Alonzo Highsmith played for the Miami Hurricanes from 1983 to 1986. He’s a proud alum of the school after playing for the program during its heyday.
Highsmith currently works as a scout for the Green Bay Packers, but he keeps a close eye on his alma mater.
According to former running back, the blame for a 6-6 season doesn’t fall on head coach Al Golden. Highsmith told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel‘s David Hyde that it’s a systematic problem that starts at the top of the university:“Sometimes I think maybe the administration doesn’t want football to get back to the national brand. We’re where we want to be academically, climbing higher and higher. We don’t want football to be at the forefront. Let’s give them the minimal amount to play and put them in [Sun Life Stadium] on Saturday.
“That’s why I’m not dumping on Al Golden. I know, yeah, we’re never happy with 6-6. Never. But we’re not playing on the same level that all the teams in the playoff right now. We’re a lower-tier college trying to play big-boy football in the year 2014.
“We’ve been driving this same car 30-something years since I left. Now the tires are all flat. Now the paint is gone. But yet we keep putting new drivers in the same car — Al Golden, Randy Shannon — and expecting it to go the same 200 mph.”
More than any point in college football history, the sport is emerged in an arms race. It simply isn’t about recruiting the best talent anymore. Miami regularly signs talented recruiting classes. Programs around the nation are now trying to outdo each other in regards to facilities, uniforms and all of the ancillary aspects of a football team.
As Highsmith pointed out, Miami lags in the these areas, and he’s trying to raise money to upgrade each of them.
It starts with a 27-year old stadium that the Hurricanes can’t fill. The practice field is below par. Highsmith said renovations are desperately needed, and the program can’t continue to live off its past success:“Our problem is the foundation and the direction of the program. Are we going to reinvest in it? Don’t tell me this bull crap about, ‘We won in the past like this.’ That’s like Richard Petty trying to win with race cars he ran 30 years ago. You can’t do it.”
“If we don’t fix what’s ailing this program right now, 10 years from now, we could be where FIU and those programs are. If we don’t fix this foundation, it won’t matter who’s coaching.”And that pretty much sums up the problems at “The U.”