The dialogue started by ESPN lead college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit was backed up by his Gameday colleague and Miami Hurricanes alum Chris Fallica via a series of tweets on Monday. Fallica posted an initial tweet stating the conversation on Saturday in Chicago reached the Hecht Athletic Center.
Fallica reiterated that neither he and Herbstreit want Miami to be good and that nothing was said out of hate, only frustration. The comments were part of a conversation on ESPN College Football Gameday about the state of the Florida State and Miami Hurricanes programs. Miami and FSU winning are good for college football.
While the Miami Hurricanes got back to .500 on Saturday with a 69-0 victory over Central Connecticut State, Florida State fell to 0-4 with a 31-23 home loss to Louisville. The Hurricanes play at the Seminoles on November 13. Head coach Manny Diaz refuted the comments made by Herbstreit on Saturday.
Herbstreit stated during the conversation about Florida State and Miami that Diaz, Miami President Julio Frenk and Athletic Director Blake James are not aligned on the direction of the Hurricanes football program. Diaz opened his press conference on Monday discussing the comments made by Herbstreit.
So it appears the Miami conversation on Saturday was heard by many inside the walls of the Hecht Athletic Center. And thats a good thing. I'm going to speak for Kirk here as well and say we want Miami to be good. Nothing was said out of hate for Miami it was out of frustration...
— Chris Fallica (@chrisfallica) September 27, 2021
"“So it appears the Miami conversation on Saturday was heard by many inside the walls of the Hecht Athletic Center. And thats a good thing. I’m going to speak for Kirk here as well and say we want Miami to be good. Nothing was said out of hate for Miami it was out of frustration…The irony is Manny has done everything right in terms of needing to make changes… offense didnt work, lets change the OC… defensive issues… i’ll try and fix it… talent deficit at QB and other spots.. lets dive into the portal…And while Hard Rock will never be confused with the Orange Bowl in terms of home field advantage, the stadium renovations have been very good. And despite the slow start to the year, the ACC W-L record reads 0-0. And the league is clearly as wide open as its been for roughly ten years.Trip to ACC title game is still an achievable goal.Clearly there are things that need to be addressed as to why seemingly everyone has left the hoops team and the baseball team has reached the CWS twice in 13 years. But hopefully this can mark a point where things get turned around for the better!”"
The comments above were taken from the full thread made by Fallica on Twitter on Monday. As a Miami alum, Fallica provides the Hurricanes with a national voice. The Bear backed up the changes Diaz has attempted to make during his 2.25 seasons as head coach. Fallica also dove further into other issues.
The Orange Bowl was becoming antiquated. Without suites and other amenities, it was not a viable stadium in the modern era of college football. The renovations to Hard Rock Stadium have turned into a world-class venue that has hosted the Superbowl and College Football National Championship the last two seasons.
The Miami basketball team lost five players off its roster from the beginning of last season. That includes four players who left for other schools as transfers after the 2020-21 season. In addition to two College World Series appearances in the last 13 years, the Miami baseball team has not advanced out of the regional since 2016.
Miami has only one Super Regional appearance since 2008 in addition to CWS trips in 2015 and 2016. The problems Miami has are systemic. For all the blame that has gone on Diaz, Frenk and James, they predate their tenure in Coral Gables. A bigger audit needs to be done of the athletic department to future out the issues.