New Miami Hurricanes OC needs to follow through on promise to speed tempo
On the one-year anniversary of his hiring to replace Mark Richt as the Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz declared that the tempo on offense will increase in 2020.
Manny Diaz was hired exactly one year ago to the day to replace Mark Richt as the Miami Hurricanes head coach. At that time Diaz promised that a more aggressive approach on offense akin to how he coaches the Miami defense. After firing offensive coordinator Dan Enos on Friday Diaz needs to follow through on that promise.
The Miami Hurricanes offense under Dan Enos was a flop by nearly every measure. The passing game and quarterback play was improved in 2019 from the Richt’s offense in 2018 but not enough. The rushing offense took a huge step backward. Miami is 99th nationally in total offense this season.
Miami is 90th in scoring offense, 122nd in rushing offense and 52nd in passing offense this season. The final numbers will not stabilize until after Clemson and LSU play in the National Championship Game next month. Miami Hurricanes fans are clamoring for the new offensive coordinator to run a spread offense.
The tempo the Hurricanes offense runs it is potentially more important than the system. Diaz appeared on the Joe Rose Show on WQAM this morning to discuss the state of the Miami Hurricanes football program. Diaz correctly stated that the spread encompasses many things.
"“We’re going to get the tempo jacked up here…We’re going to start to spread the ball out and get the ball to our athletes in space and do something here that hasn’t been done and people have not seen. there’s no wonder scheme that solves all equations. Right now the whole focus is getting the right offensive coordinator.I’ve already spoken to probably seven or eight guys both at the college and pro level trying to find the guy that’s got the style of offense. We’re going to be a dramatic change in how we look on offense and the style that we play with.We’re going to start to spread the ball out and get the ball to our athletes in space and do something here that hasn’t been done and people have not seen. So, we’re trying to find the right guy to get that done. There are some outstanding candidates that are out there.Once we secure that guy, we do have good coaches on our staff, we’ll do what we always do and see what the proper fit is going forward. Spread is definitely sort of an ambiguous word. There are all kinds of different kinds of spread offenses.There is no doubt there is a style of play in college football that is dominant at the top of the top 25 chart. There are better ways to utilize your personnel and get things going and that’s what you’re seeing now in college football and that’s what we’re going to model ourselves after as well."
The stats show that Miami was 79th nationally with 844 plays from scrimmage on offense this season in 13 games. Every team currently behind Miami with the ironic exception of Miami (Ohio) has played 12 games. Diaz told Rose and co-host Zack Krantz the importance of speeding up the offense to tire opposing defensive lines.
Next. Miami firing Dan Enos puts offense back to square one. dark
Getting the new offensive hire right and having him follow through on the promise to speed up the Hurricanes offense is critical. It’s more about making the promise and following through on that than whatever the offense winds up being. This tenure of the new offensive coordinator could determine Diaz’s future with Miami.