Al Golden: Miami Hurricanes Too Hasty to Reward Coach with Big Extension

Universities have proven all too willing to reward college football coaches with undue contract extensions in recent years, with Miami's new deal with Al Golden serving as just the latest cautionary tale to keep an eye on going forward.

"The U" and their new coach have already agreed to a four-year extension that will keep Golden in Coral Gables until February 1st, 2020, despite the fact that the Hurricanes finished the season with a 6-6 record, including losses to Maryland, Florida State and Boston College, and won't participate in a bowl game.

The postseason ban, of course, isn't Golden's fault, but rather an attempt by the university to preempt (and hopefully soften) whatever blow is bound to come from the NCAA as a result of the outbreak of the Nevin Shapiro scandal.

Golden certainly deserves some credit for coaxing his players to compete and win as many games as they have amidst all the turmoil, though the results have hardly necessitated that more money be placed in Golden's pockets just yet. After all, he's working with players that Randy Shannon recruited over the years and has yet to bring in a full class of his own.

Granted, he has a pretty good group for 2012 in the works thus far, but even with that, the university would be best served taking a wait-and-see approach regarding his ability to develop high school prospects, especially the top-flight variety, into productive college players.

Notre Dame made a similar, if more egregious, mistake with Charlie Weis in 2005, when the university gave him a 10-year extension worth between $30 and $40 million after just his first seven games coaching Ty Willingham's leftovers. Weis (and his fupa) lasted only until the end of the 2009 season before the Fighting Irish gave him his walking papers, since which point he's gone on to ruin offenses in the NFL (the Kansas City Chiefs) and at the collegiate level (the Florida Gators).

The only way this deal makes sense is as a means of keeping Golden from jumping ship if/when the NCAA drops the hammer on Miami, potentially for an open gig at Penn State. Golden played tight end for the Nittany Lions under Joe Paterno in the late 1980s and early 1990s and could reasonably be a candidate to take over in Happy Valley if the administration decides to clean house entirely, including interim head coach Tom Bradley.

Golden might be branded as foolish for considering stepping out of the frying pan in south Florida and into the wildfire that's razing the landscape in central Pennsylvania, though his loyalty as an alum may be enough for him to take on the dubious tasking of cleaning up the school's tarnished image in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Whatever the case may be, Golden has yet to truly earn his keep at Miami. Don't get me wrong—he's a good coach and proved as much in turning around a moribund program at Temple.

But the Hurricanes constitute an entirely different animal, one that Golden has had only a year to tame and, as such, that he is as yet undeserving of a raise just for trying.