Manny Diaz era at Miami is over, Cristobal hiring up next

The embattled Miami Hurricanes coach, who fans were calling to be fired off a 2-4 start to the season after six straight losses to Power Five teams, won't make it to his fourth season as head coach at UM.

Miami has chosen to move on from Diaz, informing the coach Dec. 6 that he was being terminated. His dismissal comes three weeks after Miami parted ways with Athletic Director Blake James as the program tries to move on from the disappointments of recent years.

“We are grateful to Coach Diaz for his many contributions to our campus community and to his native South Florida, and for the strong leadership and exemplary character he exhibited during his tenure at the University,” said President Julio Frenk. “We wish him and his family the very best as they move forward.”

Diaz ends his tenure as head coach with a 21-15 record.

With the firing, of course, the expectation is that Mario Cristobal will be named UM's next head coach at Miami. And the Canes are also finalizing a deal with Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich to come to Miami as well.

As for Diaz?

It seemed at one point that he might have saved his job off wins over then top 20 teams NC State and Pittsburgh. But a loss to Florida State slowed that momentum, pushing the team to 5-5 and renewing a tremendous amount of negativity on the outside toward the coach.

Things just never went well for Diaz from his rushed hire after Mark Richt's unexpected resignation following a 7-6 season in 2018.

Diaz had just taken the Temple head coaching job after serving as Richt's defensive coordinator when UM Athletic Director Blake James decided a national search wasn't needed and lured Diaz back to the Canes.

Diaz's first season in 2019 was a brutal one, with a 6-7 record that saw consecutive season-ending losses to overmatched FIU, Duke and then a 14-0 embarrassment to Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl.

Last season, the team showed some signs of promise after picking up transfer QB D'Eriq King. The Hurricanes finished 8-3. But two of those wins were by three or fewer points (NC State and Virginia Tech), and Miami again faltered late in the season with an embarrassing home blowout loss to North Carolina, 62-26, and a Cheez-It Bowl defeat to Oklahoma State, 37-34.

Which brought us to this season.

It began with a non-competitive 44-13 rout by Alabama in Atlanta, and then UM barely snuck by non-Power Five App State, 25-23. That was followed by a 38-17 blowout loss to Michigan State that really amplified calls for Diaz to be fired. Then after an easy win over totally overmatched Central Connecticut State, the team lost consecutive last-minute games to Virginia (30-28) and North Carolina (45-42).

Then the team fared well at the end aside from the disappointing loss at FSU that included a fourth and 14 conversion on the Noles' final game-winning drive.

So what is Diaz's legacy at Miami?

Well, not winning.

But he did bring the Turnover Chain and Touchdown Rings into existence.

And he tried to start the mantra of "The New Miami," but that failed quickly given the team's results.

He also gave UM the moniker "Transfer U" by bringing in guys like D'Eriq King, Jaelan Phillips, Quincy Roche, Jose Borregales and Bubba Bolden, among others.

In retrospect, Diaz's biggest success at Miami was as defensive coordinator from 2016-18.

In 2017 his attacking, blitz-happy unit had 37 sacks and was fifth in tackles for loss (108) and also forced 19 turnovers, helping Miami to a 10-3 record. And in 2018 his defense led the nation with 44 sacks, was No. 4 in TFL with 111 and No. 3 with 31 turnovers forced.

But, in a strange twist of fate, defensive struggles were actually his undoing. The D struggled mightily after he brought in Blake Baker as coordinator, and after last season he fired Baker and took over the defense himself. And this year the D again had issues, including an embarrassing amount of missed tackles.

In the end this is in a way a lesson in how not to hire a coach, since Diaz was brought in without a real search for a coach and despite having no prior head coaching experience (he was coordinator at Middle Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State previously).

His hire was, in retrospect, a big mistake and now it has cost both James and Diaz their jobs.