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- Thread starter OSUBasketballJunkie
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Got a little chuckle last night as I was looking at one of the Canes' sites. There was something along the lines that the program hasn't really recovered since they lost the national championship to the Bucks. Before anyone here gets all worked up, it was fan talk, nothing more. This is Coker's last stand this year. He has to hit a home run with his OC hiring. Many names are being thrown around, and he had better hurry in making a decision. He needs to hire before all of the new NFL head coaches start forming their staffs. Throw in the fact that signing day is fast approaching, most of the top recruits want some type of relationship with their position coach. They're feeling the heat in south Florida, and I'm not talking about the weather.
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Golferdow01
East-Coast Living
Whoa that was 5 months ago...notice that I clarified what i meant a few posts later.
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I didn't look at the dates. Pardon moi.
Taosman
Your Cousin In New Mexxico
UM firings reveal program in limbo
The firing of four assistant coaches revealed rifts within the UM staff -- and a potentially uncertain future for the Hurricanes' leadership
BY BARRY JACKSON AND SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
[email protected]
<!-- begin body-content -->The Hurricanes had just been embarrassed 40-3 by LSU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, opposing players had been fighting in a Georgia Dome tunnel, and University of Miami administrators were fuming.
Shortly after the game, offensive coordinator Dan Werner emerged from the locker room and whispered something to his wife, Kim, who started crying. By the end of the evening, coaches were being told not to go on the road recruiting, but instead to attend a Monday morning meeting on UM's campus.
Meanwhile, defensive linemen Baraka Atkins and Kareem Brown stormed out of UM's locker room, heading toward LSU's locker room and pushing aside a UM official who tried to stop them.
''It just set us back 10 years,'' the UM official bemoaned the night of Dec. 30.
And thus began one of the most tumultuous, four-day stretches in UM football history.
''I couldn't be shocked, humbled, humiliated any worse than I was this week,'' former offensive line coach Art Kehoe said Thursday, four days after he was told he was no longer wanted despite 25 seasons on the UM staff.
Former assistant coaches Don Soldinger and Kehoe still don't understand why they were sacrificed. But several developments have come to light, based on interviews with more than a dozen people inside and close to the program. Among them:
• There was strong sentiment in the UM administration to change offensive coordinators. But athletic director Paul Dee insists coach Larry Coker wasn't required nor pressured to fire any assistants, and the decision to dump Werner, Soldinger (running backs and special teams), Kehoe and linebacker coach Vernon Hargreaves was entirely Coker's.
• According to a Board of Trustee member, two lower-profile trustees wanted to dump Coker, but that was never considered.
• There were philosophical disagreements among the offensive coaches.
Some snapshots from the past week:
• • •
In four meetings Monday in Coker's office, it took less than an hour to purge four coaches who had combined for 57 years on UM's staff. Werner was the first to go, shortly after 8 a.m.
Soldinger was checking e-mail at 8:35 a.m. Monday when he was summoned. Coker was standing; senior associate athletic director Pete Garcia was sitting.
'Larry says, `Sit down.' I say, 'No, that's OK,' '' Soldinger remembered. ``And then Larry says, `This is really hard, but I have to let you go. Do you have any questions?'
'I said, `Yes. Why?' '' Soldinger said. 'And then Larry says, `I don't want to get into specifics.' ''
Soldinger then shook Coker's hand and walked out. As he returned to his office, ``At first I said that's the nature of the business.''
But in the ensuing hours and days, other emotions began to boil.
''The one thing that bothers me is the U stood for family and tradition and all the things that other colleges don't have,'' Soldinger said. 'It's the most ridiculous thing. People have to look and say, `These are pillars of the UM program.' To me, Art Kehoe was a pillar of the UM program.''
``I appreciate what Larry Coker has done, but maybe he doesn't appreciate what I've done. You can't do this job by yourself. Larry Coker never had to come looking for me. I was in that room 16 hours a day preparing. He knows my work ethic and all the things I've done. And if he doesn't, his head is buried in the sand.''
Soldinger, 61, was riding his bike Thursday morning, ``and I was thinking, what are these people that I've worked with for 17 years thinking about? It really bothered me.''
• • •
According to Kehoe, his meeting with Coker went this way: 'Larry said, `This is a bad day.' I said, `Why? What's up?'
'And then Larry says, `I'm going to have to let you go. I think it's what best for our football team. And that's the direction I'm going to move in.' I shook his hand and Pete's hand. I didn't ask why.''
