A phrase I always use is lousy handicapping and it gripped this entire program several years ago. The decision to accept Brock Berlin's transfer from UF was the first thing that made me scream. Yeah, he was a competitor but a limited little QB and Miami's aspirations have to be above that. He had already demonstrated at Gainesville that he was error prone and hardly the caliber of his high school press clippings.
Then the alltime masochistic decision was by Donna Shalala, moving to the ACC. I wasn't posting here at the time but I assailed it on other sites. Who gives a damn about basketball and the other sports? This is a football school and that feeds the entire reputation of the program. Miami cut it's chance at a football national championship by at least 50% every year when it voluntarily moved to the ACC. That's not pessimism, it's basic math. The pointspreads correspond to win likelihood. Plus, you went far beyond that 50% when the ACC title game was added a year later, an extra hurdle missing in the Big East. And that conference title game severely restricted scheduling flexibility since that date at the end of the season must be left open. I absolutely can't believe Miami was so stupid to leave the Big East.
You can't fault the recruiting of Kyle Wright but it should have been obvious early in his career the kid has no instincts. I attended the first game he ever set foot on the field at UM, against La Tech in 2004. It was shocking. Wright had already been on campus for two springs and two fall camps yet he was a clueless statue. Now he's not a statue. Actually worse, retreating to insure a huge loss.
Coker hasn't found a top QB and this is his 6th year in charge. I'm not sure about firing him since anyone who succeeds will be stuck with a Kyle Wright next year. Freeman didn't look special last year either. Normally I don't get carried away with QBing but to deny its impact on this program is, well, lousy handicapping.