Mutt,
Lots of people hate the Dallas Cowboys.
Lots of people hate the New York Yankees.
Lots of people hate the Miami Hurricanes.
It's all the same thing. Win a substantial portion of the championships and this attitude tends to arise.
Most reporting on the Hurricanes is that they used to be a team with a thug-attitude, NOT that they have one now. This is a typical article one finds:
(note the comments by Coker which are exactly what you were referring to).
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MULKEYTOWN, Ill. (BP)--Seeing the Miami Hurricanes perched atop the college football rankings again this season is about as exhilarating as the stomach flu. It makes me sick.
I’ve never been a Miami fan. In fact, for most of my life, the Hurricanes have been at or near the top of my “most hated sports teams” list.
My dislike of the Hurricanes was always grounded in the fact that the players were some of the biggest thugs in sports –- guys like Michael Irvin who were hot shots on the field and criminals off it. Then there’s Warren Sapp, who, although not a criminal as far as I know, is still a loudmouth. The list could go on and on.
But those were the Miami Hurricanes of the past. Second-year coach Larry Coker is doing his best to clean up a program that for years had one of the worst reputations around. Coker won a national title in his inaugural season last year, and his Hurricanes seemed poised to repeat as champs.
“I feel blessed just to be a head coach, because it’s pretty hard,” Coker said in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Sharing the Victory magazine. “There are not many jobs out there and to get one is an act of God for me. To have it at a place like Miami, where you have the vehicle to have success, is pretty special. Then, on top of that, to bring it all to fruition, to play well and win a national championship, it’s just been a magical year.”
But championships aren’t the most important thing to Coker. He’s more concerned with restoring integrity to a football program that desperately needed it.
“One thing we really stressed was character,” Coker told Sharing the Victory. “We had to find out about the players, not just their grades or their ability to play the game or the times they ran. We also had to talk with their coaches, talk with their parents, get in their homes, talk with their ministers, find out what type of people they are. From that standpoint, if they’re very similar in ability -- you have to have ability, let’s don’t downplay that -- then we’re going to feel strongly for that player with character.”
Coker’s quest for a second national title won’t be easy. In addition to being a bunch of hoodlums in years past, the Hurricanes also had a bad habit of playing weak teams to pad their record. Not so this year.
Miami will face Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia Tech this year -- all formidable opponents. If they make it through that schedule unscathed, the Hurricanes will definitely be deserving of championship accolades.
It will still be hard for me to pull for Miami, though. I guess old habits are hard to abandon. But I respect Coker and don’t begrudge him any of his success -- past or future. The changes he’s making to Miami’s program are admirable.
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Tim Ellsworth writes this column from his home in Mulkeytown, Ill. Write to him at
bpsports@sbc.net.