According to a source, Coker wanted to see more development from the offensive linemen, especially the young reserves.
Kehoe, 48, who initially was ''dumbfounded and shocked,'' now said being fired ``opened up a big door for me. I want to become a head coach. I want to learn from this, be better prepared.''
Numerous former Canes linemen have called to offer support, including former Kehoe students Brett Romberg, Joaquin Gonzalez and Leon Searcy.
• • •
The roles of Dee and Garcia in the firings remain points of speculation. Asked about his input, Dee said, ``Larry and I had discussions. But they were Larry's decisions. I didn't push anything. There was no ultimatum. . . . We had to improve offensively.''
The day after the Peach Bowl, Dee was approached by several frustrated fans at UM's basketball game against Louisville. He also received ''in excess of 100'' e-mails, though not all clamored for coaching changes.
''The performance of one game shouldn't be symbolic of a career,'' Dee said of Coker. ``We need to keep it in perspective. I think he's doing a good job.''
Coker, who said in a news conference Monday that the coaching staff decisions were ''mine, mine alone,'' conceded the offense might have become stale.
''You stay the same, and people catch up. They understand your schemes, and they gameplan for those things, and it makes it very, very difficult,'' Coker said. ``We've got good players, but also we have to give those players advantages. We have to have proper matchups. We've got to get the playmakers the football. These guys are as good as it gets.''
He said the coaches have ''to be good teachers.'' Dee, meanwhile, wants an offensive coordinator who could deliver a ''high-octane'' offense.
Coker will intensify his search for assistants when he attends a coaches convention this week in Dallas. According to several sources close to the program, the university would love to re-hire San Diego Chargers tight ends coach and former UM offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, but school officials believe he wants to remain in the NFL.
Garcia, who was out of town recruiting and unavailable for comment, did not try to dictate the decisions, a source said, though he is consulted on major issues because Dee and Coker respect his opinion.
The firings pushed Garcia into an emergency recruiting role for the next month, a role he handled under former coach Butch Davis. And from early indications, Garcia had success last week, helping Coker land Graig Cooper, a highly touted running back from Memphis.
• • •
Some inside the program believe Coker wasn't fond of Soldinger's blunt style, though Soldinger said Coker never told him that.
''It was good enough for 108-17,'' Soldinger said of his approach during his stints under Jimmy Johnson and Coker. ``It's not luck eight [UM running backs] are in the pros. Something was taught to them.''
Soldinger added that receivers coach Curtis Johnson -- who was retained -- is ''pretty hard'' on players, too.
At times, though, Coker wanted Soldinger to back off a bit. Coker scolded Soldinger in March 2004 after Soldinger said he was ''sick of'' Tyrone Moss, adding he ''won't hustle, and he won't do the right thing.'' In retrospect, Soldinger said Thursday, ``I think that helped Tyrone. If you talk to him, he would tell you that. I apologized to his parents.''
Moss has subsequently praised Soldinger and was upset about his dismissal.
Soldinger said there also were times Coker would try to quiet him ''if I was going after someone.'' During the Peach Bowl, 'Devin [Hester] was waiting too much on the ball [on squib kicks]. I told him, `Field the ball a little quicker.' Larry said, 'Let me talk to him.' He feels [me talking to Hester] gets Devin uptight.''
Soldinger added that Coker also wanted to handle kicker Jon Peattie, who struggled this season. However, Soldinger noted he didn't object.
• • •
Kehoe -- whose coaching philosophies mirrored Soldinger's more than Werner's -- conceded there was some disagreement among the coaches but said he has ''love and respect'' for Werner.
''Was there strain here and there? There always will be,'' Kehoe said. ``We've had some arguments [and] . . . some philosophical [differences], but if you tell me you're going to work with five, six coaches and grind away 16-hour days, and you're going to be huggy-huggy all the time, if you think that [expletive] is going on, I need to go there, because it must be utopia.''
Soldinger and Kehoe said they appreciated Werner's willingness to accept their input. But differences in their offensive approaches were obvious.
''I believe in running the football and play-action passing,'' Soldinger said. Did Werner agree with that? ''Dan in certain situations would agree with that, but I don't know,'' Soldinger said.
