Last season was a rough one for the University of Miami football program. Defensive tackle Bryan Pata was shot and killed, the team brawled with Florida International during a game and, worst of all, they only went 7-6. It's long been the policy in Coral Gables that anything goes so long as the team wins but when they don't heads must roll. Larry Coker was let go and defensive coordinator Randy Shannon was elevated to head coach this winter. When he was hired, Shannon promised that he was "going have a lot of fun with" his new job. He's not wasting much time in making that prediction come true.
Shannon has invited Luther Campbell back into the program's fold. The 2 Live Crew frontman was a fixture during the Jimmy Johnson/Dennis Erickson years when he allegedly ran a "pay for play" program that rewarded Hurricane players with cash whenever they made a big play. Cambell denied the accusations but several players said Luke hooked them up and when Butch Davis took over the program, he threatened to go public with an admission if Ryan Collins wasn't named the team's starting quarterback. Once a fixture on the sidelines, Campbell became a persona non grata under the Davis and Coker regimes. But now he's back.
"Randy called the first recruiting day and said, `Luke, I want you to come down here.' And I said, 'You sure?' He said, 'Yeah.' Whatever I can do to help him out, I'm here for."
Campbell, aware UM had tried to distance itself from him, said, ''I understand they were trying to clean up their image, but I wasn't part of the problem. All I ever did was tell Jerome Brown, Melvin Bratton, Darrell Fullington to go in the right direction.'' But Campbell won't ask for a sideline pass: "It's too hot.''
Shannon played with Bratton and Brown as a linebacker for the 'Canes in the late '80's so he may well know Campbell by more than reputation. It's tough to argue with the idea. Miami used to be on the top of the college football dogpile when Campbell was a friend of the program. Teams around sports are always talking about trying to model their franchises after the Spurs and Patriots because of how successful those organizations have been. It's about time somebody realized just how good those old Hurricane teams were and tried to replicate their success.
I'm sure many of you are wondering how Luke's been spending his time since his exile from the U. He's been running an Optimist's Club in the Liberty City area of Miami. According to their website, Optimist's Clubs are about "bringing out the best in kids." Who better to do that than the man who once asked "What's wrong, baby doll, with a quick nut?" He can explain to them that nothing at all is wrong with it and then introduce them to a Hurricane football player.
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