Miami Hurricanes athletic director and coaching search expected to move quickly

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported on Tuesday that the Miami Hurricanes search for a new athletic director and likely new head coach will move quickly. The timeline for hiring a new athletic director is by the end of the regular season in football, which is November 27 at Duke. That is an extremely tight timeline.

Jackson also reported that the new AD could then begin the process of immediately replacing Diaz with a likely dismissal by the end of the regular season. The timeline for a potential new head coach would be by the second week of December. Early National Signing Day is December 15. Miami has the 60th ranked class for 2022.

The goal would have to have a coach in place before ENSD. Miami has the 60th ranked class for 2022 with only eight commitments. Diaz stated during recent zoom meetings with media that the Miami Hurricanes expect to be extremely active in the transfer portal. That is not likely to change with a new head coach.

Jackson examined other Power Five programs that hired athletic directors this year. Tennessee who hired Danny White from Central Florida to replace Philip Fulmer and Missouri who hired Desiree Reid-Francois from UNLV were the only schools to accomplish a two-week turnaround on a new athletic director.

White was hired three days after Fulmer retired. Reid-Francois succeeded former Missouri AD Jim Sterk two weeks after he resigned. Miami is expected to hire a search firm to find the replacement for James. Miami President Julio Frenk’s Chief of Staff Rudy Fernandez and senior advisor Joe Echevarria will be involved in the search.

The speculation on the next athletic director has already started. It will likely come down to the decision by the search committee and those in-house wanting to bring in someone completely from the outside or potentially an alum who has the relative experience that is beneficial as an athletic director.

Former Miami football players Alonzo Highsmith, Gino Torretta and Twan Russell have been three names mentioned. If Miami and the search committee bring someone in from the outside, former Louisville AD Tom Jurich, FAU AD Brian White and Texas Tech Deputy Director of Athletics Tony Hernandez are names to watch.