'Crootin 2013

Hello All,

In the lead-up to National Signing Day, it is often easy to get caught up in a panic.

I have been prone to it myself over the years that I have followed recruiting, which goes back to when I was about 10.

After all, these kids are the future of your program. Without talent, no program can win. So when a highly touted prospect eludes the net your school has cast, it sucks.

Miami fans are pretty damned good at panicking. It is a strength of ours, some might say. This is a fan base that values the immediate gratification of a win above anything else (no judgement, that is just how it is), and that comes to recruiting too. Previous accomplishments mean little, at least to the vocal minority.

Yesterday, an high school senior named Denver Kirkland had his scholarship offer "pulled" by the University of Miami coaching staff.

This lead to a full fledged meltdown amongst the message boarders.

You see, Kirkland had been a Miami target for about 2 years. He goes to the "feeder program" that is Booker T. Washington High School.

SIDENOTE: Next year I should make a recruiting glossary of terms. It would be the most unintentionally funny document since that one time when Pakistan drafted election rules.

In addition to going to this program, Kirkland happens to be teammates with several other highly touted prospects, both in this year's class and the classes to follow (Matthew Thomas, Chad Thomas, Treon Harris and Nigel Patten are their names). He is coached by Tim "Ice" Harris, a local high school coaching legend and former Miami staff member under Randy Shannon.

Now, let's get this out of the way: Kirkland is a great prospect. He is rated as a "four star" player. I have been excited about him for a year. He has the size to play tackle, although personally I think he profiles best as an athletic guard that can lead sweeps and run down linebackers. It was not good to see him get "dropped" from the class, especially when most people had been projecting him as a lock on signing day. He has All Conference potential wherever he ends up, and I wish it was with Miami.

Now, here is where the problems start: since about 9PM last night, Coach Harris has gone on the war path against Miami.

You see, according to his coach, Kirkland's dream was to play at Miami and Coach Al Golden has now snatched it away from him at the last second. In the same interview, Harris also says that Miami assistant Michael Barrow (a close friend of Harris, by the way) asked Kirkland if he was ready to commit. Kirkland's response was "you're in my final three."

Now, call me crazy, but that doesn't sound like what I would say to someone from my dream school.

IF the same quesiton were posed to me less than a week before signing day, I would probably respond with some version of:

"Of course I am ready to commit, SIR. I have always wanted to be a 'Cane, SIR. All of this other stuff is just for show, SIR. I will 100% be there, you have my word, SIR. I would like to keep that between us for now so that I can still surprise my classmates with my decision next week, SIR. Can't wait to see you in the fall, SIR."

The reality is this: Barrow, Mario Cristobal and James Coley are probably the three best recruiters of South Florida in the entire country, and they are all on Golden's staff. Golden is a master marketer and communicator. This has been a PR nightmare in the local high school scene for the University of Miami. So why would the coaches do such a thing? Why would they make a move that they KNEW was going to create a PR nightmare, possibly cost them their top remaining target (Matthew Thomas) in this class and several in the next, and piss off a local coaching legend that has ties to every high school in the county?

Those are good questions. The problem is that we will never know the answers, because by NCAA rule, coaches are not allowed to comment on recruiting publicly.

So Denver Kirkland and Ice Harris are allowed to drag the university through the mud, and the university is never allowed to fight back. This is recruiting in 2013, ladies and gentlemen...'crootin.

We will never know what went on behind those doors. But the outcry from fans of the Hurricanes and fans of anyone but the Hurricanes has raised a few issues that quite frankly need to be talked about.

