After Andre Johnson caught a touchdown prior to halftime of the Ravens-Texans Monday night game, analyst and former coach Jon Gruden began praising Miami.
Introducing what seemed to be a prepared piece by ESPN, Chucky said that the 2001 Miami team was the best college football team ever. Other running backs on that Miami team were Frank Gore, Clinton Portis, and Najeh Davenport. Just running down a few teams that have stood out, the ’95 Nebraska team dominated their opponents more than Miami did, same with the ’71 Nebraska team. Al Golden, who was introduced Monday evening as the Hurricanes' new head football coach.
Golden gave Hocutt, UM's athletic director, the book during a two-hour meeting last Monday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Skimming through the pages, Hocutt said he was won over by Golden's attention to detail.
"Al had gone the extra mile," Hocutt said. Hocutt was Ohio University's athletic director during Golden's first three seasons at Temple, but the men had never met despite both schools playing in the Mid-American Conference.
Leavitt was Kansas State's linebackers coach while Hocutt was an all-Big 8 linebacker for the Wildcats.
"You've got to talk with this guy," Leavitt told Hocutt.
"It's a dream job,' Golden said on Monday during a packed news conference on UM's campus. "I'm the luckiest coach in America today."
Several spoke with Hocutt, including Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, Connecticut's Randy Edsall and Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville.
One person who was never a contender for the job, according to Hocutt, was Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach turned ESPN broadcaster. Hocutt scoffed at published reports that Gruden was on the verge of becoming the Hurricanes' coach.
"He's a big fan of the Hurricanes," Hocutt said. While Gruden was never a serious candidate, Hocutt lamented that the rumors connecting the Super Bowl-winning coach to the Miami job "raised the level of expectations" of UM fans.