Report: UM President Will Leave Al Golden Decision to Blake James

This news may be a little concerning to devout Miami Hurricanes fans.

Al Golden's status as head coach after the season will be in the hands of UM Athletic Director Blake James, not President Julio Frenk, according to the Miami Herald.

New UM president Julio Frenk twice has been asked about Golden's future during Board of Trustee meetings, including Thursday, and twice said he will leave the decision to athletic director Blake James, according to someone in attendance.

That's in line with Frenk's philosophy of giving his top administrators the power to make the decisions they are entrusted to make.

A high-level Trustee said he believes Golden will be in serious, serious jeopardy after the season without a strong finish over the final six games.

Golden is 32-24 (17-17 ACC) in his four-plus years at Miami and, even more concerning, 20-21 against power-conference opponents.

The Canes face an uphill battle to win the Coastal division. They already have an ACC loss (FSU) and face sixth-ranked Clemson on Saturday, with remaining road games against No. 23 Duke and No. 25 Pittsburgh. The Coastal division winner of the last five years had an average conference record of 6-2.

Next question: would winning the Coastal this season even be enough to wipe away the last four years?

As Vishnu Parasuraman noted this week, if James "wants to pretend that he understands Miami, he might want to stop holding up the sorry ass ACC Coastal as some sort of Holy Grail. How hard it is to amend that to winning the ACC?... At least aim high."

The noise can be simmered some with an upset on Saturday but with another loss to a high-caliber opponent -- especially at home -- the cries for Golden's departure will amplify to uncharted levels.

Follow Josh on Twitter @JoshBaumgard