At the start of each week, Werner would ask Soldinger, Kehoe, Johnson and tight ends coach Mario Cristobal to submit 16 plays each -- something Coker didn't do when he was offensive coordinator under Davis, Soldinger noted. Soldinger said he often submitted plays that accentuated the running game.
Did Werner use most of his plays? ''A lot were used,'' Soldinger said. ''Were they used enough? I don't know that.'' Kehoe said his plays were used ''sometimes,'' noting he and Soldinger ''were probably more run-oriented'' than Werner.
Werner called most of the plays, but Coker called some, and other assistants contributed calls occasionally, according to Soldinger. ''Everyone has input,'' Soldinger said.
Coker has said he might take a more active role in the offense next season. A high-level UM official expects the new coordinator to be given play-calling duties.
''It depends on who I hire. Certainly, I can and plan on doing it now, but that depends on who I hire,'' Coker said.
Meantime, the four ousted UM assistants are expected to explore job options at the coaching convention this week in Dallas, where they could see Coker. And what would Soldinger say if he encounters his former boss?
'I would ask him, `Why?' I asked him once, and I would ask him again.''
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<NOSCRIPT>
</NOSCRIPT>
The firing of four assistant coaches revealed rifts within the UM staff -- and a potentially uncertain future for the Hurricanes' leadership
BY BARRY JACKSON AND SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
[email protected]
<!-- begin body-content -->The Hurricanes had just been embarrassed 40-3 by LSU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, opposing players had been fighting in a Georgia Dome tunnel, and University of Miami administrators were fuming.
Shortly after the game, offensive coordinator Dan Werner emerged from the locker room and whispered something to his wife, Kim, who started crying. By the end of the evening, coaches were being told not to go on the road recruiting, but instead to attend a Monday morning meeting on UM's campus.
Meanwhile, defensive linemen Baraka Atkins and Kareem Brown stormed out of UM's locker room, heading toward LSU's locker room and pushing aside a UM official who tried to stop them.
''It just set us back 10 years,'' the UM official bemoaned the night of Dec. 30.
And thus began one of the most tumultuous, four-day stretches in UM football history.
''I couldn't be shocked, humbled, humiliated any worse than I was this week,'' former offensive line coach Art Kehoe said Thursday, four days after he was told he was no longer wanted despite 25 seasons on the UM staff.
Former assistant coaches Don Soldinger and Kehoe still don't understand why they were sacrificed. But several developments have come to light, based on interviews with more than a dozen people inside and close to the program. Among them:
• There was strong sentiment in the UM administration to change offensive coordinators. But athletic director Paul Dee insists coach Larry Coker wasn't required nor pressured to fire any assistants, and the decision to dump Werner, Soldinger (running backs and special teams), Kehoe and linebacker coach Vernon Hargreaves was entirely Coker's.
• According to a Board of Trustee member, two lower-profile trustees wanted to dump Coker, but that was never considered.
• There were philosophical disagreements among the offensive coaches.
Some snapshots from the past week:
• • •
In four meetings Monday in Coker's office, it took less than an hour to purge four coaches who had combined for 57 years on UM's staff. Werner was the first to go, shortly after 8 a.m.
Soldinger was checking e-mail at 8:35 a.m. Monday when he was summoned. Coker was standing; senior associate athletic director Pete Garcia was sitting.
'Larry says, `Sit down.' I say, 'No, that's OK,' '' Soldinger remembered. ``And then Larry says, `This is really hard, but I have to let you go. Do you have any questions?'
'I said, `Yes. Why?' '' Soldinger said. 'And then Larry says, `I don't want to get into specifics.' ''
Soldinger then shook Coker's hand and walked out. As he returned to his office, ``At first I said that's the nature of the business.''
But in the ensuing hours and days, other emotions began to boil.
''The one thing that bothers me is the U stood for family and tradition and all the things that other colleges don't have,'' Soldinger said. 'It's the most ridiculous thing. People have to look and say, `These are pillars of the UM program.' To me, Art Kehoe was a pillar of the UM program.''
``I appreciate what Larry Coker has done, but maybe he doesn't appreciate what I've done. You can't do this job by yourself. Larry Coker never had to come looking for me. I was in that room 16 hours a day preparing. He knows my work ethic and all the things I've done. And if he doesn't, his head is buried in the sand.''
Soldinger, 61, was riding his bike Thursday morning, ``and I was thinking, what are these people that I've worked with for 17 years thinking about? It really bothered me.''
