Salomon: Letters To Al, September 19th

Dear Al:

At halftime of the game last week I was doing you a favor. I was looking for real estate agents that could help you and Coach D'Onofrio sell your homes in Miami and assist you in relocating. Quite frankly, I did not care where you relocated to, I just wanted you to relocate from Coral Gables, to Anyothertown, USA.

Are you kidding me? 20-20 at FAU? But for the fact that their starting quarterback who wore O.J. Simpson's jersey number and their starting running back, both leaving the game with injuries, this game was going all their way. Their QB looked like Simpson as he was knifing his way through your Swiss Cheese defense and the running back had already attained over 100 yards before halftime.

Granted, you make some adjustments at halftime that improved the defense and you nearly pitched a shutout in the second half. The question that I have is why could those adjustments not be made on the fly and why did you have to wait until half time.  You were also given additional time due to the second lightning storm in consecutive weeks where you could have made these adjustments.  We were one field goal away from futility in that first half.

You were saved again by Mark Walton and Joe Yearby, who showed us what ball control offense is and what the term second effort is all about. But for a heroic play by Yearby in that first half, a sensational play that earned him accolades, you would be trailing at the half.

I love the comments that you made about FAU about how you know the crowd would be boisterous and that you prepared the team for that the whole week.  Those were your fans that drove up 1-95 to make the trip. That was the best home game that we had in years. There were no empty seats and the crowd was full of Orange and Green, not the Red that FAU wanted their sparse fan collection to wear.

This was a bigger game for FAU as they had everything to gain and nothing to lose. It showed. They came out with the intestinal fortitude and showed that they wanted the game more than you did. This game is evident of how you coach at Miami. There is no emotion, no pride and no feeling. The teams of yesteryear would have destroyed this team and would have stolen their post-game meal. They would have taken the home locker room and made FAU get dressed in the end zone.

You cannot rally your teams and get them ready for big games, nonetheless lay downs. You should have had this team ready to compete from the first whistle and the defense was once again soft and it took you until halftime and two severe FAU injuries to get them ready to play. I give you the fact that they were ready in the second half, but they had a freshman quarterback with the sir name Driskel to play against and the Owl's main play maker at running back was in street clothes on the sidelines.  This is nothing to relish and nothing to be proud of.

Now, Nebraska comes to town and they have already lost to BYU on a last second Hail Mary. What are you prepared to do this week that has not been done in a while?  How are you going to get this team motivated to play like a dollar bill, you know good for four quarters? Miami has not had a complete game win where they dominated for a full game for a long time. You still have no signature win. This is your turn to shine and your turn to thumb your nose at me and prove to me and to Canes Family that you can win the big game.

This is not a talent issue.  You clearly have the talent and have the depth this season. The cloud has passed and the sun has come out. This is purely coaching. You have to get the talent to do what you want and need them to do, or someone else will do it.

If you do not win this game, I still have that list of Dade County realtors on hand for you to call.

At all times material hereto, please govern yourself accordingly and get this team ready to play on Saturday, or start sending your resume out.  We are tired of mediocrity. Kirby Holcutt said that you would return us to relevance. I am still waiting for it.

Regards,

SAS

PS: Have a nice day (For all of you Fletch fans)