Canespace

A Rush To Judgement

One of the strengths for the University of Miami football team going into the 2008 season is the talented and diverse stable of running backs returning to the Canes next year.  With dependable Javaris James, multi-talented Shawnbrey McNeal, elusive Craig Cooper and speedy Lee Chambers all competing for playing time, the battle in the backfield will be both exciting and entertaining to watch in practice.

Canespace decided to take a closer look at the candidates to tote the rock for the Canes in 2008:

Javaris James:  This talented back who, as you know, is related to former Cane, current NFL player and potential Hall of Famer Edgerrin James is the Canes most experienced and steady running back returning to the team in 2008.  James is more of a "between the tackles" runner who is a hard nosed, tough and a team player.  He seems to get better as the game goes on and as he gets more carries.  James has to continue to step up his game if he is to hold onto his starting position in the Canes backfield.

Shawnbrey McNeal: The question Canes fans want answered going into next season is: Is McNeal the real deal?  At first glance, Shawnbrey appears to have all the tools necessary to become THE feature back for the Canes as they move into The New Place (Dolphins Stadium) in 2008.  Size, strength, speed and moves make McNeal the possible total package for the Canes.  We will watch closely throughout Spring and Fall ball as McNeal strives to prove he is "The Man" for the Canes.

Graig Cooper: This small, quick and elusive running back was slated to be the "Next Great Thing" at UM when he arrived as the BMOC last year.  Well after one season, the verdict is still out on Super Cooper. Is he very good?  Yeah.  Has he been unstoppable and absolutely great?  Not so much.  Rumors are that the Coop has added 15-20 pounds of muscle to his frame to make him more durable and a more of an every down back.  Will we see the results on the field in 2008?  Time will tell. 

Lee Chambers:  This Mississippi mud slinger is the fastest of all Canes backs heading into next season.  He redshirted in 2007 and after a year of learning the system and getting well, he may just be ready to step up and into the spotlight for the Canes in 2008.  He is a natural long strider who is smooth and the ability to change directions at full speed. An underdog with huge potential who may break into the starting line up.

Now that you have heard our analysis, you get to vote.  Who will be the star for the Canes in 2008:

Quarterback Quandry

And then there were four...Jacory Harris, Taylor Cook, Cannon Smith and Robert Marve.

Last year, there were none.  Now, Canes offensive coordinator Patrick Nix finds himself with four talented quarterbacks to choose from.  Poor Patrick, what a terrible, terrible problem to have.  A pool of talent replaces a pool of, well, foul odored waste water at QB for the Canes in 2008. 

The highlight of the 2007 season?  One could argue for beating TAMU at the OB early in the season.  But nothing beats beating FSU at the Doak!  If you recall, Kyle Wright went down in a heap late in the second quarter.  In steps season starter, but current bench warmer, Kirby Freeman to save the day.  Then, Kirby, who just so happens to be named after a famous vacuum cleaner company because well, you know why, proceeds to go all of 1 for 8 with two interceptions before "The Drive". 

That's right, the Kirbomatic had completed MORE passes to the team wearing Garnett and Gold than his own team.  Then some how, some way he summoned the strength from the "U" tattoo on his back and put the entire team on his back to lead the winning drive with around two minutes to play in the game. 

Kirby to Jenkins; a few Cooper and JJ runs; Jenkins again; and then BOOM, a perfect pass to the seldom used TE in the right corner of the end zone to put the Canes in the lead by one point! 

Colin McCarthy's scoop and score fumble return for a TD 11 seconds later sealed the deal for the Canes, quieted the Doak Campbell crowd and propelled first year Canes Head Coach Randy Shannon to his first victory over Coach Bowden in their first ever head-to-head meeting. 

And lest we forget...there, take THAT Jimbo Fisher!

But like I said, that was the highlight.  It is barely visible above the huge pile of lowlights stacked in front of it.  But enough of that, let's focus on 2008 and the QB Quandry that awaits Pat Nix.  Four possible choices all legitimate and all eager and ready to learn his system. 

So who starts?  That's for you to decide in our QB poll for 2008...

Show Me The Money: Part II

In our continuing series on the big business that is college athletics, we decided to go beyond the general budget numbers of revenues and expenses and take a hard look at some of the numbers within the numbers to get a better idea of just how the money is spent. 

