Manny Diaz has discussed the importance of recruiting South Florida to the success of the Miami football program. Hosting a coaches clinic on Saturday can set the standard for recruiting going forward.
The Surge ’19 recruiting class for the Miami football program was significantly below what the Hurricanes standards usually are for incoming freshmen. The Hurricanes finished 2019 28th in recruiting. That doesn’t include all the players they added via the transfer portal.
The 2020 Class is off to a good start. Miami is currently second in the 2020 rankings per 247Sports.Com. Hosting the coaches clinic on Saturday was important for multiple reasons. It gives Miami a built-in advantage with the local high school coaches to get to know to them and its a chance to give back to the community.
Christy Chirinos of the Sun Sentinel reported that over 200 high school coaches descended on the Miami campus on Saturday. Chirinos said that the coaches were there to observe the Miami football practice on Saturday, observe instruction and in her words see how things operate in a major college program.
Diaz said that Miami also held the clinic as a sign of gratitude for the coaches. Miami did not hold coaches clinics during the Mark Richt era for unspecified reasons.
Manny Diaz says Miami had about 200 high school coaches at today’s practice/coaches clinic.
— Christy Chirinos (@ChristyChirinos) March 30, 2019
The Hurricanes did have the Paradise Camp in the summer to try and attract recruits. Doing something for the coaches will indirectly help with recruiting, Diaz understands that. Diaz spoke to Chirinos about why Miami wanted to host the coaches clinic on Saturday and how it went.
"“We’ve not had a per se high school coaches clinic the last couple years and we had a great turnout today…Had a chance to watch our practice. We changed the way we practiced a little bit.It was more of a demonstration practice, showed them a lot of our individual drills, a lot of what we do and let those guys take notes and watch and bring things back to their teams.We’re so indebted to the high school coaches, especially down here in South Florida, who do more with less than anybody in America. Anything we can do to try and show those guys how much we appreciate them is our pleasure.”"
Chirinos pointed out that Diaz told the media that many of the high school coaches in South Florida frequently don’t have the necessarily have the resources they need to succeed at the highest level of the competitive high school football landscape in South Florida. They are not usually able to further their professional development
Diaz pointed out many of South Florida’s high school coaches don’t always have the resources they need to keep their programs running at a top level or to even continue their own personal professional development. Being able to help the coaches in the community and region was the right gesture by the Miami football program.