I’m not ready to lump Coach Golden with Shannon and Coker, at least not yet. He works too hard and is too smart.
But the reality is that the results have been the same. We are an annual embarrassment. There remain fundamental problems that Golden needs to overcome if he is going to succeed. Sorry about the length. But there are a lot of issues.
In my opinion, there is one issue that trumps them all: Coach Golden has not adapted his Northeastern mentality to a South Florida program. He is a New Jersey guy who coached at Penn State, Boston College, Virginia and Temple. His professional idols are Bill Parcells, Al Groh and Tom Coughlin. He is as pure of a Northeast guy as it gets.
This manifests itself in three ways. First, it affects the scheme he runs. This has been covered ad nasueum by others with much more technical knowledge. But, at bottom, this scheme is about strength and discipline and our talent pool is about athleticism and playmaking. It doesn't fit, and the results have been historically bad.
Second, his background affects his talent evaluation. I don’t believe that Golden fully understands South Florida talent. If you want to learn about Golden’s evaluation principles, look at the guys he offers from his camp. These are less-heralded guys that he sees up close. What have the camps given us? Dwayne Hoillett, Larry Hope, Vernon Davis, Jake O’Donnell and Hunter Knighton. Not one contributor in the group.
Third, the Northeastern mentality affects the way he deals with the athletes. He works these kids hard, which is a good thing. JJ and Schnellenberger worked their kids hard. The UTough program is an unquestioned improvement. But the volume of team-building, community service and Deserve Victory activities is starting to wear on guys. From everything I've heard, this was a tired and unhappy team at the end of the year. South Florida kids are a unique breed. They don’t lack for work ethic or toughness, which is why they succeed in the NFL. But you can’t treat them the same way you treat Penn State players.
Coach Coley understands South Florida talent, but that's not enough. Those guys still need to be coached. Stephen Morris played much better under Jedd Fisch. That's obvious. And although I appreciate Coley’s commitment to a power run game, the execution has been poor. Eduardo Clements is the team’s best short-yardage runner, but we kept giving those carries to Gus Edwards. Even my wife began to key on the personnel groupings—Malcolm Lewis may as well have run on the field with a leather helmet. I like Coach Coley and think he has a bright future, but he still has a lot to prove.
As for Coach D’Onofrio, this board has covered it pretty well. One thing sticks out, though, and it relates to my first point about Coach Golden. South Florida is a linebacker paradise. You could sustain two NFL teams with local linebackers. But in year three, Coach D is still relying on Jimmy Gaines and Tyrone Cornelius. We cooled on James Burgess. Now he's putting our running backs in body bags. Skai Moore was an obvious stud to everyone except the people that matter. These are just two examples. Like Parcells said, you are what your record says you are. Three years in, Coach D's record speaks for itself.
The optimist in me says Golden is smart enough to adapt. The pessimist in me says "you are what you are," especially when you write a 300-page book about your core values. The decisions he makes in the next few months will speak volumes.
