Mark Whipple reportedly offered OC position

Mark Whipple was spotted at Hecht Athletic Center on Friday (no doubt to be fitted for his future national championship ring) and was reportedly offered the OC spot by Miami. 

Whipple reportedly has stated he will make his decision by the end of the weekend. All setting up for a great Monday press conference for the U. We’ll have to wait and see.

Ken Norton as Potential DC

An interesting name has been branded about for Miami’s new defensive coordinator position, and is a very surprising candidate. Norton’s only DC experience was at Hamilton High in LA back in 2003. 

However, his USC resume speaks for itself. Linebackers coach since 2005, his list of All-Americans at the position reads like a college defensive Hall of Fame: Matt Grootegoed, Lofa Tatupu, Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga. Multiple All-Americans, All-Pac 10 teams, first round draft picks. He was a star as a player in college and the NFL, and he knows how to make stars of his players now. 

Norton is also known as a fantastic recruiter, and with his extremely strong SoCal ties, this could be absolutely fantastic guy for Miami to grab hold of. Miami has never been all that strong in the hotbed of Southern California, but Norton would definitely go towards changing that. Now, it’s not like players from SoCal are going to suddenly stop going to USC and move across the country to go to school, all because Norton came to Miami. It’s a proven fact that the number one factor in a recruit’s choice of school is proximity to home. If Norton can get one or two 4 star, or even one 5 star each recruiting season, from his former stomping grounds, that will be considered a success for Miami. And then unleash Norton and his boxing gloves on all of Florida, let him set these guys up, get ‘em all primed, and bam! In comes the Randy the closer to sign the deal. A perfect tandem to start bringing in loads upon loads of defensive talent. 

Now, we have to talk about the obvious con to hiring Norton. The guy has no play calling experience. I trust that Shannon knows what he is doing, but that does not mean we cannot question his thought process in bringing in a non-proven DC. Tim Walton was the same thing-a great position coach, trusted by Randy, and did a horrible job. Randy knew it, and got rid of him after year one. Norton obvsiouly has a better reputation, but still, he hasn’t been a play-caller. Perhaps Randy will assist in the DC duties behind the scenes, until Norton is up to speed. Something I don’t think will take long, with his great history as a player. But if he can start bringing in some 5 star LBs, more Dan Morgan’s, Jessie Armstead’s, and (ironically) Michael Barrow’s, it won’t matter and we’ll all end up happy with the results. 

With the OC search possibly over, although not yet official, grabbing Norton in the same week would be an incredible turn of events in the national PR department. Only last week all the Cane message boarders were up in arms, claiming Randy was in over his head. This should shut dem up nice and quick.

In the end, this D will run itself once it gets some players, and more importantly, some quality depth. Lets bring in Norton and his SoCal recruiting ties, start inching into ole Petey’s stomping grounds, sign this recruiting class, get all this shit over with, and start thinking about where to tailgate for the spring game!