The Miami Felons strike again...

It looks like FIU has at least turned down the right road.
UM, so far has touched the brakes, and put on the turn signal.

Both the ACC and Sun Belt Comissioners have said the right things.
And the NCAA will vow to 'crack-down' on such things in the future, including issuing statements about 'such will not be tolerated' in the future, come up with
some new statements and positions about 'crowd-taunting' and pointing to the crowd, etc. Oh yeah! AND the officials will be 'briefed' on the new 'guidelines'. AND Larry Coker may well lose his job over this!

Here's my own not-so-humble opinion of what SHOULD occur. (And I assure you, I'll not hold my breath waiting for it to happen.)

There needs to be a big pow-wow with the NCAA, the ACC and Sun Belt Comissioners, the Administration and Athletics Directors of both UM and FIU, and the NCAA should declare the game a 'double-forfeit', and saddle both teams with a loss, and bar both schools from Bowl participation, for five years, or thru the first 'Bowl-eligible' year, whichever comes first. Further, any players who might transfer would still be under the same ban, with any new team they might transfer to. That will virtually assure that any and all members of both teams, as well as both schools involved, will miss one potential bowl game.
Second, the officials that let this game get out of control, in the first place, should be relieved for the rest of the year, and should they work again in the future, not as a unit, to guard against this sort of thing happening again.
Third, a few of the rules should be changed or strengthened, as to penalties.
"Trash talking" should get a first warning, and a second offense by an individual on the field gets an automatic unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Trash talking from the bench gets the same treatment except for being assessed against a particular individual. The second offense from the bench gets recorded against the individual involved. (That will figure in a later suggestion.) The third offense from the sidelines results in the disqualification of the head coach for the game, who must leave the playing field. A fourth offense results in forfeiture of the game by the team involved. 'Bench jockeying' is a long established tradition in baseball, without the attendant venom. Football can have the same, if the powers-that-be so choose, without the "getting in your face" bit.
The personal fouls of late hits, hits out-of-bounds, 'roughing' a passer or kicker, spearing, helmet removal, kicking a down player, fists, flagrant unnecessary roughness, plus all unsportsmanlike conduct in direct language or gestures should be made cumulative. A second infraction by any player on one of these calls results in disqualification for the remainder of the game, and an ensuing one-game suspension. Two such disqualifications in a season result in automatic ineligibility and permanent suspension from college football, for the individual, plus a fine on the institution.
Third, penalties should be cumulative, as well, and should not offset as they often do now. In other words, if three flags are thrown, all three penalties are enforced as to distance and result, except where this would reward one team unfairly. Example: Offensive and defensive holding on the same play should offset, as the automatic first down for defensive holding gives an unfair advantage. Offsides and illegal motion should offset as they are both five yards. Offsides and defensive holding should not, resulting in a five yard differential but the down is replayed, from the new spot. Offside, offensive holding and defensive holding on the same play are all enforced, with the resultant 'new first down' from the same spot.
The Conferences should fine both schools the visitor's guaranteed monies, and use it for financial need scholarships for students at all the conference schools, on an equal basis. This would ensure that this money goes where it actually should do some small amount of good.
And I hope Larry Coker does not 'take the fall' alone for this, although I assure you, I am no Miami fan, in the least, these days. I have been a Miami fan in any way, exactly two times in the past; As a Kentuckian when Howard Schnellenberger was the coach in the 80s, and in the late 60s and early 70s when Charlie Tate was the coach, and I was good friends with his oldest (I believe) daughter, who was an outstanding Christian, a beautiful and talented young lady who happened to work at the Christian Book Store I frequented while I was in Bible College, and was active in a ministry I was also involved in. Aside from that, they have been and are a team I 'love to hate' for the most part. That's my take, overall. And I'll still not hold my breath waiting.

Ed

 

Good point! :thumbsup:

Ed

 

I'd suggest that Howard S. (Can't spell that last name twice in the same day) would not have put up with this, either, from what I've seen of him.

Ed

 

I'm probably wrong about this, but was ESPN the network that continued showing the fight instead of going to commercial? While I don't think that ESPN in and of itself is the reason for the decline and fall of American sports, they don't help.

 

No, ESPN was not the network. The game was not covered nationally - or even regionally, but was on the local cable channel sports station.

 

Regarding returning all the money ....

