Miami dismisses offensive coordinator Nix

Dec 30, 2008 - 2:58 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- The University of Miami fired Patrick Nix after two seasons as the Hurricanes' offensive coordinator, according to a published report Monday.

Miami, which lost to California in the Emerald Bowl, finished the season with a 7-6 mark. The Hurricanes struggled moving the ball, ranking 89th in the nation in total offense.

When asked if he was fired, Nix was blunt with the Miami Herald on Monday night.

"Yes, it's true," he said. "No sense in being sorry at all. I'm really thankful for this opportunity to have been here, really thankful to coach (Randy) Shannon, really thankful to president (Donna) Shalala and (athletic director) Kirby Hocutt for their support.

"But there were obvious philosophical differences between coach Shannon and I in offense. I wanted to be a little bit more wide open - no-huddle, spread out, go for it. And he wanted to be more two-back, conservative. It was a fine line in trying to balance the two - and not that one is better than the other, it's just a different philosophy. Both ways can win, just different philosophies."

Nix insisted that there was no bad blood between himself and Shannon.

"Coach Shannon did not fire me," he told the newspaper. "God closed the door and there will be another open for me down the road."