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December 27, 2007

Dumb Rumor: The Canes Want Willie?

The Miami Herald is quoting unnamed sources saying that Randy Shannon, Miami Hurricane Head Coach, would love either Charlie Strong or Willie Martinez as his defensive coordinator now that he's fired Tim Walton from that gig.

Why doesn't he just ask for a pony and one of Mr. Wonka's Geese?

Willie made $260,000 in 2006. I couldn't find his salary for 2007, but it's probably just south of $300k. That's about what John Chavis makes at Tennessee and considerably less than what Tenuta made at Tech; however, Tenuta was one of the highest paid DCs in college football. In other words, he's paid an aggressive yet competitive wage.

But back to why this is a dumb rumor.
At this point, Strong is a Gator. He has coached under every Gator Head Coach since Charlie Pell including Pell, Galen Hall, Gary Darnell, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook and Urban Meyer. He has left before, but he always goes back. Much to UGA's dismay. More importantly, he has done an excellent job of taking progressively better jobs at virtually every stop.

The Gators lose more money between the seat cushions in Urban Meyer's office couch than the Hurricanes have seen in years. Shannon is the 53rd highest paid coach in college football, and the Hurricanes are just as cheap in paying their assistants as their head coach. In fact, Miami blogger "Canes Rising" says their defensive coordinator job is "not very attractive" because of their compensation history.

Why would you leave the Gators when they are near the top of the mountain to rebuild the Canes on the cheap?

As for Willie
Martinez will likely get a hefty bump in pay this year from the Dawgs. Heck, all of the assistants will. Hopefully, Searels will get a golden, fatted calf, but I digress. Martinez is a Cane alum, but the odds of Shannon pulling him out of Athens while we're on the cusp of a HUGE run over the next two years are long.

The Canes don't have a financial pot to piss in, and Shannon is eyeballing coaches at two of the richest programs in football? Yeah. That makes sense. Luckily for them, UCLA's outgoing DC is also on Veruca Salt's Shannon's list.



BTW -- There's no indication whatsoever that Willie has been contacted. In fact, Richt said the other day that only Eason was being courted.

PWD

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Walker doesn't get the UCLA job (and I'm not a fan of the idea of hiring a head man from the staff of the man you just fired), it's certainly a possibility. While Walker and Strong can certainly have better jobs with better compensation, if either wants to become a head coach, Miami has been a great stepping stone in years past. Plus, you could rebuild a talented D in a hurry, so joining Shannon in South Beach could be part of an effective plan to become a head coach in 2 or 3 years for either Strong or Walker.

Anonymous said...

I do not have exact facts and figures here, but I think it is a little incorrect to act like The U is a poor program. Yes, they don't fill their stadium, and the fan base isn't like ours and the football program doesn't have enormous profits like ours, but it's a private school with extremely wealthy alumni. If they decide they want to get a coach bad enough, they can get the money together, imo.

Hobnail_Boot said...

Ahmatbychew-

Dr. Christian Troy doesn't count.

Unknown said...

In 2001, Miami won the National Title. That same year, it's Athletic Dept lost a million bucks.

Two years ago, our athletic dept posted a profit of $23 million. Theirs posted a loss.

Unknown said...

+ 1 hobnail

Anonymous said...

Is Georgia poised to go on quite the epic run everyone expects the next 2 years? Kyle King says we're about to go on a Southern Cal-esque run, but this isn't the Pac-10. We all know UF is going to be loaded, Tennessee returns about 15 starters next year, we go to Baton Rouge, Auburn isn't going anywhere...

Don't get me wrong, we're going to be pretty damn strong and will win our share of games. But people will likely be disappointed if they expect us to go 24-2 or 25-1 the next 2 years. We could be really, really good and not even appear in the SECCG (like this year). I expect more of the same (10 wins, top 20, competing for titles, etc.), but not necessarily a step-up from that.

Unknown said...

The schedule is a killer.

An optimist says...Sure is lucky we'll have some or most talented teams ever as face our toughest schedule ever.

The pessimist says....We're blowing our national title shot with this absurdly tough schedule.

I'd guess 10-2 next year with an Orange Bowl bid or SECC title. That's pretty damn good.

Scott said...

Willie Martinez reminds me of a modern day Bill "Blitz" Lewis. Both followed great defensive coaches and both did badly--I can never forgive Lewis for blitzing Dan Marino in the '82 Sugar Bowl!

Further, he is supposed to be the DB coach, too. Why do our DB's have the least number of picks of the Top 25? They need better coaching. If Miami wants Martinez, let him go!

Anonymous said...

Just a quick question/ thought for anyone who may be familiar with the situation. What are the chances Moreno bolts for the draft after next season ? Stafford as well ? I agree with the previous post regarding the absurdly tough schedule next year. I was livid with scheduling Ariz St when we did. Just no reason to do that. Sets up as a trap game with it being the week after what will be an emotional game in Columbia and the week before a rival game with Saban's boys. Squeeze in a cross-country trip to a potential top 10 team and disaster could be looming. Lose early though and you're not necessarily out of it but then again the stupidity of this thing they call a post-season is impossible to gauge.

 
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