Florida International’s rocky, choppy climb to the upper crust of the Sun Belt Conference hit quite the snag last fall, sending the Golden Panthers down multiple pegs just as the program heads into its debut season as a member of Conference USA.
This coming year has all the makings of a rebuilding season: FIU has a new coach, new players and a new league, three factors that contribute to the general sense of impending doom surrounding this team as it enters offseason conditioning. The new coach is not Butch Davis, by the way, but rather Ron Turner, the ex-Illinois coach who spent the last eight seasons in the NFL before returning to the college game.
The slide happened overnight, it seems. After reaching back-to-back bowl bids from 2010-11, FIU dropped to 3-9 in 2012, its final season under Mario Cristobal. (Cristobal has since landed on his feet as Alabama’s offensive line coach.) Only a late-season win against Florida Atlantic saved FIU from tying South Alabama for last place in the Sun Belt – and tying for last place in the Sun Belt effectively makes you one of the five or six worst teams in college football, most would say.
Unfortunately, the climb back to relevancy won’t occur with the same velocity. FIU is staring at another multiple-year rebuilding project, and that must sting for a fan base that very recently believed such days were a thing of the past.
from usatoday.com
freddy from boca
fiu is projected to win 3 games this year.
· 11/12/2019