and breaking on balls,’’ UM coach Al Golden said. "But Jo’s most considerable jump has been in his leadership.’’ Golden, the father of three young children, said Nicolas "only missed one or two practices the whole training camp out of 29, and then he would go to the hospital all night. A lot of his teammates didn’t even know what was going on. He was easily doing 20 hours a day for two, three weeks. That’s an amazing human being. [He] provided leadership for all of us and inspiration for all of us.’’ After the loss at Maryland, when the Canes allowed 499 yards of total offense, it was Nicolas who stood up at practice and rallied the secondary. "He said, ‘We need to get things right. We can’t get knocked down off one game,’ ’’ fellow safety Vaughn Telemaque recalled. Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/21/2417135/a-fathers-pain-miami-hurricanes.html#ixzz1YcZMM6Oc

Mary B. Hecht died nearly 30 years ago. But Thursday, the University of Miami announced an amazing gift from her: a $4.2 million donation to the athletics program to fund scholarships for football players.

The donation fulfilled “a promise she made some 35 years ago in her last will and testament,” according to a release sent by the university. The gift could not be executed until the recent death of the income beneficiary of her estate.

The Mary B. Hecht Fund is the largest endowment ever for intercollegiate football scholarships at UM

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/02/2386332/miami-hurricanes-receive-42m-gift.html#ixzz1WzLR5b7x

 

Don Delucca (left), Shaquille O'Neal, and Nevin Shapiro

​"The Chief's good friend Nevin Shapiro needs two rooms for tonight (8/15/06) at the Ritz-Carlton. Would you be able to help him with that? Thanks for your help!"

So reads an email sent five years ago from then-Miami Beach Police chief Don Delucca's assistant to a manager at the posh South Beach hotel. It's one of several instances in which Delucca arranged hotel reservations for the Ponzi schemer. It's all included in a cache of more that 37 emails between the two pals that Riptide obtained from a public records request. 

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/08/nevin_shapiro_ponzi_schemer_wh.php

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The NCAA said it wanted to send a clear message by slapping Bruce Pearl with a three-year show-cause penalty: Coaches are responsible for their programs.

The sanctions mean it will be harder for the former Tennessee men’s basketball coach to get another college job anytime soon. Before hiring Pearl, a school must tell the NCAA why it wants him and be prepared to face its own penalties for giving him a job.

“As these allegations are becoming more and more regular, it’s very clear that a head coach is being held responsible for his program,” said Britton Banowsky, Conference USA commissioner and vice-chair of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/7256847-419/ncaa-slaps-bruce-pearl-with-3-year-penalty.html

“Randy told everyone, players and coaches,” said a former football assistant coach, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he expects to be interviewed by the NCAA. “Deal with him at your own risk. He told me personally, ‘The guy’s poison. Bad news. Trouble.’ And we listened. So then the guy started trying to reach out to players directly more and more. They would come to us and complain that they’d go bowling and he’d show up. It was a running joke around here. We’d ask, ‘See your stalker last night?”’

 

http://www.timesleader.com/sports/Troubled_times_08-21-2011.html

From  The Globe and Mail

“There's no question teammates had to fight battles he started,” said Brad May, a retired enforcer who played with Cooke on the Canucks. “That was uncomfortable for us at times but, and this is a big but, having a teammate like Matt Cooke made me more money and made me a more valuable teammate.”

May knows Cooke will never win the Lady Byng Trophy but he thinks he can change his game enough to survive.

“Matt Cooke is not stupid,” May said. “I know it's awfully difficult to change your ways. But he's got a good enough skill set, he's not just an idiot out there, he can play. He can play close to that same edge and be a real impact player.”

 

FROM the UM Website

April 06, 2011 — Coral Gables — The University of Miami announced today that it has received an extraordinary lead gift of $20 million from the Fairholme Foundation to build a new, state of the art, 119,000-square-foot Student Activities Center on its Coral Gables campus. 

“Student involvement has always been a vibrant part of life at the University of Miami,” said President Donna E. Shalala. “As the University continues to move up in the ranks nationally, it is facilities like this that enhance the student’s success.”

From the Palm Beach Post:

Players have been clearly told that there is no guarantee of retaining a starting job if they get injured. Olivier Vernon learned that the hard way after sitting out Saturday’s scrimmage with an undisclosed injury. Vernon was elevated to first-team defensive end last week but was demoted to No. 2 on this week’s depth chart following a standout performance in the scrimmage by Adewale Ojomo. “Now Vernon will have to fight like heck to try to get ahead of Ojomo,” D’Onofrio said. “That’s what happens when guys get injured. People are learning that around here, that it’s not one of those things like, ‘This is my spot.’ You can get Wally Pipp-ed in a minute.”

