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How Do You Spell Synergy: C-A-N-E-S!

There is some sort of mystical synergy that happens from time to time in Coral Gables that starts somewhere deep inside the Hecht Athletic Center and flows into every UM football player that runs through the smoke and into that beautiful old stadium we call the Orange Bowl. 

Simply put, it is just magic. It can't be ignored, easily explained or scientifically analyzed.  And while it may occasionally be supported by statistics it has never really been accurately defined or described with mere words by the media's talking heads.

We don't know how or why it happens, it just does. And maybe it is better that way. How else could you explain how so many UM football teams have reached the pinnacle of their sport?  That championship level with so many coaches and so many different players, personalities and performances?  For most people, for those on the outside looking in, when they sit down and think about it really hard, it is just beyond their explanation, isn't it?

Of course, for those intuitive and insightful Canes fans, there are definitely some common and identifiable components.  But in isolation, or even when combined, they still cannot fully explain the magic behind the Miami Hurricanes.  Yet, here is one attempt to list some of those common factors that have been recognized or mentioned over the years by Canes fans young and old:

Miami Hurricane synergy starts with a driven, dynamic leader who is hungry to prove himself as a Head Coach at the highest levels of college football.  Focused, detailed driven individuals who are obsessed with perfection; and above all else, winning.  Winning to them isn't everything; It is the ONLY thing.  They breathe confidence into their teams, they coach, they counsel and they even comfort when tragedy strikes from time to time within the team.  They are lot of things to lot of people, but most of all they are winners. 

It focuses on recruiting players who deep down love the U and all that it stands for.  These special players really want to be Miami Hurricanes.  These players truly understand what it means to wear the split U on their helmet.  They bleed orange and green.  These are the players that it takes to win championships.

During the recruiting process it is more about finding football players rather than just some guys who happen to play football.  Five stars, three stars, no stars?  It doesn't matter.  It's about athletes that play for the pure love of the sport and not for any of the promised glory that it might bring.  Often times, the glory finds them.  Big plays in big games tend to do that, and at the U players have many chances for both.  The years go by so quickly and at NFLU, some players are tapped to leave early for the glory and the wealth that awaits them.  Others stay and do a full four, some do more, and some so much more.  But, more on that to follow.

It requires a good dose of real competition at every position on the field and the willingness of each player to work harder than ANYBODY else.  Nothing is ever given at the U, it is earned!  Pushing pick up trucks full of teammates down the street, sleeping in front of the fridge so somebody doesn't eat too much, being afraid to say you are hurt and playing with pain because the next guy is waiting to step in and take your job?  That's what competition does to people.  It makes them better and allows them to glimpse at greatness.

It feeds heavily on leadership.  It is often said that great players make those around them better.  Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Reggir Jackson they all had "it".  When the game was on the line or the championship in doubt, these were the guys who literraly would put their teams on their shoulders and carry them to victory.  And that quality or characteristic never rang truer than in the UM locker room and on the field. From Ted Hendricks to Chuck Foreman to Bernie Kosar to Russell Maryland to Ray Lewis to Dan Morgan ro Ed Reed to Kellen Winslow to Ken Dorsey.  Leaders are made at the U.  Whether it is Bernie telling his coaches during crunch time on the sideline "Let's play football" to Ed Reeds dramatic halftime locker room speech about playing hurt and dominating the game to Winslow's "I'm a Soldier" tirade after a tough game  it's all about leadership and motivating others to achieve what they never thought was possible.  To challenge their limits of pain and endurance and reach a level of performance few have ever known.  To stare greatness right in the eye and not flinch or blink.  To play at the highest level against the toughest competition and walk away a winner, a champion.

Cane synergy is deeply rooted in confidence, intimidation and swagger.  Athletes that grow up in the 305 are required to have it just to survive.  Most in the 954 have it too.  Some in the 561 have also been known to posses it.  And yeah, even players from other areas of the Country get lucky and find some once in a while.  But the majority of it comes straight from South Florida.  Pure bred, pure and simple.  Fighters, scrappers, winners, hard core 24/7/365 football players, not some guys who may happen to play football.  When these warriors hit the field together in unison, through the smoke and onto the field as a team, it is one scary thing to behold.  It is not something for the weak or the lame.  When Alonzo Highsmith stares you straight in the eye and says:  "I ain't scared of you PUNK!", you better get ready to strap up!

