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Miami: For the Fans

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 30, 2001

MIAMI

2001 Schedule

SEPT. 1: at Penn St., 8

SEPT. 8: Rutgers, TBA

SEPT. 15: Washington, 3:30

SEPT. 27: at Pittsburgh, 7:30

OCT. 6: Troy St., TBA

OCT. 13: at Florida State, noon

OCT. 25: West Virginia, 7:30

NOV. 3: Temple, TBA

NOV. 10: at Boston College, TBA

NOV. 17: Syracuse, TBA

DEC. 1: at Virginia Tech, 1

MIAMI

2000 RESULTS (11-1)

AUG. 31: W 61-14 vs. McNeese State

SEPT. 9: L 34-29 at Washington

SEPT. 23: W 47-10 at West Virginia

SEPT. 30: W 64-6 at Rutgers

OCT. 7: W 27-24 vs. Florida State

OCT. 21: W 45-17 at Temple

OCT. 28: W 42-31 vs. Louisiana Tech

NOV. 4: W 41-21 vs. Virginia Tech

NOV. 11: W 35-7 vs. Pittsburgh

NOV. 18: W 26-0 at Syracuse

NOV. 25: W 52-6 vs. Boston College

JAN. 2: W 37-20 vs. Florida (Sugar Bowl)

FOR THE FANS

STADIUM: Orange Bowl.

CAPACITY: 72,319.

TICKETS: Available for all home games. Single-game general admission $15-$30. Single-game reserve seats are $35 for Rutgers, Troy State and Temple; $40 for Washington, West Virginia and Syracuse. Season tickets $99-$299. A $47 ticket is available that includes admission to the Troy State and Washington games. Call (800) GO-CANES.

PARKING: Private lots surround the stadium. City lots give priority to Hurricane Club members.

WHAT'S NEW

COACH, COORDINATORS: The Hurricanes didn't just make a change at the top. When Larry Coker took over as coach, it meant changes at the coordinator positions as well. Not that there wouldn't have been changes, anyway.

Even before former coach Butch Davis left to coach the Cleveland Browns, he was faced with having to hire a new defensive coordinator after Greg Schiano left to become coach at Rutgers. Shortly after Miami's 37-20 victory over Florida in the Sugar Bowl, Davis named defensive backs coach Chuck Pagano his defensive coordinator.

A few weeks later, Davis was heading to the Browns, and Pagano accepted an offer to join him. He extended the same offer to Coker, who after a few tense days, got the UM coaching job.

Since Coker was Miami's offensive coordinator the past five seasons, he had two big positions to fill.

The defensive coordinator job went to Randy Shannon, who had been on the Miami Dolphins defensive staff the past three seasons. Shannon, 35, a four-year letterman at Miami as a linebacker from 1985 to 1988, was on UM's staff as an assistant for six seasons before moving to the Dolphins.

Coker then promoted Rob Chudzinski to offensive coordinator. Chudzinski, 33, UM's starting tight end from 1988 to 1990, left athletics for three years to be a business consultant before returning to school to get his masters in business administration. He became a graduate assistant, then a full-time assistant under Davis in 1996.

DIFFEENT, BUT THE SAME: Although the faces at the top are new, they are not new faces. Coker has been with the program for six years and the offense will remain under his thumb. Shannon will still employ the same 4-3 defensive scheme the Hurricanes have used for years.

"There are going to be changes, but it's been comfortable for the players," Coker said. "A lot of terminology, a lot of the routine won't change. The plus for them is it does give some players a new outlook. "I was third-team under Coach Davis, now maybe under the new guy I have a fresh, clean slate.' So there are those kinds of positives."

NEW FACILITY, BIG ADVANTAGE: It was four years in the planning and eight months in the making. Finally, UM's new athletic facility is complete. And it's impressive.

The $4.5-million building includes a 22,000-square foot addition to the Hecht Athletic Center and renovation of 11,000 square feet of the old weight room and meeting rooms. Included in the addition is Coker's office, a player's lounge, team meeting rooms and the weight room.

"(Athletic director) Paul Dee has done a tremendous job putting together a facility these athletes can be proud of, giving us every opportunity to be successful to recruit and to win," Coker said. "I don't have an excuse for not winning because of the facility."

Davis had often complained about the facilities, saying they put him at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting. He pushed for the changes, and they finally began to take shape as he was leaving the program.

The new weight room is nearly 13,000 square feet, more than double the size of the old one. Coker's office is on the second floor and has views of the weight room, three football practice fields and the campus.

WHO'S NO. 1?: The Hurricanes know it doesn't matter much now. But they wonder how they could have defeated Florida in the Sugar Bowl, returned a competitive team, and been ranked second to the Gators in the two major polls. Especially mystifying is the Associated Press poll, where the 'Canes had 33 first-place votes to Florida's 20 but still finished behind UF. That means there were an abundance of voters who placed UM third or worse.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Five of six linebackers return, but the missing man is a big one. That would be Butkus Award winner Dan Morgan. But similar sentiments were voiced a year ago. Morgan had to move to the middle after Nate Webster left a year early for the NFL. Now someone has to step in for Morgan.

Jonathan Vilma is the logical replacement, but a knee injury that required additional surgery two months ago meant limited action in early practices. Howard Clark moved to the middle during spring practice, although he was an outside linebacker last season.

"You can't replace Dan," Clark said. "He gave 110 percent all the time. We have enough talent to get the job done, but we'll miss Dan. He wasn't a vocal leader, but as far as doing the right thing all the time, making that right decision, he did that. That's the big part. It will take a combination of guys to replace him."

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