Larry Coker

After the Hurricanes scored a touchdown in the first possession of overtime to take a 24–17 lead, Ohio State faced a 4th and 3 on the Miami 6-yard line that they needed to convert to keep the game alive.

Ohio State's quarterback Craig Krenzel again threw A Pass to Chris Gamble.

This pass fell to the ground, and Coker and the Miami coaching staff went on to the field, celebrating what they believed was their 2nd straight national championship.

Instead, after about a 4-second delay, official Terry Porter took out a flag and called Miami defender Glenn Sharpe for pass interference.

As it turned out, Ohio State tied the game, and then won in the 2nd OT, 31–24.

The pass interference call remains controversial to this day.

Miami fans argue that the flag should not have been called, especially at the end of a national title game and especially after a 4-second delay.

Ohio State fans argue that the pass interference call was legitimate, and further argue that the Buckeyes would have won in regulation if Gamble had been called in bounds on his previous catch.

Years later, Coker would admit he was still bitter about the call and wondered if he would have gotten fired if he had 2 national titles rather than 1.

Larry Edward Coker (born June 23, 1948) is a former American football coach and player.

In the process of winning the championship, Coker became the third head coach since 1948 to win the national championship in his first season.

In 1971 Coker became the head coach of the Fairfax Red Devils and won two Oklahoma State football titles in a just a few years.

He also coached several award-winning players, including Jodi Tillman, George Pease III, Craig Lance, and Oklahoma Football player of the year Arthur Crosby.

After Butch Davis was hired by the NFL's Cleveland Browns, Coker, previously the offensive coordinator, was promoted to head coach.

Options for a new head coach were limited because Davis announced his decision to leave when it was nearly February and the Miami administration's first two choices for the coaching position, Dave Wannstedt and Barry Alvarez, turned the job down.

In addition, many Hurricane players, especially Ed Reed, were lobbying for Coker's promotion.

Coker had several successful seasons as offensive coordinator over nearly a decade from 1983 to 1993.

He is most known for coaching RBs Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State, and Jeremy Shockey, Andre Johnson, Bryant McKinnie, and Edgerrin James at Miami.

All went on to become Pro-Bowlers in the NFL.

He was Miami's offensive coordinator from 1995 to 2000 before taking over as head coach following the departure of Butch Davis to the Cleveland Browns of the NFL.

They believed that not changing the team's system would be the key to winning the title that had evaded them in 2000.

The Hurricanes had been edged out of the BCS Championship Game the year before despite being ranked No. 2 in both the final AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll and having defeated BCS No. 2 Florida State.

Coker had immediate success as head coach, guiding the Hurricanes to a 12–0 record and the national championship in his first season after dominating a Frank Solich-led Nebraska Cornhuskers team in the Rose Bowl.

For his efforts, Coker was given numerous honors, including the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award and the AFCA Coach of the Year.

He served as the head football coach of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2006 and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) from 2011 to 2016.

Coker's 2001 Miami team was named the consensus national champion after an undefeated season that culminated with a victory in the Rose Bowl over Nebraska.

The Hurricanes won their first 12 games in 2002, extending a winning streak that dated back to the 2000 season to 34 games and giving Coker an unblemished 24–0 record heading into the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game.

Even at the time, some people doubted how much credit Coker deserved for his start, believing that other coaches might have been able to accomplish the same thing with the talent he inherited.

In 2003, things took a different turn when a pair of late-season losses kept Miami out of the BCS National Championship Game for the first time during Coker's tenure, already showing some signs of decay as the Coker tenure went on.

(Bennie Oosterbaan from the University of Michigan and Dennis Erickson of the University of Miami were the last two head coaches to accomplish this feat.) Coker was fired by Miami on November 24, 2006, following his sixth loss that season.

After a stint as a television analyst for ESPNU, he became head coach for the University of Texas at San Antonio, whose Roadrunners football team began play in 2011.

The 11½-point underdog Ohio State Buckeyes stunningly lead the Hurricanes 17–7 heading into the 4th quarter.

After Miami cut the lead to 17–14, star Miami tailback Willis McGahee suffered a leg injury that saw him leave the game in what turned out to be his final college game.

He resigned as UTSA coach on January 5, 2016.

Coker has served as an assistant at several universities, including Ohio State University, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University.

Late in the quarter, with the Hurricanes still down 17–14, Ohio State faced a 3rd and 8 deep on their own side of the field.

Buckeyes receiver Chris Gamble caught A Pass that would have gotten the Buckeyes a key first down, but officials ruled he was out of bounds.

Many people felt Gamble had made the catch in bounds, especially after seeing the replay.

The Buckeyes were forced to punt, and the Hurricanes returned the punt all the way to the Buckeyes' 25-yard line.

The Ohio State defense shut down the Miami offense, forcing the Canes to kick a FG that brought the game into overtime.