Even when it’s dark out the sun is shining somewhere. The Miami Hurricanes suffered their worst loss in school history on Saturday when the Clemson Tigers defeated them 58-0. To make matters worse, the Hurricanes lost at home to one of their ACC rivals. Then a day later, Al Golden got fired as head coach.
Everyone’s tired of their beloved program because it doesn’t look like the Hurricanes athletic staff is going to do anything to turn the program around. The biggest problem the Hurricanes have faced is losing the prestige of the school’s athletics program. At one point, everyone in the state of Florida wanted to get a college scholarship from the University of Miami. Getting a scholarship from Miami was the gold standard for a football player since the team has the most national championships in the state.
Now there’s a lot of mixed reaction and people look at it as just another school and why wouldn’t they when Miami hasn’t been ranked in almost three years. Here are five things that the school can do to turn the program back around.
Get One of These Coaches:
Justin Fuente:
This might be one of the few coaches in the country active today that Miami should make a hard push at and they might be able to afford him. Relatively known for turning Memphis into a nationally ranked school, if he can do it there, then he can do it in South Florida. Fuente also is young so he’ll be able to stay around the program for years to come and it’ll be easier to relate to children in the tri-county area.
Mario Cristobal:
This signing would be one of the smartest decisions that Miami has made in a long time. Cristobal turned Florida International University into an up and coming program by signing players and developing their talent into NFL caliber. T.Y. Hilton, Johnathan Cyprien, Tourek Williams and Anthony Gaitor were all little-known talents before Cristobal. All of them got developed under his system and have shined in the NFL. Cristobal is an alumni, he’s won a championship with the school, and he’s well-known in South Florida. He’s got an eye for talent and that’s why he was able to recruit well at Florida International.
Chip Kelly, Sean Payton, and Rob Chudzinski are all wild cards too.
Get Better Lineman:
The offensive line play by far is one of the worst problems that the Miami Hurricanes suffer from. This season Brad Kaaya has been in a world of trouble because of the lack of ability from the offensive line to keep him standing upright. Against Florida State, Kaaya was routinely getting hit and almost suffered a concussion. Against Clemson, he wasn’t that fortunate and found himself watching on the sidelines. This happened after Clemson only rushed two people and still got to him.
Brad Kaaya meet Shaq Lawson #CLEMvsMIA pic.twitter.com/OmLTYRnSEo
— Demetric D. Warren (@DemetricDWarren) October 24, 2015
Defensively, the line needs more big behemoths on the field. The Hurricanes already have Chad Thomas, and Al-Quadin Muhammad, two pass rushers who will excel in the NFL. They need better interior lineman that can create havoc for these two to roam. The Hurricanes were known for their stout defensive line, one of which is one of the greatest of all-time in Warren Sapp. They need better players inside their interior line.
Start Giving Away Tickets/Local Promotions:
The home field advantage at Sun Life Stadium isn’t an advantage for anyone expect for opponents because they don’t have to deal with crowd noise when they play against Miami.
When the Hurricanes play in nationally televised games you rarely nowadays find the stadium filled to capacity. Sure there are the few times when the stadium gets filled up such as the games against Florida State, and Florida. However, outside of the in-state rivals, it’s difficult for fans to get excited anymore because of this mediocrity on the field.
If you’re tired about reading articles from other sites about how bad the attendance is at Miami games, or tired of looking at ESPN only shoot camera angles in a certain way to not show the lack of fans at the games, then it’s time to get this fan base captured in another angle. People don’t want to shell out money to see Miami lose. Start working with local businesses such s Milam’s Supermarket, and add more clients to run promotions to give tickets away. The more people in the stands the more revenue.
That is thee emptiest I've ever seen that parking lot
— Denzel Perryman (@D_Perryman52) October 24, 2015
Get An Advisory Board:
It’s fine having an athletic director but what would take this program back to prominence is having a director of football operations. Miami not only would be trendsetters, but they would have someone in a working capacity to strictly focus on football and everything that entails with the players development, grades, off-campus events, appearances and even a bit in recruiting. The program needs to treat football as a priority, a No. 1 priority because this program not only was built on academics but athletics as well.
In addition to having a director of football operations, the school should reach out to the famous alumni and get their feedback to create an advisory board. A group of people to make sure that the leadership is on their p’s & q’s.
Some of the names that could be on the list are Alonzo Highsmith, Ed Reed, Mike Rumph, Clinton Portis, Edgerrin James, Andre Johnson, Willis McGahee, Randall Hill, Bennie Blades and Kellen Winslow II.
Build New Traditions:
One of the biggest reasons why the Hurricanes are having a difficult time getting attendance and building brand loyalty is because they haven’t built any new traditions.
UM Cheer teaching a little C-A-N-E-S to new students arriving on campus
That much closer to classes starting! #TheU pic.twitter.com/M3jkcBkheC
— Miami Hurricanes (@MiamiHurricanes) August 18, 2015
The Hurricanes are no longer playing inside of the Orange Bowl and yet the same traditions from there have been applied to Sun Life. Now, should the Hurricanes scrap the old traditions that they created? Absolutely not. We should still expect to see the smoke when the players walk on the field. We should also see everyone holding up four fingers in the fourth. We should always see fans chanting C-A-N-E-S, Canes.
It’s time to build some new traditions. Give fans a reason to get excited again. All traditions have a beginning and since the Canes want to usher into a new era of football for their program, and a tradition should come along with it. We’re in 2015 and our program is one of the best in the country.
D’Joumbarey A. Moreau covers sports in Miami-Dade & Broward County. You can follow him on Twitter @DJoumbarey.
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