Miami Hurricanes athletic director and coaching change timelines
Lashlee returned to SMU shortly after the end of the Miami Hurricanes regular season. The firing of James and Lashlee leaving to become the head coach at SMU were two negatives for Diaz. Hiring Lashlee as the offensive coordinator in January 2020 was one of the biggest positives for Diaz during his Miami football tenure.
Canes officials, flying around to try to close deals, have requested and succeeded in blocking their plane from tracking from web sites that monitor such things. Their hope is to get commitments from Radakovich, Cristobal in next couple days but both men obviously need to say yes
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) December 4, 2021
Speculation begins to increase that Miami football pursuing Mario Cristobal
On the eve of the Pac 12 Championship Game between Oregon and Utah, speculation began to increase significantly that Miami would strong pursue then Ducks head coach and former Miami Hurricanes offensive lineman and assistant coach Mario Cristobal to become the next head coach.
The awkward situation began to play out with Diaz still the Miami head coach. Oregon lost to Utah 38-10. The Ducks’ loss to the Utes came less than two weeks after losing 38-7 in Salt Lake City. On the Pac 12 Championship broadcast, ABC’s Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit questioned Oregon’s focus versus Utah.
In ABC, Chris and Kirk saying this Oregon's 31-3 in progress loss to Utah reminds them of Miami "not showing up" against UNC last December. There is no magic elixir to solve UM football. But Cristobal's overall body of work has convinced UM decision makers that he's an upgrade
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) December 4, 2021
In the postgame following Oregon’s loss in the Pac 12 Championship Game, Cristobal was asked about the Miami job. Cristobal said he had not talked to anyone and in his words “Oregon is working on some stuff for me.” That ultimately proved to be a smokescreen no one believed.