MPC Computers Bowl
Coker taking last game in stride BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Larry Coker’s legacy at Miami will be defined by firsts.
The first coach in 53 years to win a national title in his first season.
The first coach in more than a century to win his first 24 games, too.
Now, another possible first: He’s believed to be the only coach to win a national championship at a school, then be fired by that institution for not winning enough.
“It’s great to be a record-setter,” Coker said.
He laughed as he made the joke at his own expense, but it’s also easy to see that Coker is distraught over his plight – and the realization that, even in must-win-now college football, winning 80 percent of your games isn’t enough to keep a job.
“That’d be rare, I would think,” Coker said.
When the whistle blows today night at the end of the MPC Computers Bowl, the curtain will fall on Coker’s sixth and final season with the Hurricanes. If his team beats Nevada, it’ll be win No. 7 for the season, win No. 60 in his tenure at Miami.
That would be nine more than the Hurricanes won in the six years before he took over, three fewer than they won in the six-season cycle from 1989-94.
Either way, it wasn’t enough to save Coker. And even now, on the eve of the final game in perhaps the most trying season in Miami history, Hurricanes players are blaming themselves for his fate.
“I take it personal because I feel like a coach can only tell you what to do,” linebacker Jon Beason said. “You have to go out and perform. For him to have to deal with the burden, it’s unfortunate because I believe it’s on us, especially being a captain. … We take responsibility for the way the season turned out.”
But this season turned out this way for many more reasons than the on-field play.
Coker suspended Ryan Moore, the team’s most experienced wide receiver, for most of the season after Moore was involved in an altercation with two women and eventually charged with a felony. The top returning running back, Tyrone Moss, was suspended for the season-opener against Florida State over an academic issue; Miami rushed for 2 yards that night and lost by a field goal.
Then came the fight against Florida International, leading to the suspension of 13 Hurricanes.
Then came the biggest shock of them all, when defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed.
“This team, through all the tough times that they had, they never folded,” Coker said. “They fought hard.”
Apparently not hard enough, though.
Sure, the Hurricanes rallied from a 14-3 deficit to beat Boston College on Thanksgiving and make themselves bowl-eligible. But Coker – who, throughout the year, said many times that he expected to be at Miami for a long time after this season – was fired about 11 hours after that game, and many around the program believe his fate was sealed weeks earlier.
Coker could have left as soon as athletic director Paul Dee delivered word of the dismissal on that Friday morning, taken his reported buyout of about $3 million, packed up the house he bought for about that amount five years ago, and moved on, ready to begin fielding offers from other schools.
Instead, he stayed, after players, some administration members and even defensive coordinator Randy Shannon – the person who’ll officially replace Coker on Monday – urged him to remain for the finale.
“I’m a football coach,” Coker said. “I’m still the coach here for one more game.”
He’s not the only one who can say that. Todd Berry, the quarterbacks coach who is interim offensive coordinator for this game, expects not to be back in 2007. Other coaches will probably be let go as well by Shannon, who hasn’t divulged any details regarding his staff for next season.
“Next year is next year,” Shannon said. “Right now, all I’m thinking about is Nevada.”
That’s all Coker wants the Hurricanes to think about, as well.
“It’ll be a disappointment for me certainly to end my career at the University of Miami,” Coker said. “But somehow I feel if we can end it on a positive note and win the football game, I’ll be pleased about that.”
But either way, whether the book closes on his Miami career at 60-15 or 59-16, Coker said he’ll walk away secure in the knowledge that he did his job right.
“I’m going to feel good about myself, regardless,” Coker said.