The Onion A.V. Club:

I still don’t like those old Hurricane football teams, but “The U” at least gave me the context to understand them better and respect the source of their collective rage and swagger.

With his lightning-paced, pulpy documentaries Cocaine Cowboys and Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin With The Godmother, Corben has established himself as an energetic young chronicler of Miami’s criminal underworld. He’s both a hard-working journalist who can connect these vast and dangerous networks while keeping tabs on the city’s history and someone who clearly enjoys a good yarn, even if it tends to glorify some ugly, murderous behavior. (Corben’s inability to grasp the moral dimension of his subject matter resulted in a first film, Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent, that may be the most repugnant, exploitative documentary I’ve ever seen...)

Corben’s abiding interest in Miami’s seething underbelly makes him the perfect guy to tell the story of UM in the ‘80s; the neighborhoods that helped revitalize the moribund program are the very same that were ravaged by the poverty, drugs, violence, and racial animus detailed in the Cocaine Cowboys movies.

Adam Berger's editorial "Embrace the Past" in the UM Hurricane:

The film was superb and will make any ‘Canes fan proud of the program’s past, which makes the University of Miami’s official stance against the production so surprising and disappointing.

Instead of assisting director and UM alum Billy Corben in the making of the film the university turned a blind eye to one of its own, and in turn to an important era of the school’s history. There was absolutely no promotion for the documentary on campus.

Even the early viewing of the picture that was made available to students at Cosford Cinema spread by word of mouth and Facebook, not by school efforts. No one is saying that the school should have expended all of its resources in facilitating the film’s needs, but some basic mention of its existence would have been nice.

Regardless, Corben certainly proved that he didn’t need any help in creating a powerful window into UM’s past, but for the administration to basically denounce the entire thing as if it were a black sheep is straight up hypocritical.

For obvious reasons however, the University of Miami could not officially endorse the film. There certainly are some things highlighted in the documentary that any school would have a hard time celebrating.

Still, that doesn’t mean the school should have barred Randy Shannon from participating in the documentary. That doesn’t mean the school should have asked former players, coaches and athletic directors not to speak to Corben. And certainly that doesn’t mean that the university should have acted as if that entire era of football and UM history didn’t happen, because it did.

This film is something to be proud of, not ashamed of. Embrace your past Miami.