Blog, Get Your Facts Straight

[huskerpony]

The bludgeoning death of Marlin Barnes occurred in 1996--under Butch Davis--and the player was one of Dennis Erickson's recruits. He was a friend of Ray Lewis, another Dennis Erickson recruit.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2653361

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 87,00.html


Yes, Coker was the offensive coordinator at the time, but you can hardly blame a second-year offensive coordinator for the death of a player that was the previous coach's recruit. Nor do players dying in car accidents reflect poorly on a coach. Football coaches cannot be responsible for players' driving skills. They are football coaches, not chauffers.

There have been a multitude of player deaths and shooting incidents at UM over the years. Many occurring long before Larry Coker arrived. Many occurring after players had already left UM. The city of Miami is a war zone outside of specific very wealthy areas that most college football players can't afford to live in. Larry Coker cannot be held responsible for that.


I agree that Coker didn't have control of his players. I would actually prefer Gary Barnett if we are going down this road, but I certainly don't think that Larry Coker played any role in the bludgeoning death of Marlin Barnes 11 years ago, so that is one of the stupidest arguments to not interview a coach I have ever heard. You usually have some fairly insightful things to say, but you have lost me on this one.


And again, we don't know what happened in that interview. We don't know that Gary Barnett wasn't interviewed--there was a report last week that he was. We don't know if RN wasn't interviewed--we do know he was at least contacted by the search firm. Maybe RN has since declined an interview after getting some love from GT and UCLA. Personally, I hope we have interviewed all three of these guys, and Steve-O would be derilict in his duty if he didn't.

Why are you upset that Steve-O interviewed a coach who has won a national championship and been ranked in the Top 20 every year that he coached except for one year when a player on his team was killed in the middle of the season? I agree that the others should have been interviewed too, but we don't know that they weren't.

As for their decline, 11-2, 9-3, 9-3 isn't much of a decline. Most teams have similar declines after they win a national championship because it is hard to maintain the same level of recruiting--kids don't think they will get playing time at the bigger program. Pete Carroll has lost to UCLA, Oregon St., and Stanford after winning a national championship. Would you not be willing to interview him because of that? Could you get a bunch of 20 year old kids to win 10 games after one of their buddies had just been killed? Even 7-5 is a season I think we should be willing to take at SMU. While not my first choice, there is no reason we shouldn't be talking to Larry Coker.

[SMUer]

Great points, Huskerpony. Coker is not my #1 either but some of these arguments against him are ridiculous. Completely.

[jtstang]

Great points, Huskerpony. Coker is not my #1 either but some of these arguments against him are ridiculous. Completely.

Which ones, and how so?

[SMUer]

-Coker's old...but Barnett's not...even though Barnett's older...
-Coker's responsible for driving deaths...he recruited bad drivers
-Coker didn't have anything to do with Miami's success or National Championship...even though he was the OC with Davis from the very beginning in Davis' first HC gig...
-Coker is a loser that can't coach...even though he has never lost more than 4 games anywhere he's ever coached and has only had 2 sub.500 seasons in 28 years of coaching...he also has numerous COTY awards which somehow I guess he faked

Edit: Coker has never won less than 4 games anywhere he's ever coached, he has lost 4

-Coker recruited thugs, which I guess counts against him in this case but he doesn't get credit for winning with them...because then they're Davis'...he had a 100% graduation rate for his thug U 2005 team...the credit which obviously must go to the foundation laid down by Davis, as with every other positive with Miami does

[SMU Football Blog]

Ya know what? I was wrong. I got the date of that one incident wrong. I will correct the post when I get home tonight (I can't edit blog entries at work).

It wasn't intentional or malicious. I can find the blog post I read that listed the wrong date if you would like.

Then can I include the signing of a player to a national letter of intent after they have been indicted for a felony? Albeit the charge was trumped up and stupid. How about Brandon Meriweather mistakenly shooting Willie Cooper in the @$$?