• • •
According to Kehoe, his meeting with Coker went this way: 'Larry said, `This is a bad day.' I said, `Why? What's up?'
'And then Larry says, `I'm going to have to let you go. I think it's what best for our football team. And that's the direction I'm going to move in.' I shook his hand and Pete's hand. I didn't ask why.''
According to a source, Coker wanted to see more development from the offensive linemen, especially the young reserves.
Kehoe, 48, who initially was ''dumbfounded and shocked,'' now said being fired ``opened up a big door for me. I want to become a head coach. I want to learn from this, be better prepared.''
Numerous former Canes linemen have called to offer support, including former Kehoe students Brett Romberg, Joaquin Gonzalez and Leon Searcy.
• • •
The roles of Dee and Garcia in the firings remain points of speculation. Asked about his input, Dee said, ``Larry and I had discussions. But they were Larry's decisions. I didn't push anything. There was no ultimatum. . . . We had to improve offensively.''
The day after the Peach Bowl, Dee was approached by several frustrated fans at UM's basketball game against Louisville. He also received ''in excess of 100'' e-mails, though not all clamored for coaching changes.
''The performance of one game shouldn't be symbolic of a career,'' Dee said of Coker. ``We need to keep it in perspective. I think he's doing a good job.''
Coker, who said in a news conference Monday that the coaching staff decisions were ''mine, mine alone,'' conceded the offense might have become stale.
''You stay the same, and people catch up. They understand your schemes, and they gameplan for those things, and it makes it very, very difficult,'' Coker said. ``We've got good players, but also we have to give those players advantages. We have to have proper matchups. We've got to get the playmakers the football. These guys are as good as it gets.''
He said the coaches have ''to be good teachers.'' Dee, meanwhile, wants an offensive coordinator who could deliver a ''high-octane'' offense.
Coker will intensify his search for assistants when he attends a coaches convention this week in Dallas. According to several sources close to the program, the university would love to re-hire San Diego Chargers tight ends coach and former UM offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, but school officials believe he wants to remain in the NFL.
Garcia, who was out of town recruiting and unavailable for comment, did not try to dictate the decisions, a source said, though he is consulted on major issues because Dee and Coker respect his opinion.
The firings pushed Garcia into an emergency recruiting role for the next month, a role he handled under former coach Butch Davis. And from early indications, Garcia had success last week, helping Coker land Graig Cooper, a highly touted running back from Memphis.
• • •
Some inside the program believe Coker wasn't fond of Soldinger's blunt style, though Soldinger said Coker never told him that.
''It was good enough for 108-17,'' Soldinger said of his approach during his stints under Jimmy Johnson and Coker. ``It's not luck eight [UM running backs] are in the pros. Something was taught to them.''
Soldinger added that receivers coach Curtis Johnson -- who was retained -- is ''pretty hard'' on players, too.
At times, though, Coker wanted Soldinger to back off a bit. Coker scolded Soldinger in March 2004 after Soldinger said he was ''sick of'' Tyrone Moss, adding he ''won't hustle, and he won't do the right thing.'' In retrospect, Soldinger said Thursday, ``I think that helped Tyrone. If you talk to him, he would tell you that. I apologized to his parents.''
Moss has subsequently praised Soldinger and was upset about his dismissal.
Soldinger said there also were times Coker would try to quiet him ''if I was going after someone.'' During the Peach Bowl, 'Devin [Hester] was waiting too much on the ball [on squib kicks]. I told him, `Field the ball a little quicker.' Larry said, 'Let me talk to him.' He feels [me talking to Hester] gets Devin uptight.''
Soldinger added that Coker also wanted to handle kicker Jon Peattie, who struggled this season. However, Soldinger noted he didn't object.
• • •
Kehoe -- whose coaching philosophies mirrored Soldinger's more than Werner's -- conceded there was some disagreement among the coaches but said he has ''love and respect'' for Werner.
''Was there strain here and there? There always will be,'' Kehoe said. ``We've had some arguments [and] . . . some philosophical [differences], but if you tell me you're going to work with five, six coaches and grind away 16-hour days, and you're going to be huggy-huggy all the time, if you think that [expletive] is going on, I need to go there, because it must be utopia.''
Soldinger and Kehoe said they appreciated Werner's willingness to accept their input. But differences in their offensive approaches were obvious.
''I believe in running the football and play-action passing,'' Soldinger said. Did Werner agree with that? ''Dan in certain situations would agree with that, but I don't know,'' Soldinger said.
