Golden's task at Miami starts with recruiting

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Al Golden was hired from Temple to get Miami back on track, and he saw firsthand Friday that he has a difficult job to do.

Another disappointing season ended with a wasn't-that-close 33-17 loss to Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl, sending the Hurricanes to a 7-6 finish.

Plans already are being made for Miami to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its 2001 national championship over the coming year. But memories of those great moments might be fading more each day around "The U."

Golden was given a five-year contract with the full knowledge that the Hurricanes' fan base has no visions of waiting that long for a return to national prominence. He has been concentrating on recruiting since taking the job.

Miami will have new coordinators on both sides of the ball, with Golden bringing Mark D'Onofrio from Temple with him to run the defense. The offensive coordinator job is likely to be filled in the coming days.

"We've been busy," Golden said during the CBS telecast of the Sun Bowl. "We hit the road running here. First couple of weeks, I didn't get a chance to coach on the field yet, but we've been evaluating everybody as a general manager, so to speak, fixing the operation and getting the recruiting going.

"I think we have to bring an attitude, bring an energy and passion level back to where the expectation is for Miami," he said.

From the start of 2001 through the end of 2005, Miami lost seven games, matching Texas for the fewest in the country over the span. From 2006 through 2010, Miami went just 34-26 - the 53d-best record in the nation out of 120 major-college programs, a stretch marked by no conference championships, no Bowl Championship Series berths, and the firings of two head coaches.