There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that head coach Al Golden led the University of Miami football program through one of its most tumultuous periods in history. Scholarship restrictions, bowl bans and probation were all part of an exhausting and difficult battle against the NCAA’s ruling following the Nevin Shapiro scandal.
In his fifth season in charge of the Hurricanes, Golden now faces a new type of battle, one against the pressure of excellence. For a storied program longing to relive the greatness of the teams from the ’80s and early 2000s, just making progress will no longer cut it.