The 42-35 loss on Saturday to Virginia Tech was the breaking point for Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz.

At least when it comes to his role helping coach the defense.

Diaz had taken more of a hands-off position on D after taking over as head coach this year, with newly hired coordinator Blake Baker handling the play calling on that side of the ball and Ephraim Banda named co-defensive coordinator.

But after watching his defense give up a final TD drive that cost the Canes the game on Saturday ... and seeing the defense completely lose tight ends on several plays while also being susceptible to the QB keeper ... Diaz said on 560 AM Monday morning that he's taking on a new role on defense.

“I made some changes yesterday, am going to change my role in coaching the defense,” Diaz said. “The players were made aware of that yesterday I’m not going to get into any details of what that means, that’ll be internal for the rest of the week and going forward.

“My connection with the defense will change here going forward.”

Diaz gave some hints as to why he’s making a change in how the defense will be run.

“We have some players we’ve counted on for a long time that played very poorly,” he said. “The thing that jumps out is attention to detail. Defense is all about being connected to one another, trusting each other … there are some things we’ve built here since 2016 that this group of players has allowed to evaporate. … There are some things I saw globally with defense that I can’t have (and) that’s something we have to get fixed.

“There’s not a lack of effort, they’re all trying, but you lose attention to detail and players play outside the framework of the way it’s designed it looks like the way it’s looking.”

Diaz added that “we’re going to get back to some fundamental truths on defense” and that “I don’t think our leadership has been as good as it should be.”

He also said that “I have great faith in our defensive staff, just sometimes you get a group of players for whatever reason they lack that connection to one another. I have to be that connection.”

And there was this grim assessment of what Diaz saw on defense after watching film of the loss: “What is completely unacceptable is the play of our defense. To play defense the way we were, to not be able to make a stop in sudden change situations. That’s been the part that has been, even in the North Carolina game, that’s been the most disappointment part to me.”

CaneSport's take

This is a very interesting development. And it'll be very interesting to see how this plays out with the team and staff (how does Blake Baker feel about this one? ... we'll find out later today when he talks to the media). Does Diaz simply plan to give more game day input? Is he going to spend more time on defensive game planning? Will he mainly work on the defensive side in practices now and not really have much input on Dan Enos' side? And most importantly will it make a difference for the defense, which really was put in some difficult situations early last game. The D definitely didn’t respond well and that was a key factor in the game. Overall this season it hasn't been that bad - UM is allowing 21.2 points and 283.0 yards per game. Diaz is hoping he can help make it a little better.