Miami Football 2019 season will be full of reunions
The 2019 Miami football season will be a de facto reunion tour for several of the coaches on the Hurricanes staff and one player. The most prominent of those reunions feature head coach Manny Diaz and offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
The 2019 Miami football season begins in Orlando against Florida and head coach Dan Mullen. Manny Diaz spent two seasons in two different stints as the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State under Mullen in 2010 and 2015.
Co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Ephraim Banda and outside linebackers coach Jonathan Patke worked under Diaz with the Bulldogs. Diaz left Starkville the first time to become the defensive coordinator at Texas.
Diaz’s boss at Texas was Mack Brown. Brown is now at North Carolina. The Hurricanes travel to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels on September 7 in their second game of the season. Diaz’s tenure in Austin did not end well.
Diaz was fired two games into the 2013 season after Texas allowed Brigham Young to rush for 550 yards in a 40-21 victory. That was the beginning of Diaz’s third season running the Texas defense.
The Longhorns had the nation’s 11th best defense in Diaz’s first season at Texas in 2011. Texas fell to the nation’s 68th ranked defense in 2012. Against the run, the 2012 Longhorns were an even worse 90th in FBS.
Miami takes a break from the reunions in week three when they host FCS Bethune-Cookman. September 21 Central Michigan comes to Hard Rock Stadium. Enos spent five seasons as the head coach of the Chippewas. Miami wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield was on Enos’ staff in 2011 in the same position.
Enos led CMU to bowl games following the 2012 and ’14 seasons. Central Michigan won the 2012 Little Ceasar’s Bowl and lost the 2014 Popeye’s Bowl in Enos’ final game before getting fired.
Enos finished his tenure with the Chippewas 26-36. Central Michigan finished 1-11 in 2018 ending a streak of four consecutive years playing in bowl games. The Chippewas fired Enos’ successor John Bonamego following the 2018 season. He finished 22-29 in five seasons.
Former Florida head coach Jim McIlwain is Central Michigan’s new head coach. He was the Gators permanent head coach before Mullen. Former Miami head coach Randy Shannon was the interim head coach when McIlwain was fired in the middle of the 2017 season.
After a week off, the Miami reunions resume when Virginia Tech comes to Hard Rock Stadium. Miami graduate transfer defensive end Trevon Hill plays against his former teammates. Hill was part of the Hokies football program for four years.
Hill redshirted as a true freshman in 2015. He had 94 tackles, 20 tackles for loss sacks and 11 sacks in two-plus seasons for the Hokies. Hill was dismissed after three games in 2018.
The Miami reunion tour against Georgia Tech on October 19 after Miami hosts Virginia the week prior. Former Miami wide receiver Marquez Ezzard transferred to Georgia Tech in the offseason. Ezzard will sit out the season and not likely make the trip to Miami.
The interesting matchup between the Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes will be between the two head coaches. Diaz essentially succeeded new Georgia Tech head coach
at Temple. Collins was 15-10 in his two years with the Owls.
Miami takes another break from their reunions when the play at Pittsburgh October 26. The next week the Hurricanes travel to Florida State hoping to extend their winning streak against the Seminoles to three games. Diaz and new defensive line coach Todd Stroud both had stints on the Seminoles coaching staff.
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The week after playing the Seminoles, Miami welcomes Louisville to Hard Rock Stadium. New Miami tight ends coach Stephen Field was on the Louisville football staff as the Director of High School Relations and NFL Liaison in 2017. Miami will finish the 2019 season at Duke.