Per Manny at the Herald:

 

I spoke with national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming last night who told me the Hurricanes are looking two sign two quarterbacks in their 2011 class out of these four: Stanford commitment Kevin Hogan (6-4, 200, Washington, D.C. area), North Carolina commitment Marquise Williams (6-3, 218, Charlotte Mallard Creek), Iowa commitment Jake Rudock (6-3, 190, Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, Fla.) and Palm Beach Dwyer High's Jacoby Brissett (6-5, 225).

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2011/01/eight-canes-headed-to-nfl-combine.html#tp#ixzz19zkiuOAL

I got the sense toward the end of his tenure, Shannon and his staff got a little complacent when it came to recruiting -- thinking they could go in at the last minute and swoop up local guys they wanted. Sound familiar? Ask local coaches like Miami Central's Telly Lockette, who just led the Rockets to the Class 6A state title with a roster loaded with nearly two dozen D-I recruits, and he'll tell you the Hurricanes didn't begin recruiting a single one of his players until Shannon was fired. Southrdige coach Patrick Burrows, who has two legit defensive backs headed to BCS programs, said he sent his top two players down to UM in his truck nearly every day during spring practice when they were juniors.

"They just kept coming back telling me 'Coach, they're just not interested in us,'" Burrows said two weeks ago.

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2011/01/for-canes-time-to-pull-the-weeds-out.html#ixzz19tUMihMO

Though he too threw an interception, he also completed 22 of 33 passes for 283 yards, despite a slightly sprained ankle.

``I didn't want to make my ankle an excuse,'' said the kid.

He tossed fourth-quarter touchdown strikes of six yards to Leonard Hankerson and 42 yards to Tommy Streeter.

Golden, watching, watching, tactfully spared Harris but did not hide the positive impression Morris was making.

``I'm sure not displeased with what I've seen Stephen do,'' said the new boss, smiling. ``It's encouraging. He has moxie. Seems to have leadership. Can create with his feet . . .''

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/01/1995981/gut-wrenching.html#ixzz19nYaL6Wn

 

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami football program canceled all afternoon activities after learning that the mother of sophomore running back Mike James (Haines City, Fla.) passed away in a fatal car accident Monday morning.

 

“He is a member of our family,” said interim head coach Jeff Stoutland.  “He grieves and we grieve.  He hurts and we hurt.  We are all here to support Mike and his family in any way possible.”

 

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mike and his family,” said Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt. “Family is the foundation of our football program, and today the entire Hurricane family is grieving with Mike. “

 

James’ sister and nephew were also involved in the car accident and are currently hospitalized. 

 

James left the Coral Gables campus Monday afternoon to attend to his family.

 

If you would like to leave a note for James and his family, please do it in the comments section

 

 

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Hey this is about a week old, but I didn't know it so it was news to me (from Sporting News):

Upon further review, you can tap the brakes on speculation about Randy Shannon being named Texas' next defensive coordinator in the immediate future. But keep him on the short list of candidates, because he's clearly interested in Texas. The question is whether the interest is mutual.

After lots of buzz earlier today on Austin-based radio stations and internet sites about Shannon being in town and headed to campus for an interview, it turns out that the private plane from Miami to Austin thought to be carrying Shannon had a different passenger.

So there was no interview with coach Mack Brown . And it is unclear when Brown will name a successor to Will Muschamp, Texas' former defensive coordinator who was named Saturday night as the new head football coach at Florida, replacing Urban Meyer.

Shortly after Florida's announcement about Muschamp's hiring, Shannon apparently backed out of discussions with Kentucky -- which was prepared to name him as the Wildcats' new defensive coordinator -- and contacted Brown to express interest in the vacancy in Austin, based on published reports.

 

 

Freeman: “You knew Jon Gruden would say ‘hell no’?”

Sapp: “Gruden told me hell no the day he went and got an interview. Let’s not even talk about that. The backdoor deals and foolishness that goes along with that.

“You don’t call someone and say ‘I want the job’ and have them fire their own coach and then don’t take the job. You just don’t do that.

“I don’t mind you being a pretty girl and being courted and kissed, but court and kiss on your own time. There’s a certain fraternity that you don’t break.

“It’s like Jim Mora, Jr. and Pete Carroll in Seattle, you don’t do that.

“When someone has a job, you let them (Miami) go through the process of firing that person and then you drop your name in the hat.

“You don’t call and get (Miami Athletic Director) Kirby (Hocutt) all excited that he’s about to get you … and then Kirby can’t deliver.”

Keep in mind, Gruden and Sapp have long had a relationship documented as rocky at times. Though it’s almost impossible to believe Sapp would make up such an incredibly serious charge about his former coach at Tampa Bay.

 

Read More Here