Miami (FL) in bad times

[redlegsfan21]

Do you think Miami (FL)'s reputation has been hurt?

[ATLFalcons]

It has, but they bring in thugs anyways, let's see Willie Williams and everybody else who's left early because of discipline problems.

[football junkie]

They need to fire Larry Coker. Next they need to attract a big name coach who could re-establish respect at the Miami -- perhaps Kirk Ferentz or Butch Davis.

Coker built his career on the brilliant recruiting of Butch Davis. Davis was 51-20 as the Hurricane's head coach, finished No. 2 in the polls in his final season and probably could have won two or three national championships with his final recruiting class. Someone like that needs to be found to be the new top gun.

Also, Miami is going to need to call on its tremendous NFL star power to recruit blue-chip prospects. For example, if the new coach were recruiting a RB prospect and Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Frank Gore or Willis McGahee paid that prospect a visit I'm thinking that might sway the thinking a little.

Miami is 5-2 this year so it's not like they've fallen off the map.

If Miami wins against Georgia Tech on Saturday and against Virginia Tech next week then they will be the ACC Coastal overall leader. But even if the team finishes 10-2 this year, 9-3 is probably more realistic, Coker still has to go!

[Snake]

Yes, they tarnished their image (again), no they won't lose out on any recruits. The amount of elite atheletes alone in Southern Florida, and the rest of the state will allow Miami to keep restocking. The sad part is that nowadays, the "Thug" image is in. A lot of kids look up to these guys portraying thugs, from rappers, to actors, to atheletes; and model themselves after these guys. For a lot of inner city youths, this is a way out of the inner city, and they are going to do whatever it takes to get out.

The sad part to me is that I saw on YouTube a video of the brawl, with someone commentating, not sure who exactly was commentating, but they were saying things like, "That's right, this is our house, you come in talking smack here, and you are going to get beat down", and "I was just getting ready to run to the elevator and get down there and beat somebody's a$$ myself." I truly hope that the commentator was not affiliated with The University of Miami in any way.

FJ is right, Miami needs a new Coach, and fast. It is very apparent that Coker has no control over the kids in this program.

[football junkie]

The person calling the game from the booth was none other than University of Miami alum Lamar Thomas.

Thomas was working as a color commentator for Comcast Sports Southeast but has since been fired for his in-game, on-the-air comments. The reason the comments weren't edited on tape-delay is because there was no tape-delay. The game was broadcast live over ESPN pay-per-view. (This still doesn't explain to me why somebody in the broadcast truck didn't just kill his mic. It's not hard, you just press the corresponding button, watch for the light to go out, turn the volume down to zero and the mic is dead. I guess the producer must have panicked.)

Although Thomas was not a University of Miami employee, Comcast consulted the U., about the firing and Miami approved of it.

As a sidenote, Lamar Thomas was a wide out at the U. He went on to a lackluster NFL career, playing three years with Tampa Bay and three years with the Miami Dolphins prior to retiring before the 1999 season.