Miami fires OC

[Dog in the Know]

only took two seasons for Randy Shannon to realize it wasnt working. Five years later Croom still would have kept our offense sputtering along.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP)-Patrick Nix was fired Monday after two seasons as Miami's offensive coordinator, the first of what could be plenty of significant changes to the Hurricanes this offseason.

Nix packed up his office Monday evening after a brief meeting with Miami coach Randy Shannon.

"It's time to part ways, but I really enjoyed my time here," Nix told The Associated Press as he and his family prepared to leave the football complex for the final time. "I loved these players to death. I loved these coaches to death. But in the long run, it's probably better that we make this change."

Miami was 7-6 this season and sputtered at times offensively, yet showed sporadic improvement in some areas during the second half of the year. Ultimately, it wasn't enough to keep Nix in place.

Nix said he and Shannon simply had different styles on how to best run an offense.

"I enjoyed it here. I appreciated Randy giving me the opportunity," Nix said. "I'd like to have gone with something more wide-open and more no-huddle. He and I had a philosophical difference on that."

Shannon released a statement announcing the dismissal, without revealing what went specifically into the decision.

"It is my obligation to review all aspects of the program and make decisions as to how we can improve as a football team," Shannon said.

Out of 119 teams in the major college football rankings, the Hurricanes are 89th in total offense this season at 326 yards per game, and 52nd in scoring offense at 27.1 points per outing. Both are improvements over last season, and both came with two freshmen who had never thrown a pass in a college game before this season under center-Robert Marve and Jacory Harris.

Harris will be the starting quarterback for Miami entering 2009, and it's unclear what Marve will do. Marve started 11 games, missing only the season opener and season finale because of separate one-game suspensions, and is believed to be considering a transfer. It's not clear what, if any, impact Nix's ouster will have in that decision.

"I have nothing but respect for Coach Nix," Marve told The AP last week.

Nix came to Miami after five seasons at Georgia Tech, three of those as offensive coordinator. When hiring Nix, Shannon said he liked him for one simple reason: Miami's defenses, which were led by Shannon at the time, always had some trouble facing a Nix offense.

"You always judge a coach on what they present," Shannon said in January 2007, when hiring Nix.

Many players are vacationing after Saturday's 24-17 loss in the Emerald Bowl to Cal.

It's possible that the last part of Shannon's decision to go in a different direction came in the final minutes of that game, when Miami struggled mightily while trying to run a 2-minute drill with hopes of tying the score.

"I fully realized the expectations when I came here, in the end, Coach Shannon and I just have a difference on how to run an offense," Nix said. "What I want to do is just not what he wants to do. God closed this door, God will open another one for me, and I have faith in that."

 

[Pony Express.sixpack]

Miami's administration...led by a Clinton Era feminist, abhord football and make sure the team has almost no money to work with. All the sports money goes to Title-Niners. Southern Miss and Memphis have better pay for football coaches than Miami.</p>

 

[thatsbaseball]

There is plenty of money in the ranks of the U`s alumni and supporters . Ms. Shalalalala may think she`s bigger than sports at the U but she ain`t.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

There is plenty of money in the ranks of the U`s alumni and supporters . Ms. Shalalalala may think she`s bigger than sports at the U but she ain`t.

She ain't much bigger than anything.

 

[graddawg]

You couldn't be more wrong about Shalala. If there's one thing she's understood about the University of Miami since she arrived in South Florida it is the importance of the football program to the alumni and their willingness to donate $$$ to all facets of the university. You can place much of Miami's athletic fiscal troubles at the feet of former AD Paul Dee, who was cut from the same penny-pinching cloth as LT. Shalala gave Dee her blessing to open the checkbook to hire Mike Leech 2 years ago but Dee demanded that some of the assistants stay on staff and Leech said the only way he would take the job was if he could bring all of his guys. It was then his decision to make the bargain basement hire in Shannon, who still might turn out to be a decent coach because of his recruiting but the jury is still out.

Shalala hired Miami's version of The Ninja in Kirby Hocutt to replace Dee. Hocutt is a young, energetic guy known for his fundraising and will make a huge difference at a place that has continually dropped the ball when it comes to possible revenue streams. Sound familiar?

 

[Pony Express.sixpack]

There is not much hope among the Miami Beat Writers that Miami can/will significantly upgrade from Nix due to Miami basically paying peanuts. The BC and Texas OC's have apparently brushed aside any Miami interest. If they change their remuneration policy this year, then you are correct and Miami can be good again. They can go back to the orange bowl instead of the humanitarian bowl.

Hocutt is new, so we shall see.

 

[Buford T. Justice]

Dog in the Know wrote:

Out of 119 teams in the major college football rankings, the Hurricanes are 89th in total offense this season at 326 yards per game, and 52nd in scoring offense at 27.1 points per outing.

Much better than Croom. Of course, you can find a wideout on every corner in Miami (Croom's quote after losing Pat Patterson).

 

[Todd4State]

that hookers could catch. I know you can catch something from hookers. Maybe Croom got confused.

 

[U8305]

You couldn't be more wrong about Shalala. If there's one thing she's understood about the University of Miami since she arrived in South Florida it is the importance of the football program to the alumni and their willingness to donate $$$ to all facets of the university. You can place much of Miami's athletic fiscal troubles at the feet of former AD Paul Dee, who was cut from the same penny-pinching cloth as LT. Shalala gave Dee her blessing to open the checkbook to hire Mike Leech 2 years ago but Dee demanded that some of the assistants stay on staff and Leech said the only way he would take the job was if he could bring all of his guys. It was then his decision to make the bargain basement hire in Shannon, who still might turn out to be a decent coach because of his recruiting but the jury is still out.

Shalala hired Miami's version of The Ninja in Kirby Hocutt to replace Dee. Hocutt is a young, energetic guy known for his fundraising and will make a huge difference at a place that has continually dropped the ball when it comes to possible revenue streams. Sound familiar?

Where did you get your info?
</p>

Reason I ask is I'm a Miami alum and what you said is the exact opposite of what she's about. Pony Express is more on target. Shalala was very involved with the coaching search and wanted Randy for a variety of reasons. Dee would not have made any hire without her approval, he was on the way out and even before that I felt he only did what she allowed him. </p>

Sorry if it feels I'm attacking you especially in my first post, but a lot of our fans fear she's trying to kill the football program (I wouldn't go that far ) and wish she should stay the 17 out of athletics and focus on fund raising for the school where she's done a spectacular job.
</p>

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

Where did you get your info?

Reason I ask is I'm a Miami alum and what you said is the exact opposite of what she's about. Pony Express is more on target. Shalala was very involved with the coaching search and wanted Randy for a variety of reasons. Dee would not have made any hire without her approval, he was on the way out and even before that I felt he only did what she allowed him.</p>

Sorry if it feels I'm attacking you especially in my first post, but a lot of our fans fear she's trying to kill the football program (I wouldn't go that far ) and wish she should stay the 17 out of athletics and focus on fund raising for the school where she's done a spectacular job.
</p>

No doubt building up the Womyn's Studies Department. Sha-La-La is the ultimate PC President. I could see her trashing the whole athletic department and emphasizing the Co-Ed hackey-sack intramural tournament.

 

[graddawg]

I get my info from conversations I've had with her one-on-one as well as being very close with a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

 

[U8305]

I get my info from conversations I've had with her one-on-one as well as being very close with a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Fair enough. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I find it very hard to believe she would pick Leach over Shannon and we ended up with Shannon considering 1. Dee was on the way out, so I doubt he had much say in the hire 2. She LOVES what Shannon is about and it will take a lot to fire him as long as she's in charge.