[PonyPatrol]

Again, Terry Bowden's exit from Auburn was in the wake of a similar decline to Coker's at UM. Bowden left the Auburn program in a two year rut of below .500 football. Yet, I'm guessing all the Coker bashers would take Bowden in a heartbeat. Is it the 10 year hiatus that turned him into a coach that didn't drive a top 3 program into a ditch? His best year's were with the previous staffs recruits (aside from one 10-3 aberration, the program declined year by year). Tuberville has done a great job resurrecting the program after TB's departure.

The point most argued on this board against Coker is that fact that he did not get jobs at Tulsa, Rice, Houston, etc. Yet, we have no idea if they could even afford him in the first place. Of course he stated his interest for such jobs at one point, the man has a chip on his shoulder and wants back in. In my mind you can lump him in with the "retreads" that SMU would be lucky to get: Slick Rick, Barnett, Mike Shula, Bower...

The salesman arguement is mute if he can come in here and win. Winning will build recruiting, and the skins that he has on the wall should at least get the ball rolling..Texas high school athletes would pick up the phone for a guy who sent 1,500 guys to the NFL at Miami....

[SMUer]

Maybe since we have lower expectations at SMU we can go to Miami NWern and pick out only their model athletes...

[jtstang]

-Coker's old...but Barnett's not...even though Barnett's older...
-Coker's responsible for driving deaths...he recruited bad drivers
-Coker didn't have anything to do with Miami's success or National Championship...even though he was the OC with Davis from the very beginning in Davis' first HC gig...
-Coker is a loser that can't coach...even though he has never lost more than 4 games anywhere he's ever coached and has only had 2 sub.500 seasons in 28 years of coaching...he also has numerous COTY awards which somehow I guess he faked
-Coker recruited thugs, which I guess counts against him in this case but he doesn't get credit for winning with them...because then they're Davis'...he had a 100% graduation rate for his thug U 2005 team...the credit which obviously must go to the foundation laid down by Davis, as with every other positive with Miami does

These are more offensive than the reasons given for not interviewing Barnett. Thanks for helping me make my point.

[me@smu]

-Coker's old...but Barnett's not...even though Barnett's older...
-Coker's responsible for driving deaths...he recruited bad drivers
-Coker didn't have anything to do with Miami's success or National Championship...even though he was the OC with Davis from the very beginning in Davis' first HC gig...
-Coker is a loser that can't coach...even though he has never lost more than 4 games anywhere he's ever coached and has only had 2 sub.500 seasons in 28 years of coaching...he also has numerous COTY awards which somehow I guess he faked
-Coker recruited thugs, which I guess counts against him in this case but he doesn't get credit for winning with them...because then they're Davis'...he had a 100% graduation rate for his thug U 2005 team...the credit which obviously must go to the foundation laid down by Davis, as with every other positive with Miami does

Only one problem with your statements...Coker coached 2006 Hurricane squad that went 7-6 so he has certainly lost more than 4 games.

[SMUer]

I'm NOT saying we shouldn't be interviewing Barnett!!! I'd actually perfer him to Coker. I'm just saying we shouldn't be gagging and choking over Coker for reasons that, if looked at objectively, look silly.

[SMU Football Blog]

It is hard to be a good driver when you are drunk.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2002/0222/1338620.html

[SMUer]

...yikes, you are right...I meant to say that he has never won less than 4 games and only had 2 sub.500 games in 28 years of coaching

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

SMUer....wow thats some good points about bogus claims with Coker.

[SMUer]

You are right. His college players are drinking and making mistakes in deciding to drive. That's ninth circle sin-age going on down there, we don't want to bring that kind of behavior over here to taint the good christian environment of SMU.

I guess we all know why Ted Roof was fired (below is also an indicator that UGA is going downhill):
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... otes_x.htm

[PK]

You are right. His college players are drinking and making mistakes in deciding to drive. That's ninth circle sin-age going on down there, we don't want to bring that kind of behavior over here to taint the good christian environment of SMU.

Yeah...all we do around here is punch out gay stalkers...that's christian, right?