Cincinnati's Tommy Tuberville says Al Golden was 'sacrificed' by Miami

Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville had an interesting take on Al Golden's short-lived and largely unsuccessful stay in Miami.

Over the course of four seasons and change, Golden's 32-25 record with the Hurricanes wasn't anywhere near good enough for sustained success, especially considering the power surge by in-state rivals Florida State and Florida.

But beyond the increased talent in the state, Tuberville knows that Golden took over the program in a time of turmoil. The long-time coach says that Golden was never given a clean slate to work with in Miami, and was fired before ever being able to coach the team at full strength.

"Al (Golden) was basically sacrificed," Tuberville said on SiriusXM College Sports Nation. "He inherited a tremendous mess and was cut back on scholarships. He never had the full allotment. They played as hard as any Miami team I’ve ever seen, and I coached there for almost 10 years."

Before the Cincinnati coach bounced around the NCAA as the coach of several high-profile programs, Tuberville's first hot-shot gig was when he served as Miami's assistant coach from 1986 to 1992. Over that span, Miami went a blistering 78-6, a mark that Tuberville knows Golden wasn't ever going to accomplish given the multitude of talent around the conference today.

"Will they ever get back to where Miami’s program was between ’83 and 2000?" Tuberville said. "That’s going to be very hard, because other teams have risen to the occasion in the state, and you add more teams in the state of Florida, USF, UCF, it’s just going to be hard. They’ve got very good football players."