Miami Football: Can Canes Ever Find a Balance Between Academics and Winning?

The Miami Hurricanes are coming off a bad loss at Virginia, 24-19, where anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the Hurricanes.  The Hurricanes started off slow on offense, which has been a common theme for them recently, and on defense, they shut Virginia out in the first quarter.  The second quarter is where things started to go south, as the Hurricanes gave up a touchdown after Virginia converted a fourth down.

After that, Miami started pressing a bit on offense, and Jacory Harris threw the ball deep to Travis Benjamin, only to see his pass picked off.  What makes matters worse is that Harris was hammered on the play and knocked out of the game after lying on the field for about 10 minutes. 

In comes the unproven Spencer Whipple, and after a few series that saw two interceptions and probably the worst arm strength in college football, he was removed at halftime.

Freshman Stephen Morris came in and started slowly but caught up to game speed in the fourth quarter while leading the Hurricanes on a fierce rally that came up short in the end.  The aftermath of this is predictable, with droves of fans calling for Randy Shannon and Mark Whipple to be run out of town. 

There are rumors that Miami’s president Donna Shalala has assured Shannon that his job is not in jeopardy, and Shalala is even calling angry fans that emailed her to talk about the situation.  It was allegedly revealed that she is somewhat content with eight- or nine-win seasons on a consistent basis, as long as the players are graduating, and there are no off-the-field issues. 

Miami was recognized as having the second-highest graduation rate for its football program among the BCS Top 25 schools prior to last Saturday's games, behind only Stanford. That only bolsters the direction Shalala wants to take the program.

While Hurricane fans continue to focus their ire on Shannon, they do not realize that Shannon is handcuffed and has to run the program the way Shalala directs him to.  I am sure Shannon would like to take some pages out of Jimmy Johnson’s book and run this program a little more like he did. 

Shannon is in the same situation that coaches at schools like Stanford, Notre Dame and Duke are in, where the academic standards dictate the direction of the program. The University of Florida is not graduating players at a high national rate, but up until this year, they were winning tons of games on the field.  In the meantime, their football players had over 30 run-ins with law enforcement, and players were let back on the team after being arrested.

Shannon does not have that type of wide berth when it comes to his players or his program. He is not even allowed to recruit players who may have a questionable background or who might not graduate.  What that means is Shannon has to get the best athletes that will stay out of trouble, attend class and get it done in the classroom. 

Then Shannon has to hope he gets enough of them to be able to win a national title. Stanford has never won a National Championship in football, and Notre Dame has not done so since 1988.  The balance between winning and having top-flight academics on a football team is hard to find, and that is why this is uncharted territory for Miami.

It’s interesting that Bob Stoops lost his quarterback in the first game last season, and Oklahoma lost to BYU when the backup came in.  Miami had the exact same situation happen, and the fans are all over him?  If fans think that things will be different by bringing in a new coach, they will be sorely mistaken as Shalala will impose the same strict guidelines on them as she has on Shannon. 

Couple that with the fact that the administration does not want to pay big money for coaches, and you will not see a Gruden-, Stoops- or Spurrier-type coach come in here.  

Stephen Morris sure looked like he was well-coached though, as he did very well considering he is a true freshman coming into a sticky situation.  Fans will continue to blast this team, potential recruits will see how the fans do not support their team and they may choose to go other places. 

Recruits can read and see what fans are saying, and that attendance is always an issue with this program. The players will be turned off as much by the fans as anything else. 

The Miami football program is at a crossroads right now, and while Shalala has realized the academic success she was hoping for, it remains to be seen if a National Championship can be won under her watch.