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Who found Golden?
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I think it was 300 pages
CanesAreAble
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The Godfather aka Pete Garcia.
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CaneSuger
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The search team was Hocutt, Bernie Kosar, and Paul DiMare
By Jorge Milian
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
CORAL GABLES — Sitting on Kirby Hocutt's desk in his University of Miami office is a 300-page, four-pound binder with the title Deserve Victory.
The tome's author? Al Golden, who was introduced Monday evening as the Hurricanes' new football coach.
Golden gave Hocutt, UM's athletic director, the book during a two-hour meeting last Monday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Hocutt interviewed several other candidates over the course of two days in the Big Apple, but none had the impact of Golden, who in the past five seasons transformed Temple's downtrodden program into a winner.
"I walked out of there thinking, 'This is the guy. He's got it,' " Hocutt said.
Hocutt admitted on Monday that he had only read parts of the book, which details Golden's vision for turning Miami from an Atlantic Coast Conference also-ran into a national championship contender. Skimming through the pages, Hocutt said he was won over by Golden's attention to detail.
"Al had gone the extra mile," Hocutt said. "He came in with a game plan. He had a drive and desire and hunger for this job."
Before their meeting last week, Hocutt said he barely knew Golden. Hocutt was Ohio University's athletic director during Golden's first three seasons at Temple, but the men had never met despite both schools playing in the Mid-American Conference.
Golden, 41, may not have even gotten a sniff from UM if not for Jim Leavitt, the former South Florida coach. Leavitt was Kansas State's linebackers coach while Hocutt was an all-Big 8 linebacker for the Wildcats.
"You've got to talk with this guy," Leavitt told Hocutt.
Talk they did. After the New York meeting, Hocutt visited Golden at his home in Philadelphia where the men spent most of one day together. They spoke on a daily basis by phone until Hocutt offered Golden the position on Saturday.
"It's a dream job,' Golden said on Monday during a packed news conference on campus. "I'm the luckiest coach in America today."
According to a university source, around 40 coaches expressed interest in the job. Several spoke with Hocutt, including Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, Connecticut's Randy Edsall and Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville.
One person who was never a contender for the job, according to Hocutt, was Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach turned ESPN broadcaster. Hocutt said he spoke with Gruden at his home in Tampa on Dec. 1, but insists Gruden was merely serving as a "consultant" in UM's search.
Hocutt scoffed at published reports that Gruden was on the verge of becoming the Hurricanes' coach.
"He's a big fan of the Hurricanes," Hocutt said. "He wanted to help and I thought he would be a great resource in our search."
While Gruden was never a serious candidate, Hocutt lamented that the rumors connecting the Super Bowl-winning coach to the Miami job "raised the level of expectations" of fans.
Mullen was also rumored headed to Miami, but he was ruled out after UM's search team - Hocutt, former UM quarterback Bernie Kosar and Paul DiMare, the chairman of the athletic advisory committee to the board of trustees - left New York.
Tuberville, Edsall, Houston's Kevin Sumlin and Marc Trestman, coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes, all drew interest. But Golden was the only person offered the job.
"I saw a guy who had a game plan, exuded confidence and had a hunger to be successful," Hocutt said. "He accomplished tremendous things in arguably the most difficult job in America."
Golden, who signed a five-year contract worth around $2 million per season according to the Associated Press, took over a Temple program in 2006 that was regarded among the very worst in college football. In 2001, the Owls were kicked out of the Big East Conference because the team wasn't competitive.
By 2009, Golden had turned around Temple's fortunes. The Owls finished 9-4 and earned their first bowl berth in 30 years. Temple was 8-4 this season but was not invited to a bowl.
Golden's hiring drew mostly applause from UM alums, including former linebacker Dan Morgan. He was publicly critical of former coach Randy Shannon, who was fired Nov. 27.
"You look at what he did at Temple - that program wasn't down and out, it was never alive," Morgan said. "And he put some life into them. You have to be a pretty good coach to go there and get nine wins."
But not every ex-Cane was won over by the hire, including Warren Sapp.
After Golden was named to the job Sunday, Sapp wrote on his Twitter account: "Who The **** is Al Golden. And How U Fix The Greatest Program in America Coming from 1 of the Worst Program ever. Somebody Help Me. I'm On a Bridge. Talk Me Down Please!"
Hocutt preached patience, saying that fans will eventually see in Golden what he saw.
"I've prepared my entire career to be in this position and to make the right decision," Hocutt said. "It's my career that's impacted by this decision. I'm 100 percent confident that we made the right decision."
By Jorge Milian
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
CORAL GABLES — Sitting on Kirby Hocutt's desk in his University of Miami office is a 300-page, four-pound binder with the title Deserve Victory.
The tome's author? Al Golden, who was introduced Monday evening as the Hurricanes' new football coach.
Golden gave Hocutt, UM's athletic director, the book during a two-hour meeting last Monday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Hocutt interviewed several other candidates over the course of two days in the Big Apple, but none had the impact of Golden, who in the past five seasons transformed Temple's downtrodden program into a winner.