There was no money made out of this game.
*** There was no TV money (only covered by the local cable channel).
*** Attendance at gate was not a sell out - moderate at best
*** UM does not have its own stadium on campus
*** Instead, it plays at the Orange Bowl, which they rent from the city

 

If anything, this points to the assumption that Coach Coker does not have control of the team. May or may not be true -- but the feeling here is that he doesn't.

However, coach Coker will probably be fired at the end of the season due to the wins/losses not this situation. It just adds fuel to the growing fire. He will probably have to win out the season (not likely) in order to keep his job.

 

FIU down the right road?

I think the reason why FIU has taken such a hard stance is the fact that their players were the ones that started the brawl. None of the cheap shots/late hits/personal fouls in the first half were against Miami and the UM placekicker & holder didn't jump the guys twice their size. Again, I have no problem with the guys on the field protecting their own. The big problem occurred when the players left the sidelines.

 

So, there I was, up on my soapbox and somebody comes along and pulls the soapbox out from under me. :smilewinkgrin:

Thanks for the correction. :thumbsup:

 

UM Coach

Actually, Coker inherited an excellent team & program from Butch Davis who left to go to the NFL. Butch had already started turning things around from the mess of Erickson. [To be fair, Coker was part of this process as he was an assistant coach under Davis.] Coker won the national championship his first year and came within a pass interference call on a second one.

He will probably be let go at the end of the year (and still collect $2M plus), but it will be due to the trending of the wins/losses over the past six years. While this record would be acceptable (even enviable) at other universities, this will be get him fired at UM.

Year 1 - undefeated & wins national championship
Year 2 - one loss (in bowl game for the national championship)
Year 3 - two losses (wins BCS bowl at end of year)
Year 4 - three losses (wins non-BCS bowl)
Year 5 - three losses (loses non-BCS bowl)
Year 6 - already has two losses halfway thru season

 

I find it hard to believe UM doesn't make money from its games. CSS is a regional network. I can watch the game here in Tennessee. If UM is not making money on its games, I'll eat my hat

Schnellenberger (probably misspelled that) was just as rogue at UM. He built a cocky program at Louisville (where I knew him and many of his players). From what I've seen of him, I wouldn't write him off as being so tough on this kind of thing.

 

The CSS feed (tape delayed) edited out the comments by the Miami announcer that got him canned. What did he say?

 

Correction ESPN

I found out today that the game was carried on ESPN Pay Per View. It was on cable sports channel (CSS) for tape delay.

 

Follow Up

I think there are some links on this post regarding his comments. If not, you can check out the Miami Herald on line -- www.herald.com.

Regarding the money, of course I can't say for sure that they made $0 on this game. However, there was no TV money (except for ESPN PPV whatever that gets you), it was not a sell out, and UM rents the stadium they play in. And if there was a positive balance, UM had to split it with FIU. Out of all their games, this one probably generated the least amount of revenue.

 

I did not say that Coach S. was not a bit 'cocky'. He was, both at UM and UL. Can't comment much beyond that. But there is a difference, between being 'cocky' and being a 'rogue'. I'd offer that there are certain schools, teams, coaches, etc. everywhere that are somewhat cocky. I'd suggest that the Duke Basketball program overall is a bit 'cocky'. And I don't like Duke. But I would not generally classify the players as roguish, save for maybe one individual who played there once, who deliberately stepped on one Aminu Timberlake when he was down on the floor. And as a Kentuckian, I'd say that I've not seen too many coaches with a bigger ego or much more 'cocky' than Rick Pitino in basketball, or Hal Mumme in football. Difference was, one could back it up, one couldn't. And Coach S. was able to back it up at UL in football, taking a program headed for Div. IA, toward the higher echelons of Div. I. Don't know about the 'cockiness' bit, but overall, at your beloved UT, Bruce Pearl and Phil Fullmer seem to be winning a couple of games every now and then, and Pat Summit has set the bar for women's BB, like Uncle Adolph, Dean Smith, and Johnny Wooden did for men's BB. Ego or no.

Ed

 

You can catch it on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JWeE9KqZjQ

First there is the melee, and Lamar Thomas' comments begin about 1:50.

 

Lamar Thomas got what he deserved...and shows the overall mindset of Miami football.

 

Yes, Lamar got what he deserved - he should have been fired for those ridiculous comments. I hardly think he represents the U football program of today.