Manny Diaz praises Miami Football resources and campus changes

The loss to Virginia on Thursday night was another disappointing outcome for the Miami football team. Miami has now lost five straight games to FBS opponents. Prior to the loss to the Cavaliers, Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz spoke earlier in the week about the Miami resources, on-campus changes and Hurricanes players.

Prior to his retirement following the 2018 season, head coach Mark Richt helped raise money and donate some of his own for the building of the on-campus Soffer Indoor Practice Facility. Miami also built the Lakeside Village dorms. The Miami athletic department helped the football program make needed upgrades.

Diaz’s comments earlier this week were in response to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit questioning whether the Hurricanes head coach, athletic director Blake James and University President Julio Frenk are aligned about the direction of the football program. Diaz and Frenk both pushed back this week about Herbstreit’s comments.

Diaz discusses at length the changes that have been made to benefit the Miami football program, Miami playing at Hard Rock Stadium, how that compares to the Orange Bowl, the importance of the upgrades and how the current players will benefit. The comments are from his weekly press conference.

"“There’s mentions about resources and I will just tell you from the time that I’ve been here at the University of Miami. what I’ve seen change on our campus the new dorms the new Lakeside Village always people always recruited against Miami in terms of the dorms the stadium.I mean we still, we still beat the drum on the stadium in my mind we’ve got as nice of a stadium as anybody in college football. It’s what amazing what a half a billion dollars I will do for you and I, I sat in the Orange Bowl I saw how many students came to the games in the 80s in the Orange Bowl.I was around for four of the five national championships before I graduated high school. It was what it was whether it’s a 20-minute drive to Little Havana or, or a 35-minute drive to Miami Gardens. It is what it is. We love our stadium. It’s a big-time atmosphere it’s a big-time place it’s a great place to host um recruits.The indoor facility behind me, the silver indoor facility behind me, phenomenal we’re attacking the locker room next there’s just a lot of things that are changing on the positive here and and and I will tell you that the last two recruiting classes that we signed are really the first two classes that have been around when all this stuff existed.”"

Miami has the talent to compete. The late two classes the Hurricanes signed ranked 17th nationally in 2020 and 11th in 2021. Miami has added several high-profile players in the last two transfer cycles. For Diaz and his staff to keep their jobs, they have to be better at development.

Before Diaz was elevated from defensive coordinator, he was a part of the staff that signed the eighth-ranked class nationally in 2018. The 2018 class was nowhere close to living up to the eighth-best class nationally with a few exceptions. Miami was set back by the lack of development for the 2018 class.

Upgrades are important for the future of the Miami football program but they need to start having results on the field. For Diaz to save his job, the young Hurricanes have to start producing. Miami needs a foundation for the future and it begins with the classes of 2020 and 2021. Miami plays at North Carolina on October 16.