"I walked out of there thinking, 'This is the guy. He's got it,' " Hocutt said.
Hocutt admitted on Monday that he had only read parts of the book, which details Golden's vision for turning Miami from an Atlantic Coast Conference also-ran into a national championship contender. Skimming through the pages, Hocutt said he was won over by Golden's attention to detail.
"Al had gone the extra mile," Hocutt said. "He came in with a game plan. He had a drive and desire and hunger for this job."
Before their meeting last week, Hocutt said he barely knew Golden. Hocutt was Ohio University's athletic director during Golden's first three seasons at Temple, but the men had never met despite both schools playing in the Mid-American Conference.
Golden, 41, may not have even gotten a sniff from UM if not for Jim Leavitt, the former South Florida coach. Leavitt was Kansas State's linebackers coach while Hocutt was an all-Big 8 linebacker for the Wildcats.
"You've got to talk with this guy," Leavitt told Hocutt.
Talk they did. After the New York meeting, Hocutt visited Golden at his home in Philadelphia where the men spent most of one day together. They spoke on a daily basis by phone until Hocutt offered Golden the position on Saturday.
"It's a dream job,' Golden said on Monday during a packed news conference on campus. "I'm the luckiest coach in America today."
According to a university source, around 40 coaches expressed interest in the job. Several spoke with Hocutt, including Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, Connecticut's Randy Edsall and Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville.
One person who was never a contender for the job, according to Hocutt, was Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach turned ESPN broadcaster. Hocutt said he spoke with Gruden at his home in Tampa on Dec. 1, but insists Gruden was merely serving as a "consultant" in UM's search.
Hocutt scoffed at published reports that Gruden was on the verge of becoming the Hurricanes' coach.
"He's a big fan of the Hurricanes," Hocutt said. "He wanted to help and I thought he would be a great resource in our search."
While Gruden was never a serious candidate, Hocutt lamented that the rumors connecting the Super Bowl-winning coach to the Miami job "raised the level of expectations" of fans.
Mullen was also rumored headed to Miami, but he was ruled out after UM's search team - Hocutt, former UM quarterback Bernie Kosar and Paul DiMare, the chairman of the athletic advisory committee to the board of trustees - left New York.
Tuberville, Edsall, Houston's Kevin Sumlin and Marc Trestman, coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes, all drew interest. But Golden was the only person offered the job.
"I saw a guy who had a game plan, exuded confidence and had a hunger to be successful," Hocutt said. "He accomplished tremendous things in arguably the most difficult job in America."
Golden, who signed a five-year contract worth around $2 million per season according to the Associated Press, took over a Temple program in 2006 that was regarded among the very worst in college football. In 2001, the Owls were kicked out of the Big East Conference because the team wasn't competitive.
By 2009, Golden had turned around Temple's fortunes. The Owls finished 9-4 and earned their first bowl berth in 30 years. Temple was 8-4 this season but was not invited to a bowl.
Golden's hiring drew mostly applause from UM alums, including former linebacker Dan Morgan. He was publicly critical of former coach Randy Shannon, who was fired Nov. 27.
"You look at what he did at Temple - that program wasn't down and out, it was never alive," Morgan said. "And he put some life into them. You have to be a pretty good coach to go there and get nine wins."
But not every ex-Cane was won over by the hire, including Warren Sapp.
After Golden was named to the job Sunday, Sapp wrote on his Twitter account: "Who The **** is Al Golden. And How U Fix The Greatest Program in America Coming from 1 of the Worst Program ever. Somebody Help Me. I'm On a Bridge. Talk Me Down Please!"
Hocutt preached patience, saying that fans will eventually see in Golden what he saw.
"I've prepared my entire career to be in this position and to make the right decision," Hocutt said. "It's my career that's impacted by this decision. I'm 100 percent confident that we made the right decision."
zone3cane
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We didn't find Golden.... he found us. Golden wasn't even mentioned as a possible hire, until he walked into Hocutts office and sold him... Hocutt probably started crying after the interview.
Howard Schnellenburger + Jimmy Johnson = Al Golden
bigcountry61
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Pete Ariz aka French Montana
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SigEp77
I love scotch.
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Except none of what you described actually happened.
Sounds like Jim Leavitt helped make this come together.
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zone3cane
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1. Let's not get personal, it's to easy, ok.
2. I was mostly jokin... but Hocutt did say he was impressed at how organized and well thought Golden's plan was for rebuilding Miami.
3. re-read #1.
SigEp77
I love scotch.
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Where was I personal? Just pointing out your post was not factual.
CaneSuger
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Yeah, I wonder why Leavitt would help Miami? And why were we talking with him in the first place? Sounds like there's more to that story that we'll never know.
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Chicken_N_Roffles
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Thank god nobody listened to Bernie's drunk ***. We would have gotten stuck with the pedo looking Trestman.
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