It requires former players giving back to the U.  Players who go on to play on Sundays get rewarded for their hard work at Miami and see their fair share of wealth and fame.  Does that change them?  Nah, they still bleed orange and green and show that by giving back to the U.  They choose to work out and get in shape each summer by voluntarily coming back on campus and mentoring younger players who follow them at Miami.  So now imagine yourself as a new high school recruit in this scenario:

You are a new howevermanystar recruit at the U at LB.  You show up for summer drills hoping just to fit in among a long line of great UM backers to wear the jersey.  You come out of the locker room and onto Greentree Practice Field only to find Ray Lewis, Dan Morgan and Johnathan Vilma already out there in full summer sweat asking: where you been hidin"?  And that's only after Mike Barrow and Randy Shannon, both with NFL pedigree, are your coaches!  Or you might be a safety recruit and you just happen to run into Sean Taylor and Ed Reed do 110s.  Or you might be a super stud RB and you may just get to practice along side guys named James (I and II), Portis, McGahee and Gore who teach you how to pick a hole, set up a screen play, or pick up the blitz NFL style.  Or you are a TE and you get to mingle with guys named Franks, Shockey, Winslow and Olsen!  Or maybe you are a WR and you get to run routes with guys like Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss?  That's what former Cane greats do, and do often. 

It is every man, accountable to one another.  It is desire, and passion and drive and the undeniable will to win.  Losing is not a word even mentioned, because it is simply not an option.  When these factors all come together at any moment in time, it is a site to behold.  A force of will, a synergy that is, well, magic.  One University, four coaches, five championships, hundreds of players and thousands of fans have been there to witness history in the making.  Championships won and champions crowned.

But now, that is in the past, the last one coming in 2001 by perhaps the most talented and dominant team college football has ever seen.  And now the question is: Can they do it again?  Can Coach Randy Shannon, a true Hurricane and champion already as both a player and assistant coach, and this group of coaches and players that he has assembled achieve that magical synergistic moment in time that will make them immortal; that will make them champions?  Shannon knows that nothing short of another championship will satisfy his team, his university or his fans. 

And Canes fans are usually the first to start sensing it once again.  You can hear it in their talk, their own form of Cane Swagger.  They can feel the synergy growing stronger almost daily.  They begin to believe once again the time is near and that glory is close at hand. 

And one day soon, on that field of dreams known as the Orange bowl, through the smoke and from somewhere deep inside the Hecht Athletic center, the Cane synergy will all come together in a glorious, magical moment when the Miami Hurricanes are crowned champions once again.

Sitting on the Shoulders of Giants

1989 brought an off-season of change to the Miami Hurricanes.  Beloved coach Jimmy Johnson had moved on to the NFL to revive the moribund Dallas Cowboys franchise, resulting in his star quarterback Steve Walsh laying down an ultimatum to athletic director Sam Jankovich, either promote longtime offensive coordinator Gary Stevens to head coach or he'd leave for the draft.  Jankovich called his bluff and tapped the head coach in Pullman, Washington, Dennis Erickson from Washington State as his new head coach.  Walsh kept his promise and declared for the supplemental draft, which left the 'Canes with a new QB, a new one-back offense, and a coaching staff with six new assistants on it. 

Taking over under center was Craig Erickson, no relation to the head coach, who would be charged with cementing the schools claim to the title of "Team of the 80's."  He would be accompanied in new offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski's offense on the outside by charismatic wide-out Randal "Thrill" Hill and Dale Dawkins at the receiver positions.  Future Hurricane offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, one of the truly great 'Cane tight end in history, would start in '89 after being relegated to back-up duty in the '87 season.  Wesley Carroll would compliment leading rusher Leonard Conley in the backfield, who finished the season with only 134 attempts and less than 600 yards.  The offensive line showcased one of the greatest Miami linemen ever in the intimidating presence of Leon Searcy at tackle with Mike Sullivan, who started an incredible 48 games in his career, manning the opposite tackle spot.  Rod Holder and Darren Handy were the guards, and a holdover from the '87 national title team, Bobby Garcia was the center.The strength of the '89 team would be it's Sonny Lubick coached defense.  The unit was anchored in the middle of the line by two top flight tackles, future first overall draft pick Russell "Stump" Maryland, and a third overall pick of the NFL draft in his own right in Cortez Kennedy. 

