The outspoken former Canes All-American says he rants about UM football ‘from the heart’
In the days after North Carolina’s 62-26 drubbing of the Miami Hurricanes last December, a former UM star from the 1980s called me to complain about the state of the football program, while quickly adding that he didn’t want to be quoted on the record.
Joaquin Gonzalez, a turn-of-the-century UM standout, has no such reservations about harshly critiquing his alma mater’s storied football program, and doing it in the most public of ways.
Gonzalez is unique in this regard: He’s the only Canes All-American from the team’s glory years who doesn’t pull punches on social media.
In fact, he’s the only former player for any of our market’s most popular local teams who criticizes his team without a filter. Larry Csonka can be brutally blunt when the Dolphins are struggling. Bob Kuechenberg, before his death, often ripped the Dolphins. But there’s nobody like Gonzalez in this regard, at least not now.
Among some of his notable tweets over the past year:
▪ He said defensive coordinator Blake Baker shouldn’t bother flying home on the team plane from the bowl game loss to Oklahoma State in Orlando. Baker subsequently left for a lesser job at LSU (linebackers coach).
▪ After the hiring of Travaris Robinson as the new defensive backs coach, Gonzalez said: “So we hire a fired DB coach from the 101st-ranked defense last year [at South Carolina]? I’m pumped! We should just hire A.J. Machado the jeweler to be our new DC!”
▪ He tweeted: “Hopefully we can find another opponent other than Bama in the transfer portal to open 2021. The frustration is that there is so much right, but so much wrong!!!! Bothers when I hear Ed [Reed] is there, what’s going on? They can have God there, if Manny [Diaz] ain’t listening.. .what good is it?”
▪ After UNC’s blowout of Miami, Gonzalez said: “Those of you going to the Kansas City/Miami game... be aware of the stench of [expletive] still lingering at Hard Rock Stadium. Take a mask!”
So what does Gonzalez think about being the most outspoken former Canes standout on social media? He chuckles.
“I don’t care if people get upset what I say,” said Gonzalez, who was a first-team All-American offensive lineman in 2000 and 2001. “I say it from my heart. I know fans feel the exact way.”
He said nobody from UM has ever complained to him about his critical tweets and “I really don’t care if there’s blowback from UM. I’m at a point right now where I recognized a long time ago that I got my ring and have nothing left to prove at that institution.”
Because Gonzalez is affable by nature and gives to the UM program any way he is asked (including serving as a guest instructor at Paradise Camp this summer), he has maintained a good relationship with Canes coaches and the school’s administration through all of this. But he still is prone to emotional fits.
As he sat at home in January healing from a fourth ankle surgery — the same ankle that ended his career — he started getting worked up all over again about the 0-2 close to Miami’s 8-3 season.
“Our defense has been in complete decline in terms of every measurable,” Gonzalez said. “The scheme is not working. You tell me Oklahoma State has a 4th and 6 and you’re going to run cover 2? And I’m an offensive lineman and I know that! If something is not working out, are you going to keep using it? Why let Ephraim Banda go to Utah State? He should have been fired the day after the bowl game. It makes Manny look weak.
“I thought Manny was the right guy for the job. That question is no more answered than when he first got hired. I still don’t know. I hope he is. A lot of things make me question whether he’s the guy. I want him to succeed.
“Florida went through cycles; they were back up and good again. We’ve been in a 20-year cycle where we’ve sucked. How much longer? I just want to enjoy my Saturdays and talk [bleep] with friends from other schools.”
Months after making those comments, Gonzalez struck a more measured tone in a conversation after Paradise Camp in late June.
“Development has always been a question for a lot of years here,” he said. “Win the games that we’re supposed to win. Compete in the ones that we know we’re going to have a tough time. We don’t have to win those. Lose to Alabama by [expletive] 10, not by [expletive] 35. And compete and show that you belong to play an opponent like that. We haven’t seen that.”
Earlier this year, Gonzalez used Twitter to explain his approach:
“You may not like my satire, and I admit my love [for] Miami turns [to] apathy at times.. Wish I didn’t care as much! I bleed green and orange. I know how we won! So when year after year, you see and hear how certain things are being handled, it leaves you nothing more than frustrated.
“We, the fans, the kids wearing the U, need to expect more and settle for nothing less than excellence and that starts with how they are prepared and the commitment from those who lead. That includes everybody in the building. From the board on down.”
Gonzalez ended his tweet with these facts:
From 1983-2005: .821 winning% [in] regular season; .619 winning% [in] bowl games
From 2006-2020: .567 winning% [in] regular season; .083 winning% [in] bowl games
“So the only embarrassment has been our performance over the last 14 years,” he said. “How much longer must we wait?”
Gonzalez made clear after Paradise Camp that “I want them to show some progression, show some balls and [expletive] compete. We have the talent.”
And so Gonzalez stands alone — the most prominent former great player for a South Florida team — who harshly calls out his former team and challenges them to do better. And because he’s likable, he does it without burning bridges with UM. It’s a testament to his personality and credibility that he can pull that off.
AROUND THE DIAL
▪ Former UM coach Mark Richt — now an ACC Network studio analyst — updated his health in an interview with WQAM’s Joe Zagacki:
“On May 25, I formally got diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but I kind of already knew it as you go through the process of taking brain scans. I knew I was a little bit of a poster child with the motor symptoms. When the movement symptoms become apparent, you’ve probably had the disease for five to 10 years. I’m in Stage 1. I can pretty much do most everything I’ve done before. I just don’t do it as fast. Your brain has to tell your body what to do. Normally, you would get up and walk and not think about it.
“A lot of people stay in Stage 1 for 20 years or longer. That’s what I’m shooting for, to keep the quality of life all right.”
Richt said: “Even when I was coaching, I was experiencing a fatigue I had never experienced before. After that last season in Miami [2018], I knew something had to change. Time on Earth is short in comparison to eternity.... If you think about eternal things, it makes you feel a whole lot better.”
▪ Florida Panthers television voice Steve Goldstein was sharp in his debut as the Dolphins’ TV play-by-play voice. The Goldstein/Jason Taylor broadcast team already is the best the Dolphins have had in many years, far less prone to errors than previous crews.
▪ NBA schedule TV notes: If TV appearances are used as gauge of respect, I find it interesting that the Celtics got four ABC games, the Knicks three and Heat none. The Heat was better than Boston last year and had the better offseason.... Five of ABC’s seven Saturday night games feature Golden State (Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Lakers, Lakers, Bucks). While ABC last year opted for a prime time rematch of the Heat-Lakers Finals, ABC this season instead opted for Knicks-Lakers on a Saturday night in February....
But ESPN will carry Heat at Lakers Nov. 10, as well as Heat-Hornets Oct. 29, Heat-Bucks Dec. 8, Heat-Knicks Feb. 25, Heat-Celtics March 30... Heat TNT games: Nov. 2 at Dallas, Dec. 21 vs Pacers, Feb. 3 at Toronto (Lowry return), Feb. 10 at New Orleans, March 3 at Brooklyn... Golden State gets the most ABC games (6) and the Lakers get the most Turner games (13).
▪ The NBA will compete with the NFL on Christmas, with Golden State-Phoenix airing late afternoon and early evening against Cleveland Browns-Green Bay Packers and Brooklyn-Lakers competing at night with Indianapolis Colts-Arizona Cardinals.
▪ TNT”s opening night NBA doubleheader: Brooklyn-Milwaukee and Golden State-Lakers.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 4:29 PM.