At the start of each week, Werner would ask Soldinger, Kehoe, Johnson and tight ends coach Mario Cristobal to submit 16 plays each -- something Coker didn't do when he was offensive coordinator under Davis, Soldinger noted. Soldinger said he often submitted plays that accentuated the running game.
Did Werner use most of his plays? ''A lot were used,'' Soldinger said. ''Were they used enough? I don't know that.'' Kehoe said his plays were used ''sometimes,'' noting he and Soldinger ''were probably more run-oriented'' than Werner.
Werner called most of the plays, but Coker called some, and other assistants contributed calls occasionally, according to Soldinger. ''Everyone has input,'' Soldinger said.
Coker has said he might take a more active role in the offense next season. A high-level UM official expects the new coordinator to be given play-calling duties.
''It depends on who I hire. Certainly, I can and plan on doing it now, but that depends on who I hire,'' Coker said.
Meantime, the four ousted UM assistants are expected to explore job options at the coaching convention this week in Dallas, where they could see Coker. And what would Soldinger say if he encounters his former boss?
'I would ask him, `Why?' I asked him once, and I would ask him again.''
<!-- end body-content -->http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...40.htm?template=contentModules/emailstory.jsp
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sandgk
Watson, Crick & A Twist
Excellent article - I find this part of it informative.
Seems like Davis' style of delegation, game preparation and in-game management brought greater success than Coker's approach. Is Coker's purity of vision also at fault. - Or to put it bluntly, as Coker is blaming a stale offense for their woes, does or did he truly have one to sell?
And, if the above perceived flaws remain, does it really matter who Coker brings in? Adopting another flavor of the month for a new offensive playbook will only remain interesting until the first time they lose - then the doubters will once again rear their (ugly) heads in Cane Country.
It all starts at the top really doesn't it? Head coaches have to strike a delicate balance between empowerment and dictatorship. It also surely helps to have a clean vision of what you want a team to become.
Seems like Davis' style of delegation, game preparation and in-game management brought greater success than Coker's approach. Is Coker's purity of vision also at fault. - Or to put it bluntly, as Coker is blaming a stale offense for their woes, does or did he truly have one to sell?
And, if the above perceived flaws remain, does it really matter who Coker brings in? Adopting another flavor of the month for a new offensive playbook will only remain interesting until the first time they lose - then the doubters will once again rear their (ugly) heads in Cane Country.
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0
I think that Soldinger obviously had to go, because he has clearly lost touch with reality:
''The one thing that bothers me is the U stood for family and tradition and all the things that other colleges don't have''
Uh huh ... no other colleges have any of that!
The dismissal of Kehoe is the one that's most confusing to me. Kehoe played for Miami and was a team captain in '79 and '80 under Schnellenberger. He took over as O-Line coach in 1985, for crying out loud. He's sent over 20 players to the NFL -- good ones, not marginal/borderline UFAs -- and produced a half dozen 1st round draft picks in just the last ten years.
''The one thing that bothers me is the U stood for family and tradition and all the things that other colleges don't have''
Uh huh ... no other colleges have any of that!
The dismissal of Kehoe is the one that's most confusing to me. Kehoe played for Miami and was a team captain in '79 and '80 under Schnellenberger. He took over as O-Line coach in 1985, for crying out loud. He's sent over 20 players to the NFL -- good ones, not marginal/borderline UFAs -- and produced a half dozen 1st round draft picks in just the last ten years.
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Kehoe is the name that jumped out at me. I would love to see JT find a way to make him a part of the OSU staff.
Master OL coach with some serious south florida recruiting ties....a coach could have worse credentials.
Master OL coach with some serious south florida recruiting ties....a coach could have worse credentials.
Upvote
0
It will be interesting to see whom Coker hires, since one of them could likely be his own replacement in a year or two.
I agree that Kehoe is the one that really doesn't make sense.
I agree that Kehoe is the one that really doesn't make sense.
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3yardsandacloud
Administrator Emeritus
Why anyone got fired is a mystery. This is all CLEARLY Terry Porter's fault. :tongue2:
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sandgk
Watson, Crick & A Twist
For shits and giggles I went back to the wikipedia site and they still show the following as Highlights of his career
Hell hath no fury like a Cryami fan scorned.
Hell hath no fury like a Cryami fan scorned.
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