Miami football firing OC Dan Enos puts offense back to square one

Following the 14-0 loss to Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl the Miami football team fired Dan Enos about 15 hours after the loss to the Bulldogs ended.

The performance by the offense for the Miami football team in the 14-0 loss to Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl felt a lot like the 35-3 loss to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2018. Three days after the loss to the Badgers Mark Richt shockingly resigned. The dismissal of offensive coordinator Enos was expected.

Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press reported before the Independence Bowl baring a stark change of plans Enos would be let go after the Miami football season was over. Getting shutout by a Conference USA team in a bowl game on national television cemented Enos’ fate if it was not already.

Now head coach Manny Diaz and the Miami football program turns to possible successors for Enos. The Hurricanes fan base is clamoring for a coach that runs a spread offense. There are many variables of what that can entail. Manny Navarro of The Athletic and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported three main candidates.

Those three candidates are Mississippi offensive coordinator and former West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez, former North Carolina and Southern Mississippi head coach Larry Fedora and Texas Tech offensive coordinator David Yost. All three run elements of the spread which we examined separately.

Enos’ inability to deliver on the promises he stated when he was hired in January was a big part of his downfall in Coral Gables. Miami did not play the aggressive up-tempo offense that Diaz stated would be the equivalent to his up the field get after the quarterback and into opposing backfield defense.

Miami dropped from 90th to 99th nationally in total offense after the abysmal performance against Louisiana Tech. The Hurricanes finished the 2019 season averaging 367.2 yards per game. That was only slightly better than the 358.8 and 105th finish that the Hurricanes had under Mark Richt in 2018.

The loss to Louisiana Tech dropped Miami from 74th in scoring in 2019 to 89th with an average of 25.7 points per game. That was a drop from 66th and 28.8 PPG in Richt’s final season. Enos and his offense other than the dominant win against Louisville simply failed. His stubbornness led to his dismissal.

Enos and Richt are two old school pro-style offensive coaches whose refusal to change ultimately led to their ouster. Richt was seemingly by choice and Enos was dismissed. Richt had been reportedly told to make staff changes and refused that led to his decision to retire. Enos refused to adapt his offense to the Miami personnel.

Diaz needs to bring in a forward-thinking, flexible offensive coordinator willing to bring out the best in the Miami football players. If that does not happen in 2020 Diaz could be looking at a similar fate as former head coaches Willie Taggart of Florida State and Chad Morris of Arkansas and be dismissed in his second year.