What if Barry Alvarez was employed to teach the Miami Hurricanes in 2001?

The Miami Hurricanes have been coming off of an 11-1 season together with 10 straight wins with three coming by the hands of the no.1, no.2, and no.7 groups within the nation. The 2000 ‘Canes, coached by Butch Davis, have been 2nd in PPG and seventh in PPG allowed of the 116 FBS groups on the time.

Nonetheless, Butch Davis left Miami for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL and the Hurricanes wanted a brand new chief of their resurgent program. Miami employed longtime Davis assistant Larry Coker, however what if that they had employed another person?

Miami president Tad Foote was on his method out and Donna Shalala was on her method in. Shalala didn’t begin her function as Miami president till June 1, 2001. Shalala had a connection to Wisconsin Badgers head coach Barry Alvarez from their shared time at Wisconsin-Madison.

Alvarez interviewed however ultimately handed on the Miami job earlier than the 2001 season. After deliberation he determined Wisconsin could be his last teaching put up, not Miami. The Hurricanes moved on and promoted Larry Coker whereas Alvarez stayed at Wisconsin by way of his full-time retirement after the 2005 season.

Alvarez took over at UW after 5 straight losings seasons for the Badgers. Beneath Alvarez, the Badgers had unprecedented success with three Rose Bowl wins (the college’s solely Rose Bowl wins in historical past) and 4 double-digit win seasons (the primary 4 at school historical past).

Alvarez and Miami had some historical past as he was the previous LB coach and defensive coordinator below Lou Holtz at Notre Dame from 1987-1989. The previous Nebraska linebacker and highschool coach completed 1-2 towards Miami together with the “Catholics vs. Convicts” sport that pushed ND right into a Nationwide Championship in 1988.

Alvarez was often called a strict disciplinarian and defensive minded soccer coach, very like Davis. Alvarez wished to run a floor and pound offense predicated on the operating game- additionally very like Davis.

Alvarez was additionally good at discovering teaching expertise: his early coordinators have been Brad Childress and Dan McCarney. Wisconsin additionally ran the Miami 4-3 protection which might’ve been a straightforward transition for the ‘Canes as nicely.

Alvarez’s 1999 and 2000 Badgers groups had 13 and 14 NFL gamers on them together with guys like long-time NFL backup Jim Sorgi, Chris Chambers, Lee Evans and Ron Dayne on offense and Jamar Fletcher on protection.

The Quarterback

Alvarez had been used to strong school QB’s like Sorgi and Brooks Bollinger however nobody as heady as Ken Dorsey. In a ball management offense Dorsey averaged 8.3 yards per try with 23 TD’s in 2001. Dorsey threw 86 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in three plus years as a starter.

Protected wager Alvarez would’ve saved Larry Coker on board and given him extra of the identical function. Handle the sport, hit these deep play-action photographs off of turnovers and massive runs, don’t screw up a very good factor.

The Expertise

Whereas the Badgers had been used to good school RB’s like Dayne and Michael Bennett, they weren’t working with a backfield foursome of Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, and Najeh Davenport. That group scored 21 instances and future NFL RB Jarrett Payton was the fifth member of the band with two scores of his personal.

Picture by Kirk Mckoy/Los Angeles Occasions through Getty Pictures

At WR, the Badgers did have NFL expertise in Lee Evans and Chris Chambers, however not a future HOF WR like Andre Johnson. As a sophomore, Johnson hauled in 10 TD’s on 18.4 yards per catch. We all know the Huge Ten loves TE’s and Jeremy Shockey would’ve given Alvarez the texture good feeling together with his seven TD’s.

Kevin Beard and Ethenic Sands mixed for three TD’s on about 15 yards per seize.

The offensive line

For the 2001 season Miami put collectively a really midwestern fashion offensive line with Bryant McKinnie at left sort out. The ‘Canes had Martin Bibla, Brett Romberg, and Joaquin Gonzalez on the road as well- all with NFL contracts of their future.

Miami allowed solely 4 sacks on your complete season. The offense scored 43.2 PPG which was good for third in FBS.

The Protection

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The Miami protection allowed solely 9.4 PPG, clearly the finest within the nation that season. Miami scored seven instances on protection whereas posting:

109 TFLs, 39 sacks, 27 INT’s, 60 PBU’s 26 FF’s, 3 blocked kicks and a security.

The protection was led by NFL HOF security Ed Reed and his 9 INT’s. The ‘Canes protection had almost each starter on an NFL roster sooner or later of their profession.

DJ Williams, Jon Vilma, Mike Rumph and Phillip Buchannon all had strong NFL careers after their taking part in days at Miami. Evidently a defensive head coach like Alvarez would’ve liked this group and since he ran the same 4-3 protection I doubt he would’ve had points transitioning to the Miami roster.

Making use of Wisconsin to Miami

An elite, workhorse fashion operating again, a sport supervisor QB, a dominant O-Line, and a stingy 4-3 protection have been all staples of each the Alvarez Badgers and Davis Hurricanes. Check out the Rose Bowl from 1999. Wisconsin beats that very same UCLA squad Miami beat in ‘98 38-31.

Ron Dayne scores 4 touchdowns on his method to his first Rose Bowl MVP award and the Badgers gained their 2nd Rose Bowl below Alvarez. Very similar to within the sport towards Miami a month earlier, each groups allowed 1,000 whole yards in a excessive scoring affair for the late 90’s.

What if…

Barry Alvarez isn’t fairly the character of Mike Leach or Lane Kiffin, two beforehand mentioned “what if” coaches. Leach was a storyteller whereas Lane is a social media person whereas Alvarez was old skool Huge Ten soccer. Nonetheless, that very same old skool mentality that labored for Davis in 2000 may’ve labored for Alvarez in 2002.

Discover I didn’t say 2001. My Auntie Rae may’ve gained the natty with that 2001 workforce. However it was about conserving the workforce dialed in in 2002 that led to the eventual downfall of Miami and Larry Coker.

A tough-ass disciplinarian might need butted heads in ‘01, however he would’ve saved the prepare on the tracks by way of the 2005 season. These close to loss kind video games in 2001 to Virginia Tech and Boston School would possibly nonetheless have occurred, however would the eventual collapsing in blowouts to LSU have occurred?

In the long run Miami handed on Alvarez in 1995, and he then handed on the ‘Canes in 2001- so the Barry Alvarez and Miami connection by no means occurred.