With National Signing Day only a week away and finding ourselves at the peak of the college football recruiting season, we decided to take a close look at the annual recruiting budgets for select major universities around the Country. 

With heated battles for the top recruits nationwide each year, universities have to spend big bucks to land the top recruits (UM verbal commit Marcus Forston pictured at left).  Every year the Rivals and Scout recruiting services rate and rank each player by position based on measurables (height, weight, speed, agility), high school performance stats, film study and other intangibles. 

It is these rankings and star ratings determine which high school players get the most recruiting attention and the most money spent on them in terms of taking visits during the recruiting process.

Visits to prospective universities paid for by the school doing the recruiting is a big part of this expense.  Recruits are offered an "all expenses paid vacation" where they are are wined and dined and shown the sights and sounds of the college campuses and their surrounding cities. 

In addition to spending time with the head coach and position coaches and seeing the academic and athletic facilities, recruits are matched up with a current player who serves as their official "host" for the weekend. The role of the host is to bond with the potential recruit, talk up the team, players and coaches and show them about town. 

These hosts and the entire visit play a huge role in helping a recruit decide which school to attend.  In fact, some recruiting experts believe that this is the most important factor in helping a high school student to choose one university over another.  As you can imagine, all of this takes large sums of cash flow to pull off.

How much you ask?  Well, let's just say that Gators head coach Urban Buy-her and his dear friend The Sweater Vest at OSU has a lot more money to spend than the rest do. 

In fact, even former UM head coaches Butch Davis at UNC and Dennis Erickson at ASU both have more cash flow then new Canes head coach Randy Shannon has laying around.  Former UM defensive cooordinator Tommy Tuberville at Auburn and former UM player Mark Richt at Georgia also have some pretty hefty spending power.  But, poor Hawaii has only 1/10th the budget that the University in Florida does!

Here are the annual budgets for recruiting for men's athletic programs at respective major universities we selected:

Notre Dame: $1,300,000

University of Florida: $1,089,000

Auburn University: $931,000

Ohio State University: $911,000

University of Georgia: $864,000

University of Oklahoma: $769,000

University of Texas: $746,000

University of Michigan: $673,000

University of North Carolina: $673,000

Louisiana State University: $663,000

Florida State University: $630,000

Arizona State University: $547,000

University of Miami: $518,000

Boston College: $469,000

University of South Florida: $322,000

University of Hawaii: $190,000

Show Me The Money!

College athletics has become a big business. And, for a few fortunate universities, a big time money maker as well.  Nowhere is this more evident than when it comes to college football.  Not surprisingly, for major Division I schools the majority (sometimes even exceeding 60%) of the athletic department revenues and expenses are generated by the football team. 

The average cost of running a DI football program these days?  That'll run you somewhere around a cool 15-20 million dollars! So that explains our ticket prices.  Who knew those fancy Nike uniforms and all that Gatorade cost so much mula anyway?  And can you believe they dump that stuff on coaches?  Time for some cost cutting and penny pinching around here - no more Gatorade baths!

Some universities, like the University of Miami for example, spend every dollar they make.  The Canes annual revenues and expenses for the athletic program is 49 million dollars (and change).  The football team generates revenues of just over $20 million and has expenses of of slightly more than $18 million, or a profit of around $2 million for the team in orange and green.  These monies are used to off-set loses by other sports or by the university for facilities improvements.

Other schools like Notre Dame, who's football team generated $63 million dollars yet spent ony $17 million, makes as much as $26 million a year overall from their athletic department. That is exactly what a sweet TV contract and the luck of the Irish can do for you!  It also explains how they can afford that golden dome. 

Florida State University, home of the wide right (and left), does it on the cheap, making and spending less than most others.  The Seminoles budget of $42 million, of which only $10 million was spent on football, is among the lowest we found among major schools.  Maybe Bobby Bowden's salary comes out of another pool of money laying around somewhere.  You think they call him Professor Bowden around campus?

Yet others, like Ohio State University and the University of Florida, spend double what other schools can muster, coming in at a whopping $109 million and $107 million respectively.  Even NASA would be happy with a budget like that!  That kind of cash has to buy a lot of nice stuff to have around.  We bet they even buy that expensive toilet paper not the standard issue college campus cheap stuff.