Greg Mark was now moved to the end position, where he would record 15.5 sacks while being named a first team All-American, and Willis Peguese was the fourth man on the dominating front.  The line-backing corps was anchored by Bernard "Tiger" Clark, who stepped out of obscurity and into Hurricane lore with his MVP fill-in performance for George Mira Jr. in the '88 Orange Bowl game against Oklahoma for the national title.  Now Clark led an imposing group of linebackers that had Maurice Crum and Richard Newbill flanking him.  The secondary saw Ryan McNeil and Kenny Berry at the corners with Hurlie Brown and Charles Pharms bringing the pain from the safety positions.  Tim Kalal was the punter, while Miami native Carlos Huerta started to climb the scoring record list at the school with a lot of point-after-touchdown conversions. Amongst the ashes of the injury to their starting quarterback, there were embers of the beginning of an enduring legend arising. 

A heretofore unheard of Gino Torretta stepped in and calmly logged a pair of impressive performances running the one-back-attack during a two-game home stand. It seemed that Erickson and his team could do nothing wrong as they prepared for the trip to Tallahassee after a bye week where the showdown with the ninth ranked FSU Seminoles waited inside raucous Doak Campbell Stadium.  Bobby Bowden is the winningest coach in all time NCAA history for a reason and teams like the '89 edition of the Seminoles are why as the extra time to prepare made now difference for the team in garnet and gold and Torretta was bullied into a bad game by an stellar Florida State defense in a 24-10 loss.  The 'Canes traveled back to the Orange Bowl to regroup as November began finding themselves on the outside, needing help at seven in the polls and only a month left to get back in the hunt for a national title if they wanted to have any shot of salvaging an already damaged season.

The Canes appeared to be back to their early season form with an annulations of San Diego State, 42-6, which brought something seemingly even more apocalyptic into the legendary venue on 27th in little Havana, the hype for the number one ranked defending national champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish in prelude to the show down with the still ranked seventh Canes in the last week of the regular season. By now the Miami-Notre Dame series was one of the hottest in all of college football, yet Miami, more often than not found themselves in the all too familiar role of antagonist, one which the Hurricanes would gladly embrace to suit their needs.  The game between the two schools was brewing with issues, the foremost the shady circumstances surrounding the officiating of the game the prior year between Jimmy Johnson's last edition of the Hurricanes and Lou Holtz's undefeated title winners of 1988.  Now the game was in the Orange Bowl and the Canes emerged through the smoke determined to rectify the treatment at the hands of the officials along with other perceived slights against the top team in the land.  At the end of the day, when the smoke had dispersed, an Orange Bowl record crowd watched the defending champs fall to bad boys of college football in dominating fashion 27-10. 

Both Ericksons rode into the night bearing the aura of a newly minted signature win on the last day of the regular season to endear him to the somewhat less then warm fringes on the Miami fan-base.  Despite being promoted back to the all important number two position in the polls, selection time came only to find the Orange Bowl committee extending the invitation for a shot at new number one, undefeated Colorado, who by coalition affiliation was coming to enjoy the pleasures of South Beach in a quest for a football coronation on New Years Day, 1990 to Notre Dame. 

The Hurricanes were shunted out of their home stadium and off to New Orleans, under the Superdome's roof for an opportunity to face number seven Alabama, the 2nd most prestigious school in the history of the game of college football in the Sugar Bowl later in the evening.  As the good news spread from back home as the Irish did what they had to do to the benefit of their rivals in Miami and blemished Colorado's perfect season, the team in orange and green from the private school in Coral Gables had another trophy to add to it's collection by a score of 33-25 over Alabama.  The pleasure was only to increase in the days ahead as Miami would find themselves promoted to the top spot as National Champions in the final polls.  The bad boys had triumphed over the choir boys only to have them turn around a deliver a National Title to them in kind.  If nothing else they could be shown to believe in the teaching of turning the other cheek if not how to play championship football. As Erickson was lifted to the shoulders of "Jimmy's team" he turned his cheek to the scoreboard and by the light in his eyes you could see his gaze across the arena, a smile of wonderment on his face.  The sky was truly the limit, how much higher could it get from here?  The 80's were coming to a close but he sat in the catbird seat of the sport, now this was HIS team. 

The 1989 Miami Hurricanes are a unique team unto themselves.  They were at most times dominating, as any great Miami team is.  They were deep, a Heisman winner on the bench and suddenly on the field, even at times, on the ground in defeat.  The defense was an absolute terror with perhaps one of the best tackle tandems ever to play the game.  They were without a doubt a team that played with a flashy sense of self-confidence yet backed up their actions by the results on the scoreboard. 

They were the last of the independent championship teams at the school, something Howard Schnellenberger once cited as a major factor in the early years of establishing the championship legacy at UM.  The team was the first, and one of the best teams in the career of the winningest coach in school history, Erickson, yet many fans would to this day tell you that Jimmy Johnson should get credit for its successes.  Many players would go on to see a decade in the NFL; some would be out of the league sooner than that but would see the field.

