Legendary former Miami Hurricanes assistant Don Soldinger tells Alex Donno and Bruce Warner what similarities he sees between these Canes and the teams of the late 90's that helped bring The U back to prominence.
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00:00 Do you see any similarities to, let's say, the Canes teams that you were coaching on
00:06 mid to late 90s, right?
00:08 When the tides were starting to turn towards what ended up being the 2001 championship
00:13 team.
00:14 And honestly, Miami could have won a couple more championships with that group, because
00:18 in 2000 and '02, they were so, so close.
00:21 Do you see similarities to the way things are now trending?
00:24 Well, you know, yes, no question about it.
00:27 I mean, I've been following this since I got let go, basically.
00:33 That's what I've been doing is following it on TV and things.
00:36 Not like insanely, but I've been following it pretty closely.
00:41 And this is the first time I've seen it where things are starting to-- there's still a lot
00:47 of work to do.
00:48 Don't get me wrong.
00:49 I mean, they can do it.
00:52 They can make tweaks in their defense, tweaks in their offense.
00:56 There's still a lot of work.
00:57 But these guys-- you know, it's funny.
01:00 I ran in at the Palmetto game.
01:01 I ran into two guys.
01:03 I don't know if it was Taylor, the defensive line.
01:05 I think it might have been, because he was-- you know, Palmetto game.
01:08 But there were two offensive linemen there and stuff like that.
01:12 And they're wearing UM shirts, and they're proud as peacocks, you know?
01:15 I mean, the kids are taking a lot of pride.
01:17 I think the leadership on the team is starting to take fruition.
01:24 You know, you never really saw it before.
01:27 What you saw-- and I was taking classes to renew my high school certificate.
01:33 And everything-- all the kids that were athletes, they were in little bubbles.
01:37 I mean, it was about them.
01:39 It was about not team, about not each other.
01:42 And I see that changing, too.
01:44 They care about each other.
01:46 They're taking pride in doing well.
01:49 And that's really typical of the running back room.
01:51 You know, when they get in there, everybody's
01:53 trying to outdo the other guy.
01:55 And that's what makes you good, the competition.
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