Here are the hard, cold facts about the cash flow at select college campuses we studied (rounded off to the nearest million, but who's counting anyway, right?  FR= football revenues, FE = football expenses):

Florida State University: Revenues $42M, Expenses $39M, FR $17M, FE $10M (31,000 students).

University of Miami: Revenues $49M, Expenses $49M, FR $20M, FE $18M (9,500 students).

University of Oklahoma: Revenues $69M, Expenses $69M, FR $37M, FE $18M (16,000 students).

University of Southern Cal: Revenues $76M, Expenses $76M, FR $31M, FE $18M (16,000 students).

Louisiana State University: Revenues $76M, Expenses $72M, FR $48M, FE $16M (25,000 students).

University of Texas: Revenues $105M, Expenses $89M, FR $63M, FE $17M (33,000 students). 

University of Florida: Revenues $107M, Expenses $92M, FR $58M, FE $21M (31,000 students).

Ohio State University: Revenues $109M, Expenses $109M, FR $59M, FE $32 M (34,000 students).

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Bono, the super talented singer/song writer of rock mega-group U2 penned the popular song that lends its title to our blog today.  In the song, Bono sings:  "I have heard tounges of angels, I have held the hand of the Devil, only to be with you, only to be with you, but I still haven't found what I'm looking for." 

For all highly sought after and still undecided high schoool football recruits out there waiting until National Signing Day to pick their college of choice these words ring true.

Our ever expanding and on-going search for love in all the wrong places takes us across the country today and into the college towns of South Bend, Columbus and Tallahassee.  Perennial powerhouse Notre Dame, Ohio State and FSU are home to some of the best college football talent in the nation and also some of the more interesting college coaches.  Coaches that are in the business of convincing high school football players to accept a scholarship to attend their esteemed institutions of higher learning to get an college education free of charge. 

Sometimes this process reminds us of pick-up games at the ball field when we were kids.  Everyone would gather around and the oldest or most talented players were selected as captains to choose sides.  For everyone esle it was always: pick me, pick me!  This behavior, while seemingly appropriate for kids in their early teens on a football field, seems very unbecoming, dare we say downright humiliating, for grown men wearing national championship rings and possessing 10+ years of head coaching experience. 

There they sit, wearing their university's colors, in some high school senior's house somewhere out in Podunk, USA, begging, pleading and groveling to some snotty-nosed, 5 star, 18 year old recruit hoping that they will decide to "pick me, pick me".  Now is it just me, or is something is terribly wrong with this picture? 

I mean outside of college football recruiting when would you expect to find some guy wearing a sweater vest visiting Pahokee, Palatka or Plant City, Florida?  Can't you just picture it now: The Sweater Vest doing an in-home visit somewhere in Mulberry or Micanopy with a youngin' and his folks all wearing jorts?  Oh my, what a culture shock!

To find out what this process must feel like to a master recruiter, we contacted FSU Head Coach Bobby Bowden, who we were told just got back from a Weekend At Bernie's, and was to our surprise awake enough for us to talk to. 

Canespace blogger and on the scene reporter Aqua filed this report:

CS: Coach Bowden, this is Aqua from Canespace.  How are you today?

BB: ZZZZZZzzzzzz...

CS: Uh, Coach Bowden?  Bobby?   BOBBY!

BB: Dabgumit, fell alseep again! Yeah, this is Coach Bowden. Who's this?

CS: Aqua from Canespace.  We have a few questions about the recruiting process.  You are widely considered to be one of, if not the best, closer in the business.  How do you do that?

BB: Shoes mainly. Those kids just LOVE those shoes.  Nike usually.  Somethin' about that little swoosh get's 'em all excited.  I don't understand that stuff but it works.

CS: Are there any other tricks that you use to convince recruits to come to FSU?

BB: We don't convince the recruits to come, the Seminole Honeys and cheerleaders do that!  Football players at FSU know that they don't have to go to class or study because there are people that will give them the answers.  Shoot, we make graduating so easy even a caveman can do it!  Although, even with that, we still have had several players fail academically and flunk out.  Some of them boys aren't the sharpest pencils in the box.