The 1989 version of Miami's championship football team was an impressive, lucky, entertaining, and fascinating team.  A new coach stepping in and winning a national title at his new school was not something done very often in the history of the game, yet here was this man from the northwest who flew in to sunny South Florida and worked one-back magic while carving his own place in the growing legend of the decade of dominance.  The program was riding as high as one could conceivably get in the sport of college football.  Truly the shoulders Dennis Erickson rode on the field of the Superdome New Years Day 1990 belonged to the young men who were the giants of the sport of college football. By far, the best seat in the house by a long shot.

Copyright 2007 Christopher Whelpton for Canespace.com

U Feeling Lucky Punk?

“ Man what a lucky dog!”  How many times have you muttered that to yourself as Joe Mercedes parades in knee deep in women? Maybe it’s luck. Then again it might be a whole lot more.

You may have heard the phrase “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If that is indeed true, then the Canes are about to embark on the longest lucky streak in college history. Randy Shannon isn’t about voodoo, hoodoo, coincidence or syncronicity. To Shannon it is the harder you practice the luckier you will become.

Randy isn’t the mojo man. Shannon is a precise, informed, confident leader. As a player he didn’t look to the stars, or rub his rabbit’s foot before the ball was snapped. He was too busy getting people where they were supposed to be.

Patrick Nix is from the same school. He isn’t about to put the Seventh Son back in the shotgun because it’s a full moon. Nix has evaluated the effect of his selected play against the current defensive look, and has his next play chosen before the ball is blown dead. Having Nix at the U isn’t lucky, it’s Coach Randy still getting people where they need to be.

Now I admit there are some teams that bad luck enjoys kneeing in the groin. Florida State comes to mind, I mean that wide right albatross is the work of a talisman isn’t it? Doug Flutie’s pass isn’t considered luck, but a miracle. Divine intervention trumps luck every time. Putting your foot in Notre Dame’s ass on third and forty-three, God again, proving he doesn’t play favorites. I got your “Luck of the Irish” right here pal.

You don’t win the National Championship on luck. You earn it, you loose it, or you have it stolen from you. Horse shoes, four leaf clovers, rabbit’s feet. Those five rings aren’t lucky charms. Things that drive the Canes are traditions, not superstitions.

Need proof?  Look no further than new UM Head Coach Randy Shannon.  You see, he knows a thing or two about winning National Championships.  Coach Shannon doesn't consider himself "lucky" to be a Miami Hurricane, he knows he was born to be one. 

And, you can be sure that Randy also knows that when the Canes win their next National Championship under his leadership, it certainly will not be because of luck.  It will be because preparation met opportunity.

Written by SolarCane for Canespace copyright 2007

Playing With The Big Boys

So here's our story. It all started from this idea that the fans were the most important part of any Blog...

We started this little web site called Canespace about 30 days ago.  We found 10 people who had some really varied and diverse writing skills and wanted to get involved.  Did we pay them?  No, we couldn't; we had no revenue.  Did they want to write about the U and what it meant to them?  You bet they did!

Did they come from across the country, even some deep in enemy territory?  Yeah, most of them did.  Were they  willing to go on assignment to write their tails off proving they were worthy?  Yeah, U could say so.  They wrote 14 articles in 14 days to provide interesting daily content and topics for bloggers to respond to. And did they ever respond!

Canespace, a new site with no financial backing, no inside connections and no web experience was all of a sudden competing against the big boys for attention.  So how did that work out?  Well, the blog at Canespace has had over 30,000 hits and over 3000 blog entries!  That is over 20-40% what the "big boys" have had in the same time!  Well, obviously from that point on we knew we were on our way!

And now, it is all paying off.  You see, there is this little newspaper you may have heard of in South Florida that is called the Miami Herald.  One of their writers, Manny Navarro, has received approval for the Herald to appear on the Canespace blog on a weekly feature!

Here is how it works:  Manny will appear on Canespace beginning in August every other Thursday from 8-9 PM for a "LIVE" chat feature called: ASK MANNY?  The next Thursday he will be on the Herald blog and we have agreed to ROCK HIS WORLD!  That's right Canespace Fans we will go to his site for live chat and interactive info from the source.

Many of you at Canespace kept asking for access to the team, players and coaches.  Well this is the first step of many that will follow that will bring that idea to life.  The end game looks like this: Real fans, talking to real players and real coaches in real time!  And when that happens (and it will) the rest as they say, will be history...