The Miami football team’s 35-3 loss against Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl turned out to be Mark Richt’s last game as Head Coach. Richt announced his shocking retirement from coaching on Sunday.
Richt’s loss to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl was the fourth in a row by a Miami Football Coach in his last game coaching the Hurricanes.
Al Golden lost his final game in 2015, 58-0 to Clemson and then was fired the day after, seven games into the season. Randy Shannon was fired following a 7-6, 2010 season and a 33-17 loss to Notre Dame in the final game of that season.
If you include Bowl losses by Shannon’s interim Head Coach Jeff Stoutman and Golden’s successor as the Interim Head Coach, Larry Scott, both in the Sun Bowl, that is five consecutive coaches that lost their last game leading the Hurricanes.
Coker won his final game as the Miami Football Coach in 2006, 21-20 over Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise. The win gave Miami a 7-6 record to finish with winning records in each of Coker’s six seasons as the Head Coach.
Miami has fallen a long way since four consecutive Head Coaches left the Hurricanes to take professional Head Coaching jobs. Three of those left for NFL Jobs.
Howard Schnellenberger left Miami following the Hurricanes first National Championship in 1983. Schnellenberger left for the Head Coaching Job of the Miami team in the USFL that never came to fruition.
Schnellenberger was replaced by Jimmy Johnson who came to Miami from Oklahoma State. Johnson led the Hurricanes to a National Championship in his fourth season.
After going 8-5 in his first year in 1984, Miami was 44-4 in Johnson’s final four seasons before he left to accept the Heading Coaching position with the Dallas Cowboys.
Johnson rebuilt the Cowboys and eventually became the first Head Coach to win a National Championship and a Super Bowl. He won two with Dallas before being ousted there.
Johnson was replaced by Dennis Erickson who came from Washington State. In Erickson’s first season with Miami, the Hurricanes went 11-1 and won the National Championship.
The Hurricanes won another National Championship under Erickson in 1991 when they went 12-0. Erickson is one of four Miami National Championship Head Coaches and the only one to win two titles.
Erickson left Miami after the 1994 season to take the Head Coaching job with the Seattle Seahawks. The Hurricanes lost their final game with Erickson as the Head Coach after nearly upsetting Nebraska in the Orange Bowl game.
Miami Hurricanes Football
Butch Davis replaced Erickson and had to deal with the fallout over the Pell Grant Scandal. Davis went 51-20 in his six seasons with Miami. He led Miami to a victory in the 2001 Sugar Bowl over Florida before accepting the job with the Cleveland Browns.
Yahoo Sports College Football writer Pat Forde called Miami’s hiring of Schnellenberger, Johnson, Erickson, Davis home runs hires and the last four hires the Golden Sombrero of four straight strikeouts.
Miami isn’t the job it once was made by the four coaches listed above who led the Hurricanes to prominence. The beauty of South Florida, the hundreds of recruits in their backyard and playing in one of the premier football stadiums in the country continue to make Miami a destination to play college football.
Hiring Manny Diaz to replace Mark Richt might not be a home run hire but he’s at the very least a base hit. He can work on developing his power stroke and become a home run hitter. This is Diaz’s first chance to be a Head Coach and he gets to do it in his dream job.
Add to that Diaz, who is a Florida State Alum will coach his first game as a Head Coach at Miami against Florida and it’s almost too good to be true. Diaz should be successful enough at Miami to have a 30 for 30 the U III produced by his former employer, ESPN.