CS: I see.  Who is your stiffest competition in recruiting in Florida?

BB: Well that guy in Gainesville is one sneaky dog.  He'll do anything, and I do mean anything, to get the players he wants.  I heard rumors that he may even be recruiting player's girlfriends for the women's gymnastics team down there.  Now why didn't I think of that!

CS: What about the University of Miami and Randy Shannon?

BB: Well Randy's a real straight shooter, a good guy.  He plays by the rules and all, so he doesn't get them all.  Them Miami boys beat us at home this year and he's got all that local talent and a top 5 class headed down there so he's got me worried.  We lost CJ Holton to The U and Coach Shannon already.  It won't be long 'til their back on top I'm afraid.  Dabgumit, I better get back on the phone and talk to some more recruits.

CS: OK, Coach Bowden thanks for your time today.

BB: No problem.  We will see you boys down in that new fangled stadium this year. What are they gonna call that place now?

CS: We have recommended Canespace Stadium but we don't think that will fly with the Dolphins.

BB: Well good luck with that.  Thanks for calling, ya hear?

CS: No thank you coach Bowden, the pleasure was all ours! 

Falling In And Out Of Love With You

Note to all the lawyers: What you read here may not be true or factual.  This story is fictional satire...

In the not so progessive town of Gainesville, Florida, Gators Head Coach Urban Meyer is coming up with all kind of ultra-progressive ways to recruit football players to the University of Florida.  Coach Meyer has created what we like to call the Two-fer: two scholarships for the price of one.  This deal, allegedly only available to certain 5 star recruits and only on Two-For-Tuesdays, apparently may have been recently utilized in recruiting new junior college recruit Carl Moore and his girlfriend. 

In reports out today it is alleged that Pope Urban had illegal and almost daily contact with Moore's girlfriend and convinced the women's gymnastics coach to offer her a scholly to UF, which of course would ensure the Gators of landing Moore, the #1 rated JC propect of 2008. Sweet deal if you can get it.

In her Grammy Award winning song Alicia Keys sings about  love as she knows it: "I keep on falling, in and out, of love, with you.  How can you give me so much pleasure, and cause me so much pain."  It is very possible that she was writing about high school football recruits in the first line of the song and college football fans in the second line.

Speaking of line 2, we have a call on the line from Gainesville.  Line 2, go ahead your on Canespace!

Sub-Urban:  Hello, Canespace?  This is The Pope of Gainesville, Coach Urban up in Gator country.

CS:  Well this is certainly a surprise!  How can we help you today coach?

Sub-Urban: It's not how you can help me, it's how I can help you.  I heard that you were going to write something about my alleged unethical recruiting tactics here at UF.  Is that true?

CS: Yeah, it's sad, but it is true.  Around here they call you the legendary "Urban Liar", which replaced the most recent "Urban Cryer", as your moniker.  Some even call you "Sub-Urban" for your low and under-handed tactics.  Rumors are out that you are now recruiting for the Gators women's gymnastics team.  Another is that you don't always tell the truth to recruits and some want out.  Care to respond to those allegations?

SU:  I love women's gymnastics, plus I'm pretty good on the balance beam myself. And, the truth, while important to some people, is a relative concept, right?  I mean there are different shades of grey, and many versions of what the "truth" may actually be.  And, after telling so many lies the truth becomes hard to find sometimes, if you get my drift?

CS: No, not actually.  We have the TRUTH on our blog all the time and he is always honest and easy to find.  You should try it sometime, the truth that is, and posting on Canespace.  We will even teach you how to throw up the "U" with your hands if you can keep them out from under the table long enough.

SU: Listen here wiseguy, I'm warning you, if you write anything that isn't the truth about me you'll find yourself in big trouble young man.  My lawyers can beat up your lawyers.

CS: Uh coach, would you even know the truth if you saw it, or heard it, or it bit you where Tebow slaps you all the time?

SU: Hmmmm, good point, probably not. Listen gotta go, I got a big time Bull Gator booster on line 3. He's the one that offered the girlfriend of that new OL we just got, Patchips, Potchin, whatever his name is, a cushy no-work-for-high-pay job at his law firm.  We were all out of scholly's for the gym team so had to go to Plan B.  Did I mention that my lawyers can beat up your lawyers?

