Former Miami coach Al Golden is now an assistant with the NFL's Detroit Lions. He opened up to the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News and didn't exactly sound happy about his time with the Hurricanes.

"At the end of the day, I took the job without knowing that there was an impending NCAA investigation and eight months into it, it blew up and it took its toll at the end of the day, and that's it," Golden told the Free Press. "I haven't looked back since. I miss the players. I miss the people that were supportive of my family and I, the people that were friends. But other than that we've moved on and now I'm looking after a new group."

Golden said he was "burned out" by the job at Miami, where he struggled through four-plus seasons before being fired following a blowout loss to Clemson last season.

"I don't want to rehash that," Golden told the Detroit News about the end of his Miami tenure. "The way I look at it is it already took too much of my life, so I moved on."

As you might imagine, the comments haven't gone over particularly well with Miami fans who were more than happy to show Golden the door after he went winless against rival Florida State and failed to win more than nine games in any season.

From the State of the U blog:

Miami finally has a proven coach, not an upstart from Temple who is in over his head. There's a staff with a track record of success who will undo the mess that Golden did. Miami will play tough, play fast, and play in a way that was seldom, if ever seen, in the past 5 years.

In Golden's wake, Miami hired former Georgia head coach Mark Richt, who interestingly enough, has said he's felt reinvigorated by taking the job with the Hurricanes.

"Coach Richt is happy," said Miami QB coach -- and Richt's son -- Jon. "He's got a little pep in his step, and he's enjoying being here in Miami. He's excited to be [calling plays] again. For a long time, he called himself the highest-paid cheerleader in the country, and he hated it. Now he's back in the room and coaching. I've never seen someone game plan for a scrimmage so much. But he's having fun."

And that energy has been noticeable in the locker room. If Golden was burned out, Richt's enthusiasm has worn off on his players.

"He's leading them in a whole new way," Jon Richt said, "and the kids are loving it."