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First up, my sincerest apologies for the gap in articles, fear not though, this is not another indication of a flash disappearance on my part, I simply went home to celebrate my 23rd birthday. At home I gathered some books, of which I currently have at least one hundred at last count, among them a very important book to my heart, and one I believe every ‘Cane fan should own: ‘Cane Mutiny: How the Hurricanes Overturned the Football Establishment by Bruce Feldman.
To ‘Canes fans of yore, be prepared to not only be taken on a trip through the history you know so well, but to get an inside look at many things you didn’t know, and probably should to see the whole picture that is the U. For those of you like myself, who only got to experience bits and pieces of the first half of the Hurricane dynasty, and reveled in the short lived second half, this book should be a real eye opener.
Right down to the core of his narrative Bruce Feldman weaves a tale that both shows the rise of the Hurricane football program, as well as the birth of the U, but also it’s inextricable links to the rise of the black college athlete, and also how the Hurricanes set the blue print for modern collegiate dynasties like USC and Florida. Basically he tells all who will listen why the University of Miami truly is the U, and can be the only one to ever claim that title.
I’d love to get into more depth, but I’d be roving dangerously close to outright plagiarism and other fun illegal activities dealing with writing, so I will again simply recommend you pick this book up immediately.
One thing I will gloss over is the parallelism of the rise of the Hurricanes, and the rise of the black athlete, and its import to the current generation of Hurricanes and their fans. I’m sure most are well aware of the turmoil and struggle African Americans in general went through to gain equality well past the date they had “won” these rights. While many northern universities were recruiting black athletes, most didn’t play them, many were not on scholarship, and for the most part they were asked to change their behavior to give a better face akin to previous black athletes that broke the color barrier. The brash, cocky, and let’s admit it, fun as hell, Hurricane teams of the late seventies to early nineties nurtured a new kind of black athlete, one who kid be himself without fear, embarrassment, and most importantly, with a sense of pride. The dominance of the Hurricanes led to copy cats, first by teams that could replicate the formula with similarly speedy athletes, the two Florida schools. This led to a state domination of college football that was really unheard of. Sure, many regions had experienced their glory decades, but never one state. Since Miami’s first National Title in 1983, 26 years ago, a team from the state of Florida has played for or been considered for a National Title at least 18 of those years, and the run of dominance in the 80s and 90s is even more incredible, 15 in 20 years, or you could even say 15 in the 17 years, again from Miami’s first national title. In case you ever wonder why the media and nation outside the state of Florida hates us, wonder no longer.
Since then, not only have many teams emulated the U formula, they have even recruited out of Florida, and South Florida in particular, to pluck some of their best stars. The very strong misconception around certain circles that Larry Coker recruiting was very bad only have a minimal validity. First off, remember it was Larry Coker who put together one of the most magical Randy Shannon before he was Randy Shannon esque recruiting coups to scrape together a top class within a week, since that’s all the time he had between his being announced as head coach and the national signing day, after good ol Butch abandoned his team just before a dynasty. His only fault was his inability to recruit South Florida, because he always had a top 15 recruiting class during his tenure, just some bad luck on the blue chip recruits. Thus far in the Shannon era, 7 of the top 11 recruits from 2008 hailed from Florida, 24 out of 32 total, and in 2009 all 8 of the top recruits were from Florida, and 11 of the 19 total came from the state of Florida (stats according to <a>Scout.com</a>. Though it’s really early, it is noteworthy that all eight current UM recruits for 2010 are from Florida as well.
What this all means to the Hurricane fan is simply this, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Sure I may be biased in my predictions, but we all hear the rumblings around the nation, in the press, even some damn nervous rumblings, the ‘Canes are coming back. They’re right, almost. We’re already back, they just don’t realize it yet, but I do, and you should as well. Even with what were at the time the worst NCAA sanctions that didn’t include a dismantling of a team, it took Butch Davis only two seasons after rock bottom (5-6), to build the Hurricanes back up to a national powerhouse. We should have played in a national title in our third year, won the fourth, and should have won the fifth year. We’re not in the third year of the Randy Shannon era, we’re in the second year after hitting rock bottom, and many teams in the league, including Notre Dame and Michigan, wish they could claim 5-7 as their rock bottom. The formula is not only simple and quick, it’s ours, we reside in the State of Dade, it’s Randy’s home and he knows how to ply it, and so he has.
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