Lately I have been embarrassed to admit it, but yes I am a Miami Hurricane football fan. And before anyone says anything to the contrary, I am not a bandwagon fan. Both of my parents and my uncle went to "the U." My parents met there, and without "the U" I would not exist. Kind of hard to hate on a thing like that. Anyways, Miami has seen better days then their past two years, which have included two losses to bitter rival Florida State, a loss to lowly Georgia Tech, and a disgusting 40-3 loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl, which concluded with the two teams brawling in the tunnel.
None of this is comparable to what happened Saturday night, and I'm not talking about the 'Canes 35-0 victory over Florida International. It's what happened midway through the third quarter that has me fuming. After a Miami extra-point a brawl broke out that brought Hurricane historians back to the day when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson roamed the defensive line and regularly brawled with other teams. Oh wait, they were actually winning big games at that time.
It takes a lot for former Miami receiver Michael "I've been busted more times then you count for drug possession" Irvin to be the voice of reason, yet that is the case. What really distresses me about this whole fiasco is the way that the Hurricanes have reacted to the fracas. Larry Coker, in apologizing for the University, managed to slip in this little tidbit: "It looked like there were a lot of players on their team that were frustrated that they're not here."
Though there may be some validity to this statement, Florida International is eight miles from "the U" and most of the players on the two teams played either with or against each other in high school; this was neither the time nor the place to make this comment. It was Coker's job to take complete responsibility for the actions and stress that the players involved would be punished severely. Florida International did a much better job in this respect, lengthening the mandatory one-game suspension of all 18 of their players who were involved in the feud, including dismissing two players off the team for good. While the Hurricanes kept the one-game suspension for 12 of their 13 involved players, they didn't for Anthony Reddick, who charged the field brandishing his helmet before hitting people with this weapon.
Now I may be horrible at math. I haven't been in a mathematics class since 10th grade and I'm a fifth-year senior, but all of this can add up to only one thing: fire Larry Coker! Coker should have been fired after last season due to the embarrassing LSU drubbing and the ensuing brawl. Yet Coker was given one last chance to restore this once proud university, whose National Football League alumni include greats such as Jim Kelly, Warren Sapp, Ray Lewis, and Irvin.
Coker again decided to place blame on everyone except himself, as he fired almost every assistant coach during the off-season. Too bad he didn't cut quarterback Kyle Wright, who looks more like Gino Toretta NFL version and not the same the player that suited up for the Hurricanes.
So what does this "new and improved" Hurricane team do this year? Week one they suffer their second consecutive loss to Florida State, which is nothing compared to what happened in week two, when a group of Hurricanes jumped an unsuspecting Louisville Cardinal team during pre game warm-up. Then the Cardinals jumped the 'Canes by a score of 31-7.
The 'Canes have always had a reputation for being cocky bad boys, considering Lewis, Sean Taylor and Irvin have all been in serious trouble with the law at some points in their life. The problem lies with the fact that these players were all able back up their talk with game. This team not only loses but they get embarrassed on and off the field in doing so. It's time for a new coach, a new quarterback and a new attitude.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
