"Man, that Ken Dorsey was a helluva quarterback, wasn't he? I miss him."
Now that Joe Torre has been given a reprieve and will be allowed at least one more year to lead the Yankees to yet another disappointing playoff collapse (thank you, Steinbrenner), I can't imagine a coach sitting on a seat hotter than that currently occupied by Miami coach Larry Coker. Not even the women of South Beach are so hot. As if the the Hurricanes' slow but sure descent from national champs to mediocrity under Coker wasn't enough, Saturday's on-field brawl with Florida International should be the final nail in the coffin of Coker's tenure.
Things have sunk low when Miami is brawling with freakin' Florida International, of all teams. Florida International? Who the hell is Florida International?
It's sad, really, because Coker seems like a genuinely good guy, a guy who honestly meant every word he said when he vowed to clean up the Miami program. But the truth is that he, simply, isn't a very good coach. He was lucky enough to take over a team built entirely by Butch Davis and win a national title in his first season. And, no, I don't want to take credit away from him for that title. He won it. Fair play to him. But all the pieces were already in place and he was able to stand back just enough to watch all those pieces function perfectly for one season. Your job can't be all that hard when you have the likes of Clinton Portis, Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey and Bryant McKinnie biding their time in the orange and green jersey until heading off to the NFL.
Since then? Miami has declined steadily and, undoubtedly, that decline will not be allowed to continue beyond this season.
By the way, check out the TV commentary of the brawl by Lamar Thomas, a former 'Cane himself. He's cheering it all on and urging the players to continue it after the game, which is amazingly stupid considering half of the Miami roster is probably armed. Talk about a dimwitted yahoo. Hysterical and ridiculous all at the same time. It's no wonder the Hurricanes can never shed their reputation for being thugs when such an attitude permeates all the way from the locker room to the television booth. I mean, someone hired this guy and gave him a mic? Sheesh.
Is this the same Lamar Thomas who, while a player at Miami, was indicted?
Thomas and Marucci were indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining Federal financial aid. The players could very likely have avoided charges by accepting an offer from the office to enter the pretrial program but missed the deadline for responding.
If so, how did he even get his TV gig in the first place?
