Miami Hurricanes Manny Diaz is most successful first year coach recruiting

No first-year head coach for 2019 has been more successful with his 2020 recruiting class than the Miami Hurricanes Manny Diaz. The Miami football program’s 2020 recruiting class is currently ranked fourth.

The number four ranking nationally for the Miami Hurricanes recruiting class and Manny Diaz is the highest of the 27 coaches entering their first year at new programs. He is ahead of several high profile coaches. That includes national championship coaches Les Miles of Kansas and Mack Brown of North Carolina.

Ohio State and Ryan Day are 10th in the rankings. The Bleacher Report posted an article on Thursday about “New College Football Coaches Killing It on the Recruiting Trail.” With the high ranking of Miami’s recruiting class, Diaz earned the top spot on the list. The Hurricanes have fallen from number one earlier in the recruiting cycle.

David Kenyon who wrote the post for the Bleacher Report stated that the class of first-year coaches is led by Diaz. When Mark Richt retired there was no question in anyone’s mind that Diaz was by far the best candidate to replace him. The timing was critical for Miami Hurricanes Athletic Director Blake James.

Diaz had left 18 days prior to accept the Temple head coaching job. It was going to be Diaz’s first chance to run his own program. If Richt had retired any later Diaz would have been in the recruiting cycle with the Owls and it would have been too late. Diaz had stayed on as the Hurricanes defensive coordinator for the Pinstripe Bowl.

"“Although the regular season is months away, several of those coaches are already thriving on the recruiting trail. Led by Manny Diaz at Miami, four first-year coaches have top-15 classes in 2020.(Miami recruiting) Composite ranking: 4The amount of high-caliber talent in Miami’s backyard is consistently enormous. That’s why Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State and other nationally recognized schools spend so much time in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.“We know in the long term at this school, we’ll be judged by how we recruit the tri-county area and then pushing out,” new coach Manny Diaz said, per Christy Cabrera Chirinos of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.And in the short term, the Canes are doing a solid job.Of the 14 commits, eight are tri-county players, and six of those eight are 4-star talents. Running back Don Chaney Jr. and wideout Bryan Robinson, both of whom are top-100 prospects, headline the local group.Since his promotion, the Hurricanes have added four 2021 prospects to a class that features a 5-star in defensive end Donell Harris."

Ten four-star commits highlight the Miami Hurricanes 2020 recruiting class. The current star of the Canes 2020 class is Chaney. He is the 43rd ranked player overall in the class of 2020 and the seventh-ranked running back. He will challenge a deep Miami running back corps for playing time as a Freshman.

DeeJay Dallas is entering his junior season in 2019 and will be eligible for the 2020 NFL Draft. Everyone else is scheduled to return when Chaney matriculates in 2020. That includes 2019 rising sophomores Lorenzo Lingard and Cam’Ron Harris and Asa Martin who will have sophomore eligibility after sitting out this season.