It has been a whirlwind two months for Manny Diaz. In a league filled with fascinating coaches, Diaz is the ACC’s most intriguing.
The event filled two months for Manny Diaz began on December 12 when he was hired to be the Head Coach at Temple. Diaz announced that he was going to stay at Miami to coach in the Pinstripe Bowl before fully taking over the Owls football program.
On December 30, just three days after the loss to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl Miami Head Coach Mark Richt resigned. Manny Diaz was hired less than 12 hours later and the madness of the last two months began.
Diaz started his tenure by firing Richt’s entire offensive coaching staff. The abysmal Miami offense led to the Hurricanes fall from a 10-3 season in 2017 to 7-6 in 2018. Over the next two and a half weeks, Diaz rebuilt the Miami offensive staff.
He began by hiring Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach Dan Enos away from Alabama. Enos had been in line to replace Crimson Tide Offensive Coordinator Mike Locksley who left to become the Head Coach at Maryland.
Eric Hickson as running backs coach and Butch Barry as the Offensive Line Coach were next. They would be followed by Wide Receivers Coach Taylor Stubblefield and Tight Ends Coach Stephen Field.
Manny Diaz wasn’t done with remaking the Miami offense. Several players were added through the transfer portal to boost positions that were sorely lacking depth and experience. The Hurricanes offense will be where most eyes are on this spring. How will all the new players and new staff mesh with the returnees on offense?
Diaz has been one of the most recognized Defensive Coordinators in the nation in the last few years. The anticipation of what he can do as a Head Coach has many interested to see what can happen.
Even with National Championship Coaches Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Mack Brown of North Carolina, no coach in the ACC is as intriguing as Diaz. In their preview of Spring Football in the ACC, Sports Illustrated discussed the new Miami Head Coach.
"“Coach to watch: There’s no avoiding the hype for Miami’s Manny Diaz. After Mark Richt’s shocking retirement, Diaz voided his deal to become Temple’s head coach and returned to his hometown to succeed Richt, whom he had just finished serving as defensive coordinator.Diaz has already been hailed as the savior of Miami, and expectations for his tenure are through the roof. Can he fix Miami’s problems o’n both sides of the ball and reshape the Hurricanes’ recruiting trajectory?"
It’s hard to burden Diaz as the “savior” of Miami football. What he will do is build on what Richt has started and take the program to higher and more consistent levels. Miami should at the bare minimum be competing for a Coastal Divison title every year.
Diaz in a short time upgraded the offensive coaching staff, revamped the recruiting staff and used the transfer portal to significantly upgrade the roster. Next is working on recruiting. Finishing with the nation’s 28th ranked recruiting class at Miami is unacceptable. The Hurricanes currently have the third-ranked class for 2020.