I don’t remember Jimmy ever being considered a bad game day coach. Although I was too young to really pay attention during his first season at Miami. I don’t think you can have the NFL success he had being a bad game day coach.
OK, so I started school in August 1986. Remember, I went to school with LeBatard and a few other guys who went on to pro sports journalism careers.
1984:
We obviously were the defending national champs in 1984. JJ opened strong with a neutral site win over #1 Auburn (but only by 2 points) and #17 Florida in Tampa (overrated as always, but only by 12 points).
We were now the #1 team in the country, and promptly lost at #14 Michigan and at home to #15 F$U. In between, we beat Purdue. For the rest of the year, we only beat one ranked team, Notre Dame, and we all know how bad (and overrated) those Gerry Faust teams were.
And then, disaster. Last 3 games of 1984 were...
---The all-time greatest comeback (from a points-deficit standpoint) when Maryland beat us 42-40 in our home stadium...
---The all-time most-played comeback (from a one-play standpoint) when #10 Boston College beat us with the Hail Flutie 47-45 in our home stadium...
---The 39-37 loss in the first of several Fiasco Bowls, this time to #14 UCLA...
So we beat 3 ranked teams (two at neutal sites) and lost to four ranked teams, plus the collapse against Maryland. Five losses for a defending national champ.
1985:
We lost the first game of the year to #5 Florida at home. We did not have a strong schedule in 1985, only playing two ranked teams the rest of the regular season. And those were good games, beating #3 Oklahoma in Norman and #10 F$U in Talla-*******-hassee.
But then we got destroyed by #8 Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl.
1986:
I can tell you, for a fact, that the local Miami press (as well as a solid chunk of the student body) were saying that JJ was not a great gameday coach when I enrolled at UM in 1986. We were 5-6 against ranked teams. We were 0-2 in bowl games. We had STARTED the OB winning streak, but nobody knew it yet.
For 1986, we were in the Top 3 all season. But this was the season of the infamous Sports Illustrated cover that credited our ranking to playing a terrible schedule. In fairness, SI might have had a point. We only beat state-rivals #13 (and always overrated) Florida by 8 in Hogtown and #20 F$U by 18 in Talla-*******-hassee. Of course, there was that majestic 12 point win over (then) #1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, when we had a Brian Bosworth effigy hanging from the upper deck.
BUT. Then came Fiasco Bowl #2, where Pedo State and Pedophile Jerry Sandusky beat us 14-10.
1987:
So now JJ was 8-7 against ranked teams and 0-3 in the bowl games. After inheriting the defending national champions.
Yes, JJ was absolutely tagged with the "can't win the big game, not a good gameday coach" label. Why do you think he was SOOOOO ecssatic to win the Orange Bowl at the end of the 1987 season? ****, even after coming within 13 yards of being national champs, we opened 1987 as the #10 team.
All of that is exactly how it happened. Constant media criticism of JJ for his coaching. For nearly four years, he was consistently predicted to fall short when it mattered the most. And JJ couldn't even rely on the "but he's a great recruiter" reputation, since we didn't have ranking systems back then.
