On June 12, 1995, Sports Illustrated shocked the sports world by publishing an article written by Alexander Wolff with the title “Why the University of Miami should drop football”.

The article opened with the phrase, “Broken Beyond Repair.”

The diagnosis was to dismantle the football program in order to salvage the school’s reputation, calling the football team “a cancer that is steadily devouring an institution.”

After the ugly brawl that occurred last Saturday between Miami and Florida International, the debate brought up more than a decade ago deserves at the very least, be reopened for consideration.

It’s understood that with college athletics, certain ignorant stereotypes are bound to come up mostly by those in the world of academia and the whining over funds and credit normally goes something like this.

Athletes are dumb jock.

It’s not fair this football player is getting a scholarship over this 4.0 student.

It’s not fair this money is going into such a trivial department as athletics when it could be used for the business, biology or teaching programs. You get the idea.

Take all these opinions out of the equation because they aren’t relevant here.

The recent behavior at Miami stopped being funny years ago and now it’s combined with subpar performance. It was the national showcase of athletic talent that smokescreened the continuing problem that never got solved.

Make no mistake, if this incident had not occurred on a football field the 31 players involved and suspended from both schools would still be in jail. Miami’s Anthony Reddick used his helmet as a weapon and had he connected with somebody’s skull, he would’ve killed somebody. This was not a heat of the moment incident. This was gang warfare.

This is more than a habitual occurrence at Miami; this is a program that is representing its nickname perfectly. The Hurricanes are destroying themselves and everyone around them.

The university president Donna Shalala, athletic director Paul Dee and head coach Larry Coker have turned themselves into public relations mangers for punks and thugs. That’s all they’re successful at doing anymore. Instead of winning games, these have been the headlines in the past calendar year for Miami.

Coker recruited and signed linebacker Willie Williams. The in-state prospect has a police record that includes 11 arrests before stepping on the Coral Gables campus. He is allowing Williams to attend a university of higher education where they were those who didn’t believe (the state of Florida court system) he should be allowed out in public.

On New Years’ Eve, Miami and LSU players exchanged punches in the tunnel as they left the field last year after the Tigers’ 40-3 Peach Bowl victory, the Hurricanes’ most-lopsided bowl loss. I’m disgusted to think what the police reports read in South Beach when the Hurricanes got home the next day.

On July 21, an unidentified man fired gunshots to which Miami safety Brandon Meriweather returned fire. During the incident, Meriweather’s teammate, safety Willie Cooper, was shot in the buttocks.

Coker watched his team stomp on the Louisville logo last month before the game which caused a less violent brawl then as well.

The university has delivered its slap on the wrist garbage penalty (one game suspensions), the conference has raised the pot (two games) and now the NCAA and president Myles Brand has to make a stand and go all-in on what is now the most notorious bunch in all of college football. Banishment.

Take away the football program at Miami, strip away all the previous wins and championship banners from the program.

Take away every one of the 85 scholarships on the football team and make it so that if a school wants to employ Shalala, Dee or Coker, they will be facing several penalties beforehand. In short, send a message.

Look, I, like millions of other fans, journalists and forward thinkers believe

Brand needs to show the country that student-athletes cannot embrace the thuggery and excessive violent behavior on or off the playing field. Like a criminal without a conscious, the Hurricanes administration, coaching staff and players think they are above the law.

The world of college football is better off without Miami. Trust me, we won’t miss them if the “U” was gone.