Al Golden, Miami may rework deal
The former Temple football coach denied a report that he wants to shorten a five-year contract.
MIAMI - With four weeks left in the season, and the NCAA investigation into Miami's relationship with former booster Nevin Shapiro expected to linger for several months, the fear by Hurricanes fans that football coach Al Golden will depart prematurely grows daily.
Golden did not want to talk about his contract or a report Tuesday quoting his agent saying there had been "overtures made" by Miami about redrawing his five-year deal. But that agent, Brett Senior, told the Miami Herald that Golden, who left Temple for Miami in December, will honor his contract and is determined to bring a national championship back to Miami.
"Al is not going anywhere, OK?" said Senior, a close friend of Golden's who has been his agent since Golden's last season at Penn State in 1991. "He is so committed. All he talks to me about is how great the players are and how much he loves them. He loves his home here. His family loves it here.
"He's got a five-year contract. He's there to honor the contract. He's the real thing."
Later Tuesday, Miami athletic director Shawn Eichorst addressed the media for the first time since the Shapiro scandal broke in August.
"He and I are in this for the long haul," Eichorst said of Golden. Eichorst would not elaborate about the NCAA investigation, Golden's contract, or whether the university could self-impose a bowl ban this season.
Golden was broadsided by the Miami scandal after Yahoo! Sports reported in mid-August about convicted Ponzi-schemer Shapiro and the impermissible benefits he doled out to dozens of Miami players from 2002 through 2010. Golden said Miami never warned him about the NCAA investigation when he was hired in December.
Regarding Golden's contract, CBSSports.com reported Tuesday that Senior said "we've got options available to us," when the reporter asked about "an escape clause in the current deal."
Senior would not discuss any details about Golden's contract, and said he was talking "generically" about the subject.
When Golden was asked during his weekly news conference about the reported contract-related "overtures," he said: "No. 1, I have to talk to my agent. I really don't want to get into that right now. I just want to focus on Duke.
"We have our hands full with what these guys present us on offense, defense, and special teams. If you want to say I'm sideswiping it, I am. I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about Duke and our football team."
Senior said Golden is "singularly focused."
"This was his destination job and nothing has changed. He determined to make it work," Senior said.
The agent did say, however, that it was "unsettling to say the least that he [Golden] was not informed" about the NCAA investigation before he was hired.
"In my opinion, I have to question the professionalism of that," Senior said. "You would think something of that significance would have been known by more than one person.
"We don't know what's going on with the NCAA. We have no idea. And I don't think the university knows. All I know is they love him, they told him they're committed to him and they will do whatever it takes to support him through this because it wasn't his making. I have to believe they see what this guy is all about."
Miami Trustee Paul DiMare, who chairs the Miami athletic advisory committee and was integral in the hiring of Golden, said Tuesday he was thrilled with the job Golden was doing and "would love to see him stay on for as long as we can keep him."
"He's a Bear Bryant type of guy," Paul DiMare said. "We need some continuity. As far as I'm concerned, he's our guy."
DiMare wouldn't talk about contract details, but said he wasn't worried about the coach departing in light of possible NCAA sanctions.
"Knowing the history of most coaches, I'd worry," DiMare said. "Knowing the history of this person and his character, I don't worry about it. You can never know what's going to happen in the future, but I think he has handled himself better than any coach I've ever seen, with little fanfare.
"You couldn't deal with a better person."