My take on Donna Shalala retirement in June 2015

I've had two days to digest this and I want to give my take on Donna's decision to step down.

Make no mistake, what she's done for the University of Miami on the fundraising and academic side has been remarkable. That's not in question here.

However, from an athletics perspective, there are some black marks here.

1. Allowing the CANES to leave the Orange Bowl for Sun Life Stadium. That was a HUGE mistake because the negotiations with the City were botched. We waited too long and the City decided to focus on the Marlins instead. She should have been more proactive on this and wasn't. The move to Sun Life in 2008 was because there was hope that moving out of the OB and into SLS would boost our fan base and be more of a recruiting tool. It turned out to be a HUGE mistake which is the biggest black mark on her presidency.
2. The Football program. On Donna's watch, these are the facts. 
• One National title (2001)
• Another National title game appearance (2002)
• 3 Big East titles (last being 2003)
• 0 ACC titles, let alone no ACC Championship game appearances (joined in 2004)
• 3 10 win seasons (last being in 2003)
• 3 different Head Coaches (Coker, Shannon, Golden) on her watch
• No Major Bowl games since 2003.
3. Giving long term extensions to coaches that were unproven (Coker, Shannon, and Golden)
4. Being a micro-manager in reference to the Football Program and Athletics Department in general in reference to hiring on the cheap. 

To me, the next President, and hopefully it'll be Condoleezza Rice, needs to get a few things addressed.

1. Make the Football program priority #1 on the agenda again. 
2. Settle the stadium issue 
1. Do we want to stay at Sun Life for the foreseeable future?
2. Would a new president revisit the idea of sharing a new stadium with Beckham and MLS? (i.e. closer to campus would be the benefits for UM). 
3. A new president, would do a top to bottom review of what's going on in those buildings (Schwartz and Hecht). 
1. A new president will want his/her own people running things in to run things in there.
2. Would a new president keep current AD Blake James? or would he/she want a new voice running things in the Hecht Center? 
3. Would the new president allow Golden or whoever the next coach is to have total autonomy on the Football program without having to look over the shoulder from the Ashe Building? 

Its some unsettled times at the U from now until June when Donna leaves. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.