CS: Ah, yeah, you mentioned that.  Thanks for the chat coach and see you in September at The Swamp.  You better have your boys ready to rumble.  Can you say Mo Sikes?  GO CANES!

Well there you have it, straight from the gators mouth itself!  Tune in to Canespace tomorrow when we have a heart-to-heart chat with coach Bubba Bowden from Tallahassee.  That's if we can get him back from his Vacation at Bernie's and keep him awake long enough to talk to us...

Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

Happy Valley, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, Chapel Hill, Columbus, Baton Rouge, Tallahassee, Los Angeles, South Bend.

On February 6, 2008 highly recruited high school football players all across the country have will decide which university they love above all the rest.  Their decision will also determine where they will spend the next four years of their young lives.  When considering where recruits may find where true love really awaits them, here is what we found:

Our search for love begins in the sleepy little college town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama where the possible appearance of (Nick) Satan himself at the helm of this storied football program still has players flocking to the historic school where the fans yell: ROLL TIDE!  Selling your soul to the devil is apparently but a small price to pay for instant fame and potential NFL fortune.  Sympathy for the Devil is found here.

In idyllic Chapel Hill, North Carolina former honorable UM coach Butch Davis is said to have used a funeral visit intended to pay respects to the late, great Sean Taylor to swoop in and see some local 305 recruits.  He then allegedly tells them that Randy Shannon may be out of a job before they report to campus.  Nice, classy and ethical recruiting and just the way would expect in the heat of battle.

In beautiful Baton Rouge, Les "we always go the extra" Miles continues to reel them into bayou country contrary to previous verbal commits, which as we have learned, are as good as the soiled toilet paper they aren't written on. 

But hey, with word on the street that it took less than $100K to get a certain top 10 CB to wear the purple and gold instead of the orange and green, that's a bargain!  It's not like Reggie Bush money, right?  We can't wait to see Daddy tooling around in the new Escalade.  It is a sad day in recruiting when the standard crawfish boil and three cheerleader appetizer just will not do.

Join us next week as we visit the quaint yet unscrupulous towns of Gainesville, Columbus and the always interesting and ever changing Tallahassee, Florida.  We will address the now legendary Urban Liar and the guy in that cute little Sweater Vest. 

And in late breaking news, we hear there is a rumor that the head coach in Tallahassee has actually been sleep walking for years without anyone noticing. 

Of course that is just a silly, baseless rumor...

Let's See If They Finally Catch On

Last week Hurricane Head Coach Randy Shannon (aka The Boss) hired Pitt wide receiver coach and former Florida Gator player Aubrey Hill to coach wide receivers at the U.  Hill replaces Coach Mosely who was let go after consecutive seasons of well below average play by wide outs wearing orange and green.  In 2007, Canes WRs couldn't catch a cold in a classroom full of first graders.

Hill had a solid if not spectacular career as a Gator during the "Fun and Gun" days under the Ol' Ball Coach in Gainesville.  He later coached wide receivers at Duke for five years before moving on to Pitt to work under former Canes Defensive Coordinator and Dolphins Head Coach Dave "The Mustach" Wannstedt.  Hill received rave reviews as a coach and a resounding endorsement from The 'Stach for his work with the Panther receivers.  But it just may be his recruiting ability that really sold Shannon on bringing Coach Hill to Coral Gables. 

The Boss appears to be assembling his own all-star staff of recruiters to land the top talent all across the country.  Coach Shannon seems to be well aware of the need for having talent on the field to win games regardless of how great your coaches may be.  This was a lesson learned and a point made all too clear by the lack of talent the on the Canes roster in 2007.

With leading reciever Darnell Jenkins graduating, Hill will get to work with current Cane receviers Sam Shields, Kayne Farquharson, Ryan Hill, Daniel Adderly, Jermaine McKenzie and former St. Thomas High School star and Hurricane sophmore Leonard Hankerson.

The speedy Shields (4.3) is an emerging deep threat and was second in receptions in 2007.  Junior College transfer Kayne is hoping to have a breakthrough year as he enters his senior season, but only his second as a Cane.  Hankerson who only played sparingly as a true freshman, had his moments and should contribute significantly in 2008. Hill is looking to become a dependable go-to receiver while McKenzie is looking to get some playing time after redshirting in 2007 due to the car accident that also involved Robert Marve and Colin McCarthy.  Safety tip: Buckle up, it's the law! 