• We have an accountability issue in this country. It is seen in people defaulting on the sub-prime mortgages they couldn't afford in the first place. It is seen in our country continually raising our debt ceiling. And it is see most predominantly in the youths of this country. In older times, an offer of a free education at an elite university with an elite football program was considered GOLD to a kid from Miami. Now, kids and their coaches act like it is their birthright. NEWSFLASH: it isn't. "Dream School" is something that, when said about the University of Miami, is supposed to mean "you're the only one I am listening to." "Dream School" does not mean "1 of the 3 hats I will have on the table on signing day." When you play games with people, eventually you get burned. For years now, we have allowed these high school "stars" to become self entitled monsters. It is just as much our fault as theirs. 17 and 18 year old kids are idiots. I was, you were and they are. Period. They like attention, and the more you give them the more they want. We tune in to the press conferences they pull up to in stretch Hummer limos. We watch them pick a hat off the podium, throw it on the ground and pick up another one. We have let this recruiting process become Barnum and Bailey's, and for that we should all be ashamed (just don' take away my crack message boards). This was, ostensibly, a coaching staff refusing to be used as part of one kid's game. They offered Kirkland a chance to commit to his "Dream School." He passed, and they moved on. That is life. When you go in to your boss' office with an offer from another company and ask for a raise, you better be willing to take the other offer if they say "no." We all learn this lesson eventually. Unfortunately, Kirkland learned it now. Even more unfortunately, he will not be held accountable by anyone. Instead, the blame will be deflected on to Al Golden and the University of Miami and everyone BUT Denver Kirkland. One day, Denver Kirkland will take out a mortgage. Here is to hoping that by then he has figured out that he is the one responsible for paying it.
• Everyone acts, and should act, in their own best interest. This goes for coaches and players. I hate that coaches are allowed to leave schools whenever they want but players have to sit out a year due to transfer rules, and even then are only allowed to after their current school restricts their options. Similarly, I don't like that if a high schooler wants to string a coach along and that coach then decides it isn't worth it, the coach gets dragged through the mud with his hands behind his back. The bottom line is this: Miami has a certain number of scholarships it is allowed to give out. Clearly there were more patrons than there were beds at the inn. Sometimes you have to make a business call. If someone else truly wants Kirkland's spot, and has told the coaches that they are in, the only play they have is to say "We have a prior obligation, give us X hours and we will tell you if we have room." They then should go to their prior obligation (in this case Kirkland) and inform him of the developing situation. From what we know, Kirkland was given this option and chose not to take it. If the coaches had waited until signing day, one of two things would have happened. Either A.) Kirkland decides not to come and there is now no one to fill the class or B.) Kirkland does come and someone has to be told, at the last minute, to find another plan. Just like Kirkland was acting in his own best interest to try and create buzz around his announcement next week, Miami was acting in their own best interest to try and sign the best group of players possible.
• The notion that Miami is not protecting its territory is, frankly, a joke. South Florida kids have become the biggest divas in the nation, and they all want "their moment." That is because since the rise of The U, every major program, and most of the non-major ones, spend their time telling all of these kids how awesome they are. They get recruited by everyone. That is what you deal with as the Miami coach. That is why when Miami coaches succeed they go to the NFL...there, their word is law, and they don't have to deal with high school coaches and the whims of 17 year old kids anymore.
  
  Right now Miami has 2 public commitments from South Florida: Jamal Carter and Artie Burns. In the Tri County area, there were about a dozen players worthy of an offer from the Big 3 this year: Carter, Burns, Thomas, Kirkland, Rashard Robinson, Stacey Coley, Jermaine Grace, Eddie Jackson, Alex Collins, Keith Bryant, Jordan Cunningham, Mackensie Alexander, Joey Bosa and maybe a few others. Carter and Burns are 'Canes. Jackson and Robinson are committed to Alabama and LSU, respectively, and are both considered HUGE grade risks that most likely will have to go to prep school, at which time Miami will resume recruiting both. Bosa never was interested and is going to Ohio State. Alexander has had a weird recruitment and a lot of people consider him a total head case. Cunningham wants to be a 'Cane, but given our numbers at his position (WR) and our standing with Coley (the state's top WR) the staff has decided, ostensibly, to not offer him. All the others are waiting until signing day because they want "their moment." Recruiting "insiders" who know more about this than I do feel good about Miami's chances for all of them. That is what having Golden, Barrow, Coley and Cristobal on your staff does...it gives you the ability to weather storms. I don't know how this plays out, but I would say coming off a 7-5 season and the cloud of the NCAA, 8/13 in the nation's elite recruiting ground would be pretty effing good. Shit, even 6/13 would be pretty good given outside circumstances. It isn't ideal, but neither is 7-5 and an NCAA investigation.

So the central point of all this is to say the following:  this is 'Crootin 2013. It sucks to lose a top recruit, and to deal with the shit storm after, especially when you don't know the full story. But that's just it: we don't know the full story. There are 8 million factors at play with every one of these kids, nowhere more so than in the city of Miami. Al Golden has proven in 2 years on the job that he is far better at dealing with people than Randy Shannon (bless his heart) ever was. He has also proved to be a better roster manager. There is always a third side to the story. We just are not privy to it. And so I say, instead of panicking, we just think about everything I said above, and try to remember that we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Our much more qualified, very intelligent coaching staff sees the rest.

And once more, for those who have forgotten: Miami's highest ever rated classes were 2003 and 2004. Miami did not win a National Title in 2007 or 2008. They were the wrong types of kids and they didn't have the leader to morph them in to the right types of kids. The second part of this has been solved, in my eyes. It is his responsibility to not allow the first part to ever happen again.

It is a lesson worth learning.

Always guard the inbound passer.