The Threshold: The Miami Hurricanes Nation Enters a New Era

Unpopular Opinion.

It’s time to stop living in the past Canes fans.

I know.

I KNOW.

But Stay with me and Forgive me.

But living in the past is what has kept the Miami Hurricanes at the threshold for nearly two decades. Its what keeps many a team from being good, great or elite.

Fear. Of the Threshold.

thresh·old

/ˈTHreSHˌ(h)ōld/

1. a strip of wood, metal, or stone forming the bottom of a doorway and crossed in entering a house or room.

2 . the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result, or condition to occur or be manifested.

Sooooo the bottom of a doorway is what has held Miami back? Nope. Read the WHOLE definition.

Crossed when entering INTO a house or a room. So what does that mean? That means, in order for you to enter a new room, you have to exit the old one. In order for you to enter in and appreciate the new things you experience past the threshold is to forget and limit what you keep from the last room.

The fear of the threshold has had Miami Hurricanes Football standing firmly ON IT for far too long. And I don’t think it as simple as:

“Hey change the PLAYS!”

“Let the players be athletes!”

“Hire better coaches!”

For the latter examples to work you have to let go of what you experience in the last room and embrace what works past the threshold. For too long Miami has tried to be new while holding on to what was. Al Golden was an up and coming coach, but his ways were too old: pro style offense, shirt and tie on the sideline, setting up your friends with a job when you should just get the best man for a job.

WHOOP. You know I had to go there.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Think about the defenses before coach Manny Diaz arrived. We thought we could just have the right size or look of a player, or that everyone we played could be stopped by burly linemen and some fast guys behind them and that we would be alright. The truth of the matter is if those players are just acting as a wall, and are unable to get past the line of scrimmage, past that threshold, then they go from an athletic group to turnstiles.

For too long Miami was the turnstile, letting other schools run past them and through. A school that used to be innovative and ready to embrace new now was watching school after school pass them by. Even worse Miami has let too many schools treat us like a turnstile while they take player after player out of Miami.

Miami has finally, crossed the threshold.

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Fear is the ultimate stifling force when it is not embraced. Its ok to be afraid of change, as long as you take action to change. But if you let fear freeze you, you will stare at the threshold until the final one takes you to the other side.

As much as we have wanted to discredit Coach Diaz for what transpired last year, for celebrating so many things before actually putting forward a winning product, one thing you can not call him is afraid to change.

Change has been possibly the only staple on offense. Coach Diaz has let go two offensive coordinators, a running backs coach, a tight ends coach, two offensive line coaches, and two wide receiver coaches. This to get to where we are now, with a coach in Coach Rhett Lashlee, who’s offense is the furthest thing from what we have seen on that side of the ball at any point this decade. It brought us to bring in two MORE offensive coordinators at wide receivers coach in Rob Likens, and offensive line Garin Justice. The latter hires marking the first time Miami has had this level of experience on the line maybe ever.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

This favors what we saw with LSU, bringing diversified minds with varying degrees of success and perspective to create a hybrid to challenge anything college football has seen before.

I hear you fans, yes I am hyping, but its not because its fluff, its because its true.

Thats the last threshold that must be passed. As a fan base we’ve been crushed since the Fiesta Bowl. Every year worse than the last it seems. And it has created a cynicism that has permeated through most parts of our fan base.

I am part of it. I’ve been critical and dismissive in ways because I feel like I have seen this movie before. New this, new that, same story. But the issue is that is that we never really had ANYTHING new. Enos, Richts, Coleys, Whipples, Fidshs, different names same old pro styles. D’Nofrio, Lovett, Young, Walton and Shannon to an extent all failed to put players in the backfield until Diaz. He changed the paradigm and reintroduced HAVOC football.

Now Lashlee brings us offensive play calling that we haven’t come CLOSE to since Dennis Erickson. Embrace it! Stop being afraid to pump you team. Don’t be afraid to expect greatness! THIS IS MIAMI! We shouldn’t be behind anyone when it comes to innovation. We shouldn’t be behind ANYONE when it comes to have the best players! The ceiling is THE trophy and it should never change.

And now that we have passed the thresholds, lets get used to the NEW Miami.