UM's Coker ignores 'firing line' fodder

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UM's Coker ignores 'firing line' fodder

 

With the ink barely dry from his extension last fall, Miami coach Larry Coker is already hearing groans from Hurricane Nation.

 

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Larry Coker's five-year body of work as coach of the Miami Hurricanes is something to truly behold, with a 53-9 record, three trips to the Bowl Championship Series, two appearances in the national title game and one undefeated season.

 

Yet even with a resume like that, Coker just may be facing serious pressure to perform in 2006.

 

His Hurricanes are coming off consecutive 9-3 seasons, didn't win the Atlantic Coast Conference title in either of those years and ended 2005 with the most dismal showing of his tenure -- a 40-3 embarrassment of a loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl, a game that marked the end for four Miami assistants, fired 32 hours later.

 

Although it's a ridiculous notion to many around the Miami program, there is a sense that if Coker doesn't get the Hurricanes into this year's national-title hunt -- they've finished outside the top 10 in the AP college football poll each of the past two years, and open this season No. 12 -- his job could be in some jeopardy, too.

 

"Should he be on the hot seat? He probably shouldn't be, no," said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, whose Seminoles visit Miami in the season-opener on Sept. 4. "But's he going to be. That's the nature."

 

See, at many schools, 9-3 seasons are embraced as great.

 

But at Miami, 9-3 usually isn't good enough -- and Coker not only acknowledges that sort of thinking exists in Coral Gables, he welcomes it.

 

"We're going to compete to win every game," said Coker, who received a five-year contract extension worth a reported $8 million last fall. "I really haven't thought about whether I'm on the firing line or not on the firing line. I'm just making decisions, coaching, preparing, trying to win. ... There are a lot of naysayers in football and you can't let them get you down."

 

The Hurricanes know there's only one sure-fire way to silence those naysayers, too.

 

Internal expectations are always high for a Miami team, and this year is no exception. With 13 starters back, a strong-armed quarterback in Kyle Wright believing he's primed for a big year, a star tight end in Greg Olsen and a defense that could rank among the nation's best, there's plenty of reason for the Hurricanes to be confident.

 

"Going 9-3 is not what we work for at Miami," said Wright, who threw for 2,403 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, his first as the full-time starter. "We're not satisfied with that one bit. We know we have to play better. But no matter what you do, unless it all goes right at Miami, people are going to criticize you."

 

That's the way it's always been around the Hurricane program, and the way it probably always will be.

 

"Miami has just been spoiled in the past, especially the last five or six years," said former Miami center Brett Romberg, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars. "Anything less than a perfect season is kind of considered a failure. ... Hopefully, Coker's not on the hot seat. I know what he is. Hopefully, they give him a chance to prove himself with the recruiting classes he brought in the last couple of years."

 

New offensive coordinator Rich Olson -- part of the revamped staff that Coker built after making the decision to fire offensive line coach Art Kehoe, offensive coordinator Dan Werner, linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves and running backs coach Don Soldinger on Jan. 2 -- was brought back to Miami (he coached under Dennis Erickson with the Hurricanes in the early 1990s) to restore the big-play threats that have been missing the past two seasons.

 

"I'm as confident as I've ever been going into a season," Wright said.

 

The defense has its customary swagger heading into the year as well.

 

With a big, experienced defensive line, an airtight secondary led by safeties Brandon Meriweather and Kenny Phillips, and a talented linebacking corps, the Hurricanes could be every bit as good -- or better -- than the defense that allowed 10 opponents to 17 points or less last season.

 

And to hear linebacker Jon Beason say it, the Hurricanes may not be too far away from a return to glory.

 

"We lose by three points to Florida State, four points to Georgia Tech, two teams that came in, played hard and pulled off the victory," Beason said. "Now, do we think they're better than us? No. But it happened. And you've got to give them all the credit. We were seven points away from being undefeated after that Georgia Tech game ... and being back where we should be, a BCS game _ at worst."

 

Apparently, those around the league still agree with Beason in that Miami should be a BCS team.

 

Even after the offseason of upheaval, the Hurricanes are the popular pick to finally break through and win the ACC crown; they held the top spot in the league's preseason poll by a solid margin.

 

"Our players expect to win every game. They come to Miami to win a national championship, to win a conference championship, to go to the NFL," Coker said. "That's what they're there for. Their expectations and my expectations are higher than what some fan's would be."