Miami Football: Judging success during Manny Diaz era will be complex

Determining how The New Miami Football program will be judged as a success during the Manny Diaz era is a complex process. The standard in 2001 and prior was National Championships. The goal in the short term for the Hurricanes should be ACC Coastal Division titles.

An article published by the Associated Press’ Ralph Russo on Wednesday asked: “Which new college football coaches might succeed?”  Russo ranked the 27 new FBS coaches based on which ones will be judged as a success at the end of their tenures. The question that haunts and taunts the Miami football program is, Is the U back?

The question of whether or not is the U Back is subjective. Some say that the Miami football program must win their sixth national championship before the answer to that is a definitive yes. Diaz should be judged on raising the level of the program and the expectations more on the performance.

There is no doubt that Miami should be a contender and arguably the favorite in the ACC Coastal Division every year. Getting to the championship game fairly consistently right now is a far more realistic goal than defeating Clemson to win ACC Championships.

A small private school like Miami doesn’t have the financial backing of Power Five state schools. Getting the Sofer Indoor Practice facility built and the upgrades by the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium should help the Hurricanes in recruiting. Recruiting locally has also been a stated priority for Diaz.

Because the bar at Miami is set much higher than other programs Diaz is ranked sixth nationally, third in the ACC and second in the Coastal among the projections to which coaches will succeed in their new jobs. Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech is third and Scott Satterfield at Louisville is fifth.

Recreating the glory days is not how Diaz should be judged. Russo believes that winning the Coastal Division frequently should allow Diaz to judged a success at Miami.

"“6. Manny Diaz, MiamiThe more time passes since Miami’s glory days, the more it seems as if the Hurricanes will never be able to recreate them. But that shouldn’t be the benchmark for success under the 45-year-old Diaz, a first-time head coach and Miami native.The Hurricanes have won the ACC Coastal once in 15 years. That’s absurd. If Diaz can simply make that a regular occurrence, he will be a success.”"

Before the Miami football team steps on the field at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on August 24, Diaz’s first offseason has to be judged a success. The six players Diaz and the Hurricanes added throughout the transfer portal created a lot of excitement through the Miami fan base and college football.

Diaz is on the precipice of a top ten recruiting class for 2020. The Hurricanes 2020 Class is currently fourth in the 247Sports composite rankings. Keeping that ranking in the top ten and the momentum going in the future will go a long way towards how Diaz’s tenure is potentially judged.