After the 2001 Sugar Bowl, Butch Davis abruptly left the Hurricanes for the NFL and Miami was in need of a new head coach. Rumors swirled that coach might be one Barry Alvarez.
The Miami Hurricanes were coming off of an 11-1 season including 10 straight wins with three coming at the hands of the no.1, no.2, and no.7 teams in the country. The 2000 ‘Canes, coached by Butch Davis, were 2nd in PPG and 7th in PPG allowed of the 116 FBS teams at the time.
However, Butch Davis left Miami for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL and the Hurricanes needed a new leader of their resurgent program. Miami hired longtime Davis assistant Larry Coker, but what if they had hired someone else?
Miami president Tad Foote was on his way out and Donna Shalala was on her way in. Shalala didn’t start her role as Miami president until June 1, 2001. Shalala had a connection to Wisconsin Badgers head coach Barry Alvarez from their shared time at Wisconsin-Madison.
Alvarez interviewed but eventually passed on the Miami job before the 2001 season. After deliberation he decided Wisconsin would be his final coaching post, not Miami. The Hurricanes moved on and promoted Larry Coker while Alvarez stayed at Wisconsin through his full-time retirement after the 2005 season.
Alvarez took over at UW after five straight losings seasons for the Badgers. Under Alvarez, the Badgers had unprecedented success with three Rose Bowl wins (the school’s only Rose Bowl wins in history) and four double-digit win seasons (the first four in school history).
Alvarez and Miami had some history as he was the former LB coach and defensive coordinator under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame from 1987-1989. The former Nebraska linebacker and high school coach finished 1-2 against Miami including the “Catholics vs. Convicts” game that pushed ND into a National Championship in 1988.
Alvarez was known as a strict disciplinarian and defensive minded football coach, much like Davis. Alvarez wanted to run a ground and pound offense predicated on the running game- also much like Davis.
Alvarez was also good at finding coaching talent: his early coordinators were Brad Childress and Dan McCarney. Wisconsin also ran the Miami 4-3 defense which would’ve been an easy transition for the ‘Canes as well.
Alvarez’s 1999 and 2000 Badgers teams had 13 and 14 NFL players on them including guys like long-time NFL backup Jim Sorgi, Chris Chambers, Lee Evans and Ron Dayne on offense and Jamar Fletcher on defense.
The Quarterback
Alvarez had been used to solid college QB’s like Sorgi and Brooks Bollinger but no one as heady as Ken Dorsey. In a ball control offense Dorsey averaged 8.3 yards per attempt with 23 TD’s in 2001. Dorsey threw 86 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in three plus years as a starter.
Safe bet Alvarez would’ve kept Larry Coker on board and given him more of the same role. Manage the game, hit those deep play-action shots off of turnovers and big runs, don’t screw up a good thing.
The Skills
While the Badgers had been used to good college RB’s like Dayne and Michael Bennett, they weren’t working with a backfield foursome of Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, and Najeh Davenport. That group scored 21 times and future NFL RB Jarrett Payton was the 5th member of the band with two scores of his own.
Photo by Kirk Mckoy/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
At WR, the Badgers did have NFL talent in Lee Evans and Chris Chambers, but not a future HOF WR like Andre Johnson. As a sophomore, Johnson hauled in 10 TD’s on 18.4 yards per catch. We know the Big Ten loves TE’s and Jeremy Shockey would’ve given Alvarez the feel good feeling with his seven TD’s.
Kevin Beard and Ethenic Sands combined for three TD’s on about 15 yards per grab.
The offensive line
For the 2001 season Miami put together a very midwestern style offensive line with Bryant McKinnie at left tackle. The ‘Canes had Martin Bibla, Brett Romberg, and Joaquin Gonzalez on the line as well- all with NFL contracts in their future.
Miami allowed only four sacks on the entire season. The offense scored 43.2 PPG which was good for 3rd in FBS.
The Defense
Set Number: X64293 TK4 R2 F20
The Miami defense allowed only 9.4 PPG, clearly the best in the nation that season. Miami scored seven times on defense while posting:
109 TFLs, 39 sacks, 27 INT’s, 60 PBU’s 26 FF’s, 3 blocked kicks and a safety.
The defense was led by NFL HOF safety Ed Reed and his nine INT’s. The ‘Canes defense had nearly every starter on an NFL roster at some point in their career.
DJ Williams, Jon Vilma, Mike Rumph and Phillip Buchannon all had solid NFL careers after their playing days at Miami. Needless to say a defensive head coach like Alvarez would’ve loved this group and since he ran a similar 4-3 defense I doubt he would’ve had issues transitioning to the Miami roster.
Applying Wisconsin to Miami
An elite, workhorse style running back, a game manager QB, a dominant O-Line, and a stingy 4-3 defense were all staples of both the Alvarez Badgers and Davis Hurricanes. Take a look at the Rose Bowl from 1999. Wisconsin beats that same UCLA squad Miami beat in ‘98 38-31.
Ron Dayne scores four touchdowns on his way to his first Rose Bowl MVP award and the Badgers won their 2nd Rose Bowl under Alvarez. Much like in the game against Miami a month earlier, both teams allowed 1,000 total yards in a high scoring affair for the late 90’s.
What if…
Barry Alvarez isn’t quite the character of Mike Leach or Lane Kiffin, two previously discussed “what if” coaches. Leach was a storyteller while Lane is a social media user while Alvarez was old school Big Ten football. However, that same old school mentality that worked for Davis in 2000 could’ve worked for Alvarez in 2002.
Notice I didn’t say 2001. My Auntie Rae could’ve won the natty with that 2001 team. But it was about keeping the team dialed in in 2002 that led to the eventual downfall of Miami and Larry Coker.
A hard-ass disciplinarian might have butted heads in ‘01, but he would’ve kept the train on the tracks through the 2005 season. Those near loss type games in 2001 to Virginia Tech and Boston College might still have happened, but would the eventual collapsing in blowouts to LSU have happened?
In the end Miami passed on Alvarez in 1995, and he then passed on the ‘Canes in 2001- so the Barry Alvarez and Miami connection never happened.