OPINION: Diaz attacked problems and State of the U should benefit
Manny Diaz has always been one of the most candid talkers in college football. No matter the question, no matter how uncomfortable the subject matter, Diaz can usually be counted upon to tackle the issue head-on without apologies.
There is nothing more uncomfortable than any discussion on the Miami Hurricanes’ 2019 football season, the way it unfolded and the way it ended with consecutive losses to FIU, of all teams, and then Duke and Louisiana Tech.
It was humiliating. If Diaz were not in his first season, not the hand-picked choice of athletic director Blake James without even a coaching search, he probably would not have been allowed to keep his job. It was that bad.
But that’s where something comes into play that has been as impressive as anything a Miami coach has done in this 18-year run of Hurricane mediocrity that has been painful for everyone to watch.
Diaz owned it.
He owned every bit of it.
Diaz didn’t make a single excuse, the way Al Golden might have. He didn't quit like Mark Richt did. He really didn’t try to sugarcoat anything.
He acknowledged the failure, realized his responsibility for it and systematically attacked just about anything he could think of to make better in order to give the Hurricanes a chance to flip the script in 2020.
Diaz fired Dan Enos, possibly crippling the athletic department with an extra coordinator salary for the next two years, and turned the offense over to Rhett Lashlee who is installing an up-tempo attack.
He made other offensive staff changes in line coach Garin Justice and receivers coach Rob Likens.
He facilitated the transfer of Jarren Williams, who let the team down last season when he busted curfew to party before the FIU game and was a problem quite often beyond that.
He teamed with Lashlee to recruit a new quarterback, Houston transfer D’Eriq King.
He recruited an experienced tackle in Houston’s Jarrid Williams to add real competition to the tackle position and possibly improve the offensive line.
He recruited a top-shelf defensive end in Quincy Roche to play opposite Greg Rousseau so that Rousseau can’t be so easily double-teamed this season.
He recruited a new kicker to replace Bubba Baxa, who was broken down mentally.
He lured Ed Reed to serve as chief of staff, a title that might be a bit deceiving since Reed is not an every day employee of the program, but a statement-making affiliation nonetheless.
Diaz didn’t do everything that everybody, including myself, thought he needed to do. But certainly nobody can accuse him of being in denial about the complete and utter failure that the 6-7 season and his first year as head coach was in 2019.
"It happened because it had to happen,” Diaz told CaneSport recently. “If it hadn’t happened, I don’t know if we would be where we are today.
“As painful as it was for everyone to bear witness, I assure you it was 10 times more painful for me to go through. But it has also brought us to this place.”
What “this place” actually is will be something that is open for debate without a definitive answer for a while.
Every summer, we take a pause and do a deep analysis on the State of the The U football program. Today we begin an 18-part series that will dive into so many things that impact the results on the field.
The recruiting classes that compose the 2020 team.
The position groups.
The biggest on-field question.
The impact Miami's facilities expansion is having on the program and recruiting.
This series will provide a deep look inside the program and give you the foundation to form your own expectations for 2020.
You will be able to make your own interpretation of what “this place” that Diaz refers to really is.
From a personal point of view, I couldn’t be more impressed with how Diaz has handled his business this off-season. I still think he should have allowed Alonzo Highsmith to come into the program without a fear that Highsmith would have been a tell-it-like-it-is alpha presence who would have made a lot of people inside the building feel uncomfortable.
People top-to-bottom SHOULD feel uncomfortable about the way business has been being conducted lately. If things didn’t get better this year, yeah Highsmith probably would have been pushing for sweeping changes to be made. And that kind of “this is unacceptable” mindset and urgency might just be part of what is missing at The U right now.
But Diaz has definitely done an awful lot and nobody can argue that there isn’t a feeling that the reset button has been firmly hit at Miami.
There still are some who have their doubts though.
Street and Smith recently posted their season prediction for the ACC Coastal and picked Miami to finish fifth behind North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Virginia.
“Something had to change this offseason at Miami, even after Manny Diaz’s debut as head coach included a defeat of the Hurricanes’ archival (Florida State), the ACC’s most improved team (Louisville) and the Coastal Division champion (Virginia). It also featured a home loss to Georgia Tech and a three-game slide to close out the year against Florida International, Duke, and Louisiana Tech. Even factoring in the program’s slide to occasionally relevant since joining the ACC in 2004, this was a low tide for ‘The U,’ which is a pedestrian 13-16 since its 10-0 start in 2017.”
Every year, Athlon College Football also breaks down every team in the country as a new football season nears. As part of that process, the magazine has its writers find a coach within its conference to comment anonymously on that team.
Here was Coach Anonymous’ assessment of the Hurricanes:
“They really looked embarrassing at times last season. Losing to that Georgia Tech team is inexcusable…They’re still super talented on defense because they’re still Miami. I think Manny Diaz got caught trying to be too smart a few times. Like, with those athletes, why are you overthinking this thing? Just go play man coverage! Go let them loose…They looked so bad in the bowl game on offense. They gave up and didn’t care at all. You saw it on the tape. That’s a case of them not being as good as they think they are. The offensive line was embarrassing against Florida, and then they got worse because they didn’t scheme to help themselves. By the time they got to conference play, you kept thinking they’d change things up to bail out the line. They didn’t…D’Eriq King is a freak show player but he can’t be the sole threat. If Rhett Lashlee runs what he has at his previous places, they’re gonna get him killed without some help. They could be all over the portal again this summer (THEY HAVE BEEN) …This program needs to get serious about itself. They’re out in recruiting talking about the swag and smoke like it was 30 years ago…I think you’re going to find out really fast if this regime is going to work out. They could end up a mess just like Florida State last season.”
That’s a pretty rough couple of reviews.
Soon we will find out how much of it still applies.
This series will show you the pluses and minuses and why there are no guarantees.
Okay, there is one.
It’s gonna be darn interesting and exciting watching the story of 2020 take shape.
Lashlee.
King.
Rousseau.
Diaz, the survivor.
Buckle up for the ride and enjoy the pre-game analysis we will provide over the next month.