Manny Diaz backtracking on Miami football rebuild comments

MIAMI, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 19: (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 19: (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Head coach Manny Diaz said that the Miami football program is in a rebuild after the Hurricanes loss on Saturday to Georgia Tech. He backtracked those comments on Monday saying they have to rebuild the players’ confidence.

The comments by Manny Diaz about rebuilding the Miami football players’ confidence came on Monday morning on the Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM the Joe. The comments by Diaz have now basically conflicted with himself twice. When he was hired Diaz stated that in college football fortunes can change quickly either way.

Diaz used the analogy Notre Dame left the Hard Rock Stadium turf in November 2017 with 41-8 loss to Miami and 13 months later they were in the college football playoff. After the loss, Saturday Diaz said that Miami was in a rebuild. Asked about a rebuild by Rose and co-host Zach Krantz Diaz said the rebuild is the players’ confidence.

Diaz backtracked and stated that his statement about the rebuild was taken out of context. That is hard to accept. It is far more on Diaz for not being more explicit than it is on anyone who might have taken his statement out of context. The back and forth on whatever the rebuild is seems to be coaches speak and spin control.

Sending out the message that is necessary at the time is something virtually every coach does. In the past Diaz has been one of the most transparent coaches there is during his nearly 10 months as a head coach and three years prior to that as the defensive coordinator for the Miami football team.

"“That was probably taken out of context…The rebuild is the rebuild of our confidence. That is what we are rebuilding. Like I said, there is no concept of this year not being important. As you look at the evidence on hand, we are four plays away from being 7-0 and ranked…who knows where we are ranked?It is too close and it is there and our guys understand that…However, there is a confidence thing that our guys understand and we talked about that coming off the Virginia game, how we need to finish like the way we did against Virginia.”"

It is very difficult to misconstrue what Diaz said in the post-game on Saturday. Diaz’s comments were a clear message to the recruits through the media to explain why the Hurricanes are 3-4 with losses in three games they were favored to win. The Miami football team was expected to defeat Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech by two TDs.

"“You can see the promise of the future while seeing some of the ugliness of the present. To me, for lack of a better word, this is a rebuild. We are not picking up where we left off with great success. To me, the [commits] have been excited in my conversations with them to be a part of the solution.”"

The Hurricanes are either “not picking up…with great success” or a team can quickly get back to having great success. It is difficult to accept both as a reality. It clearly was spin control by Diaz even if that was not the intended message. Miami has experienced some bizarre losses this season. Diaz explained that.

"“We are going through a test right now. You look at the way we have lost these games and the manner in which we have competed and some of the mind-numbing 50-50 decisions that have gone against us with some of the most unusual things that have gone against us in the game…We have two choices: we can sit around and play the victim or we can press on and have a chance to say let’s put this thing into our own hands. That is the lesson we are learning right now.It sucks to have to go through this and nobody is more disappointed in our record than I am, but I am also as confidence as ever that this team will continue to stick together and fight for one another and the results are going to come. I am confident in what we are doing.I know we are going to win and win big here at Miami.”"

Publically for the most part aside from the conflicting statements about the rebuild Diaz is saying what needs to be said. He needs to keep up the confidence of his team. He doesn’t need to appease the media and the only fans he has to be accountable to are the big donors to the Miami Athletic Department.

It has been well documented that Diaz was en ESPN production assistant before becoming a graduate assistant at Florida State under Bobby Bowden. No one understands how to work with the press as well as he does. Still, in his first season, there will be growing pains in all aspects of being a head coach,

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