It has been rumored that Adderly is the most likely of the bunch to move to tight end due to his size and the crowd at wide reciever getting thick due to the 2008 recruiting class. 

Speaking of which, Coach Hill will also get his hands on a boat load of new talent coming to the Canes courtesy of the excellent recruiting class of 2008.  The talented gang from the 305 is lead by Aldarius Johnson and Kendall Thompkins from MNWHS and Thearon Collier and Davon Johnson from BTWHS. 

And don't forget about Travis Benjamin either.  Word on the street is the kid has mad skills, blazing speed and is elusive as can be.  He has already been penciled in by some as the Canes starting punt returner for 2008.

Coach Hill will have to drill Cane receivers old and new on learning Coach Nix's still relatively new offense, running precise routes and most importantly, on catching the ball with pointy ends.  His number one goal must be to elimnate the dropsies that have plagued Canes receivers in recent years. 

Let's hope with Hill's help they finally catch on.

U Are So Defensive

The University of Miami has a long and glorious history of outstanding defensive coaches and players.  When you take a long look back and look over the names of heroes past for the Canes defense it is easy to be overwhelmed by the number and quality of talented coaches and players that have graced the halls of the Hecht Athletic Center. 

Coaches such as Tom Olividotti, Dave Wannstedt, Butch Davis, Tommy Tuberville, Mark Stoops, Greg Mark, Greg Schiano and Randy Shannon.

Old school players like Ted Hendricks, Fred Marion, Lester Williams, Jay Brophy, Jim Burt, Burgess Owens, Jerome Brown, Bennie Blades, Warren Sapp, Maurice Crum, Russell Maryland, Randy Shannon, Cortez Kennedy, Ray Lewis, Danny Stubbs, Michael Barrow, Greg Mark, Darrin Smith, Mike Rumph, Jessie Armstead, Phillip Buchanon, Nate Webster, Ryan McNeil, Kenny Holmes and Kennard Lang.

New wave players such as Vince Wilfork, Jonathan Vilma, Ed Reed, Dan Morgan, Antrel Rolle, Jon Beason, Brandon Merriweather, William Joseph, Baraka Atkins, and Sean Taylor.  And even newbies like Kenny Phillips and Calais Campbell who are certain first round NFL picks in 2008. 

All of these defensive players who wore the orange and green and played at the Orange Bowl, home of 58 Straight victories and too many glorious games and moments to name here, will forever live in Hurricane legend and lore.  They had names and nicknames like The Mad Stork, Tiger, Big Daddy, Bam Bam, Superman, Flash and the Bermuda Triangle.

Now suddenly, after weeks of no news at all, and fresh off his trek deep into Kansas to snatch up coveted LB Aurthur Brown, Randy Shannon has hired Kansas defensive coordinator Bill "Forever" Young.  Young, who will leave behind the Jayhawks players, Coach Mangino and the cold, grey town of Lawrence, Kansas agreed on Thursday to coach the Canes defense in 2008. 

In interviews following his decision, Bill and his wife Lawana Young stated they wanted a challenge and a change of scenery.  Both of these will be offered in bunches by the small, private university located in warm, sunny Coral Gables known affectionately as The U.  Now, Forever Young (or Mr. Bill, we haven't decided which one will stick yet) will have to get busy fixing a defense that simply was offensive to watch in many games last year.  Giving up 51 points to the Sooners in Norman?  Ugly.  Down 27-0 against UNC at the half?  Disheartening.  Losing 48-0 to Virginia in the final game at the Orange Bowl?  Mind numbing. 

Coach Young replaces coach "Timmy" Walton who was dismissed from his duties by The Boss after a disastrous 2007 campaign.  Walton, as many of you know, has landed in Memphis and will coach the Tigers defense in 2008.  Young will take over Walton's former players and the star studded recruiting class of 2008. 

That class, which consists of about 123 linebackers, a DL or two and a maybe couple of defensive backs, was landed by Shannon, Hurtt, Barrow and company in an effort to infuse talent into the Canes defense. 

