For my entire time at Miami, I have been patiently awaiting the end of the Kyle Wright era. Like most fans, we hung on to a false hope that Kyle would turn that corner and become the player, and most importantly the leader, we all needed.
Well rejoice fellow Hurricane fans. We now usher in the era of Robert Marve.
Wait. What? He’s not playing? He did what? In the Grove? On Halloween?
Much to my dismay, I received a text message from one of my friends at Notre Dame. “Your school’s a bunch of animals, did they suspend you too?” I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Every college football season, it seems there is a laundry list of players from our team that are either suspended or ineligible to play because of disciplinary action.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen a player and a former player murdered, two others shot at, a bench-clearing brawl, and countless suspensions. With such a highly covered football program, the problem is that the entire world has seen all this too.
This year has been no different. Seven players including Marve were suspended for our first game on Thursday. Although the game was not nationally televised, the news of the suspensions was.
I’m not blaming Randy Shannon or anyone in the organization for the amount of suspensions. Randy Shannon is a rule guy, and if players are being suspended that means that he is holding true to his nature.
As the season progresses we will see how many suspensions are handed out. With such a young team, this is Shannon’s chance to turn our program around. Restore glory and win a title, sure. But more importantly, this is his opportunity to make Miami a top-notch program again, and it starts with fostering such ideals in his young core.
So yes, this is the dawn of the Marve era (and perhaps the Harris era after the effort Jacory put in on Thursday), but this may also be a sign of a more disciplined and focused team.
Matt Mullin is a senior majoring in journalism and creative writing.