MIAMI — When he was hired, the hope was that Al Golden could get Miami’s football program back on track.
Four and a half seasons and several embarrassing losses later, that hasn’t proven to be the case, and once again, the Hurricanes will be looking for a new coach after Golden was fired Sunday evening.
Tight ends coach Larry Scott has been named the Hurricanes’ interim coach, and Miami Athletic Director Blake James said those were the only personnel moves the school made Sunday.
Golden, who previously coached at Temple, had a 32-25 career record with Miami, which will take a 4-3 record and a 1-2 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play into its game at Duke on Saturday.
“On behalf of my family I want to thank the University of Miami for a tremendous opportunity,” Golden said in a statement released by the school. “I believe in what we are doing and how we are doing it and we have some outstanding young men in our football program. Though this moment is difficult, we wish the Canes the best of luck going forward.”
Though James repeatedly said that the school would evaluate Golden’s performance at the end of the season, Saturday’s 58-0 loss to Clemson proved too much for the coach to overcome.
The Tigers came to Sun Life Stadium ranked No. 6 in the nation and embarrassed Miami, handing the Hurricanes their biggest loss in school history and a second conference loss, which may have stricken a blow to Miami’s hopes of playing for the Coastal Division crown and the ACC championship.
“Al navigated us through the NCAA case. He always represented our institution in a first class manner,” James said, referencing the protracted NCAA investigation into Miami that marred Golden’s first two and a half seasons with the Hurricanes. “Sometimes you have to make that type of decision. It’s very difficult and one that you have to take with great seriousness to it. But it came to the point where I felt it was best for our program.”
Under Golden, Miami never reached its goal of playing for an ACC title, never beat a team that finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 and suffered 14 double-digit losses, seven of those coming in the last two seasons culminating in Saturday’s loss to Clemson.
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