Young's job will be to try to shape these players back into the intimidating defense that was once respected and feared by opponents, sometimes by their mere presence, and often before they even hit the field.  So let's take a look at the 411 on Mr. Bill and his background of accomplishments and achievements...

Bill Young, is a 38-year coaching veteran with 20 seasons as a defensive coordinator.  He spent five seasons as defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Kansas. Young joined the Kansas staff in December 2002 after serving as defensive line coach with the Detroit Lions in 2001.

The 2006 season was another banner year for the Jayhawk defense under Young's guidance. The unit finished third in the Big 12 and 28th in the nation in rushing defense (109.0 yards per game), as it held four opponents to under 70 yards of rushing and limited all opponents to a fourth-down conversion rate of less than 25 percent.

In 2005, Young oversaw the development of a defense which finished the season as the top run-stopping unit in the Big 12 and eighth among all NCAA I teams. In nine of KU's 12 games during the 2005 season, the opposition's run-game failed to collect 100 yards rushing as a team.

After KU's win over Missouri on Oct. 29, Young was awarded the Master Coaches Survey game ball and was named Coordinator of the Week by Rivals.com.

In 2004, Young directed a much-improved defense that led the Big 12 with 27 takeaways, including a league-best 19 interceptions. Cornerback Charles Gordon, in his first full season under Young's tutelage, tied for the national lead with seven picks. In addition, the defense allowed an average of 117.6 rushing yards per game -- the third-best single-season average in school history at the time and the lowest since 1961. The biggest improvement in the overall defense occurred on third downs, as the opposition converted just 29.9 percent of its chances -- only two Big 12 teams in 2004 were more effective at forcing fourth down.

Prior to his stint in the NFL, Young worked three seasons as defensive coordinator at Southern California. While at USC in 1999, his defense led the nation in total takeaways and topped the conference in rushing defense and turnover margin (third nationally). His USC defense in 1998 was number one in the Pac-10 in total defense, pass efficiency defense (third nationally) and scoring defense. It was also ranked second in the country in forced turnovers.

Mr. Bill will have talent to work with at the U that he only dreamed of in Kansas.  And, the competition his defense will face will be tougher at Miami than at KU.  If it is in Randy we trust (and we do), then it is Coach Young that we will support and count on to restore the once proud tradition of Hurricane defense. 

Because everyone knows that we just love it when The U gets defensive. 

Have Faith in Haith

This article submitted by UM student and Canespace blogger RT6...

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When U think about school spirit at the University of Miami, the first thought that obviously comes to mind is football.  With five football national championships in our beloved Canes' trophy case and an immeasurable amount of former UM players in the NFL it is easy to understand how students, alumni and fans of the U obviously have reasons to be in the football spirit year round.  NFLU still dominates the news and the headlines.

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After football season ends, some students just shut down their fanaticism until it picks back up for the spring game.  That needs to change.  There are some of us who bleed orange and green year round no matter the weather, the particular sport or the particular teams record. Those few students who happen to follow our beloved Canes year round, through good times and bad, seem to be growing in numbers, and effort and enthusiasm.  The momentum appears unstoppable. 

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The recent success of our basketball team, which in case U weren't paying attention to has started the 2008 season with a 14-2 record,  has added to the great tradition the Canes have established with multiple national championships in baseball and football.  Jim Morris and the Canes are poised for another run at another National title in 2008.

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Just as there was a West End Zone Crew once in the Beautiful Old Lady, there is now a developing clique in the Bank United Center.  Starting with the students, and hopefully a group which will one day include others who love the Hurricanes, we are starting to build a fan base for UM basketball that will rival those fans at football games. 

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I am, of course, referring to a small but growing legion known as "Haith's Faithful".  Essentially, Coach Haith's Faithful is a group of students who have promised to attend any UM home basketball game that they can conceivably get to.  Hard core Cane fanatics intent on causing havoc and chaos on the court.

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If this idea could possibly grow to include season ticket holders and general admission fans, the BUC would start looking like Cameron Indoor Stadium. And if U thought home field advantage was important for football, it is safe to say that home court  es mas importante for basketball! 

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So join us won't you at the BUC for Canes basketball.  It could be the best thing you have done in a long, long time!