Blake James is guilty as charged of destroying the UM football program. Please consider:
-he was hired by an incompetent administration who did not do a thorough search after another phony AD left in Shawn Eichorst
-Blake James did not take leadership and ask Al Golden to make changes. This resulted in another failed 6-7 season in 2014 and at that time a clear manifestation of a termination of contract was the best route to go. Instead Al Golden returned for another year and UM got smashed in an embarrassing loss to Clemson.
-James finally fires Golden and hires a search firm to do the work for him, resulting in Greg Schiano as being a top candidate. Blake interviews Butch Davis but fails to give him serious consideration. Davis, being an alpha dog coach seems to be not the type Blake wants to bow to him. Davis was the architect of the great talent UM brought in under Jimmy Johnson as well as during his tenure as HC which resulted in Larry Coker winning a title in 2001. James also ignores Mario Cristobal at the time and does not give him an interview. Cristobal, who at the time was a developing assistant but arguably the top recruiter in all of college football, could have at least given James a refreshing perspective of how to run a football program as he learned under Nick Saban and who was one of the most underrated and talented OL in Miami history. Cristobal, who was a starter for UM championship teams, personifies the trend at the U as being an underrated recruit who works their butt off to become great. Cristobal has continued this work ethic to rise to become a head coach of the well funded University of Oregon Ducks football team. His team was a close miss to the playoffs this year while the UM head coach was losing to the likes of FIU and Duke
-Blake then hires Mark Richt quickly and does no research on him. James combats any narrative that Richt can't win the big game by referring to his SEC championship game wins, although those happened more than 10 years ago which is a millenium in college football time. James fails to see that Richt is burnt out. He works hard to convince Richt to not retire and take the UM job and Blake does not see that this could be an issue to convince a coach to coach.
-James seems to like the calm and cool Richt who is not the alpha type of football coach dog. James disrespects Butch Davis by not even telling him that UM will go with another candidate. Davis finds out that the job is filled during an interview on WQAM live when the interviewer tells him that UM hired Richt.
-James then does not question Richt's decision to hire his son or yes men to be his assistants. The team tanks late in the 2017 season and fails to get their momentum back. Richt retires and James does not interview a soul. Instead he moves quick to hire an energetic but unqualified Manny Diaz
-the 2019 season goes horribly (I do not need to go through this as it has been well documented ladies and gentlemen). James comes on Canesport live to answer questions and gets annoyed by some of the questions about his hiring process and decisions he has made
-a good option has been presented to hire Alonzo Highsmith to help with the football program. Highsmith, a name all hurricane fans know, brings a thick resume of football knowledge and expertise. Instead of going quickly like he did with Manny, Blake beats around the bush and balks at the decision to hire Alonzo.
-It is the hope that Blake signs the contract to hire Alonzo but the fact that he is taking this long is another proof of the fact that Blake James isn't willing to do whatever it takes to make the program great again.
-Blake does not care about mending the relationship of UM to the community and becoming a source of positivity and pride to the 305 and 954, which can have significant repercussions to help create a positive opportunity for inner city kids to play football for the home school and take pride in their area they are from as did Howard Schnellenberger. Blake thinks everything is going well and that UM recruiting is going fine, when the recruiting effort in the State of Miami is the worst since the late 70's
-James continues to say he has hired the right man for the job to get us to a championship.
I submit to you that Blake James needs to go. Enough is enough. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury please make the right decision. Blake James cares only about his job, power and $$$. Remember, the noise always wins.
-he was hired by an incompetent administration who did not do a thorough search after another phony AD left in Shawn Eichorst
-Blake James did not take leadership and ask Al Golden to make changes. This resulted in another failed 6-7 season in 2014 and at that time a clear manifestation of a termination of contract was the best route to go. Instead Al Golden returned for another year and UM got smashed in an embarrassing loss to Clemson.
-James finally fires Golden and hires a search firm to do the work for him, resulting in Greg Schiano as being a top candidate. Blake interviews Butch Davis but fails to give him serious consideration. Davis, being an alpha dog coach seems to be not the type Blake wants to bow to him. Davis was the architect of the great talent UM brought in under Jimmy Johnson as well as during his tenure as HC which resulted in Larry Coker winning a title in 2001. James also ignores Mario Cristobal at the time and does not give him an interview. Cristobal, who at the time was a developing assistant but arguably the top recruiter in all of college football, could have at least given James a refreshing perspective of how to run a football program as he learned under Nick Saban and who was one of the most underrated and talented OL in Miami history. Cristobal, who was a starter for UM championship teams, personifies the trend at the U as being an underrated recruit who works their butt off to become great. Cristobal has continued this work ethic to rise to become a head coach of the well funded University of Oregon Ducks football team. His team was a close miss to the playoffs this year while the UM head coach was losing to the likes of FIU and Duke
-Blake then hires Mark Richt quickly and does no research on him. James combats any narrative that Richt can't win the big game by referring to his SEC championship game wins, although those happened more than 10 years ago which is a millenium in college football time. James fails to see that Richt is burnt out. He works hard to convince Richt to not retire and take the UM job and Blake does not see that this could be an issue to convince a coach to coach.
-James seems to like the calm and cool Richt who is not the alpha type of football coach dog. James disrespects Butch Davis by not even telling him that UM will go with another candidate. Davis finds out that the job is filled during an interview on WQAM live when the interviewer tells him that UM hired Richt.
-James then does not question Richt's decision to hire his son or yes men to be his assistants. The team tanks late in the 2017 season and fails to get their momentum back. Richt retires and James does not interview a soul. Instead he moves quick to hire an energetic but unqualified Manny Diaz
-the 2019 season goes horribly (I do not need to go through this as it has been well documented ladies and gentlemen). James comes on Canesport live to answer questions and gets annoyed by some of the questions about his hiring process and decisions he has made
-a good option has been presented to hire Alonzo Highsmith to help with the football program. Highsmith, a name all hurricane fans know, brings a thick resume of football knowledge and expertise. Instead of going quickly like he did with Manny, Blake beats around the bush and balks at the decision to hire Alonzo.
-It is the hope that Blake signs the contract to hire Alonzo but the fact that he is taking this long is another proof of the fact that Blake James isn't willing to do whatever it takes to make the program great again.
-Blake does not care about mending the relationship of UM to the community and becoming a source of positivity and pride to the 305 and 954, which can have significant repercussions to help create a positive opportunity for inner city kids to play football for the home school and take pride in their area they are from as did Howard Schnellenberger. Blake thinks everything is going well and that UM recruiting is going fine, when the recruiting effort in the State of Miami is the worst since the late 70's
-James continues to say he has hired the right man for the job to get us to a championship.
I submit to you that Blake James needs to go. Enough is enough. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury please make the right decision. Blake James cares only about his job, power and $$$. Remember, the noise always wins.
