Miami football head coach projected soon to be open by Rivals.Com
After consecutive wins over ranked North Carolina State and Pittsburgh head coach Manny Diaz has taken him off the hot seat for the remainder of the season according to Manny Navarro of The Athletic. Mike Farrell of Rivals.Com expects the Miami football program could hire a new head coach in the offseason.
Farrell profiled the currently open jobs and those that in his words are soon to be open. The speculation on the job security for Diaz has run rampant since the Miami football team began the season with a 2-4 record. The wins over the Wolfpack and Panthers the last two weeks have quieted some of the speculation.
Miami will be favored in its final four games of the 2021 season against Duke, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Duke. The Hurricanes are a 10 point favorite on Saturday against the Yellow Jackets according to WynnBet. The likelihood is that Miami has to win three of its last four for Diaz to minimally secure a return in 2022.
Diaz has two years remaining on his contact. Farrell like many others picks Oregon head coach and former Miami football player Mario Cristobal as the replacement for Diaz. Cristobal has a 58-54 career record as a head coach, but 32-11 in his fifth season at Oregon. Farrell summarized Diaz and Cristobal.
The knock on Manny here is obviously that the overall record vs. Mark Richt’s 3 years is worse. But recall how awful the 2018 team ended and it’s not as if Manny inherited a top-10 program. His sin is a lack of dramatic improvement.
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) October 31, 2021
"MAJOR SOON-TO-BE OPEN JOBS….MIAMIWhy it will be open: Manny Diaz, despite back-to-back wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 2017, is still firmly entrenched on the hot seat after mediocre results over the past three seasons.His 18-14 overall record and lackluster recruiting (the 2022 class currently sits at 57th in the Rivals ranking, sandwiched between BYU and San Diego State) has led to the fanbase being very cranky.The only thing preventing his firing at this point is an administration and AD who do not seem quite as engaged with the program or care about its success as much as previous regimes.Farrell’s pick: Mario CristobalThis is a no-brainer. Cristobal is a South Florida native who has deep roots in Miami (he played there as well) and would be an absolute home run hire for The U. He’s arguably the top recruiter in the country outside of Nick Saban and has grown tremendously as a big-game coach.He has proven he can compete with the big boys at Oregon, as evidenced by the Ducks’ big upset over Ohio State earlier this season. A long shot? Yes. But Miami has always been his dream job."
Miami has had mediocre results in two of the last three seasons. Led by currently injured Miami quarterback D’Eriq King the Hurricanes finished 8-3 in 2020. Miami was 6-7 during Diaz’s inaugural season in 2019. The Hurricanes were set up for another strong season in 2021 with a favorable schedule.
Losses to Michigan State and Virginia in September and North Carolina in October contributed to a 2-4 start. Miami is expected to finish the regular season with four straight wins to conclude 2021 with an 8-4 record. The Hurricanes standing at 57th in the 2022 team recruiting rankings is troubling.
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Diaz has proven he can recruit signing the 11th ranked class in 2021 and 17th in 2020 according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. Miami is likely to use the transfer portal extensively during the 2022 offseason to compensate for a mediocre recruiting class. Miami has utilized the transfer portal well over the last few seasons.