Is Miami Hurricanes head coach Al Golden hoping to get out of his contract with the University of Miami if the NCAA hands down crippling sanctions related to the Nevin Shapiro scandal? His agent Brett Senior seems to hint so in an interview with CBSSports.com, and suggests that Golden may be looking to renegotiate his contract at the end of this season, possibly, so he could easily slip out of the job.
To Golden's credit, the school did not inform him of any NCAA investigation when he was hired even though the school had such information at the time. However, Golden has seen mixed success on the field (a 4-4 record and an early exit out of the ACC race ain't much to brag about), he has been credited for handling the situation with gravitas. Until now that is.
Senior says that Golden, who is under a five-year contract worth somewhere around $10 million, is not happy about the situation.
"I've got the feeling they'll [Miami] do the right thing," Senior told CBS.
"We'll evaluate all options," Senior continued. "You only have so many bites at the apple."
"We've got to get sort of a feel for what the NCAA implications might be. Those kind of things may take a fairly long time ... [You] certainly expect that something is going to come down. It certainly can debilitate a program at least a couple of years."
That's sort of a scary quote. If Senior thinks that the sanctions could be crippling, its fair to say that Golden, who is in a position to have an idea of whats happening, thinks so to. And to a Canes fan, that's not comforting.
Senior however adds that no contract renegotiations will be made until after the season, and indicated that the school came to Golden about the possibility of new contract talks.
"He takes it as another challenge," Senior says. "I know he was teed off. He had come there with great aspirations, the way recruiting class was shaping up. He likes to coach football and likes to lead young men. This is something he shouldn't have had to deal with and should have been made aware of. It was tough. You get distractions you don't need. To compete at that level, is tough enough. You don't need one hand tied behind our back."
There's also mass speculation that Golden may one day like to follow Joe Paterno at Penn State, his Alma mater.
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