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This is 100% correct, you’re just misinterpreting what I’m alluding to.
Everyone is going to have roster turnover. As you highlighted, even the greatest programs will experience losses at key positions - whether that’s for monetary reasons, playing time, proximity to home, etc. And yet, Bama had a culture that fostered NFL development, and more importantly…winning. No culture problems to speak of there. Usually, when you’re winning, nothing else really matters. When you’re winning and your players are stars in the NFL, that’s just the cherry on top.
See, winning really is the ONLY important thing these days, and what ultimately you’re graded on. Just look at Coach Cal at Kentucky…you can bring in the best of the best, but if you’re getting bounced early in conference/national tourneys…none of it matters unless you win. Now I’m a proud star ***** because data shows stars = wins. But if you can’t convert those stars into wins, who’s the problem?
And this is not a “fire Mario post” - it’s way too early for that and Year 3 is too important for the direction of the program, especially as it pertains to conference realignment talks, ACC Championship aspirations, future recruiting (players will not come here if we go 7-6 again), etc.
So when people discuss “culture change” at the University of Miami in regards to the lack of success, what do they really mean? That players are working harder after practice or taking practices seriously? Well that’s not a very high bar, at least to me. It’s a start, sure.
A culture change is just a fun twist on winning as a coping mechanism to make fans feel better about the direction of the program. This year is so interesting because I’ve said all along, Miami has the QB to win 10+ games this year. In fact, I’d go as far to say barring severe injuries, we’ll know in Year 3 if Mario can actually take this team to the playoff or not. If he can’t do it this year, I’m not sure he’ll have a better QB at his disposal during his tenure here. That’s how high I am on Cam Ward. He’s a stud.
We talk about stacking chips and adding players “built different” than our predecessors…well Ray Ray was a top 100 player and desperately wanted by a top 10 program in college football. Collins was committed to a program that just won a national championship, and viewed as a massive recruiting win when the flip occurred. Skinner was a top 2 TE…Those are just a couple examples thus far… Again, every program has players that bust and/or transfer out, but we don’t really have the luxury of whiffing on guys like this right now. It’s just food for thought.
Also, if we won’t pursue certain players due to fears guys will bolt, has the culture really changed? Or is it only when it fits certain parameters has the culture changed? Honestly.
The roster excuse is gone this year. We have Restrepo, Rivers, JHH, Porter Jr. as Manny guys that will be starting, and all have been vetted by Mario and his staff for multiple seasons now. He’s deemed them good enough to be an asset to this team, so no more “wait til Mario gets all his guys” comments. That’s just spew.
The culture is what the record says it is. Notice how Clemson never had any internal issues until they lost to SCar in 2022, and further exasperated last season when they lost to Duke/had that horrid start. USC was just fine until that PAC-12 championship in 2022, and then last season’s disaster. Texas was full of heated fans and pointing fingers til Sark won in 2023.
Mario can put all this to bed momentarily with a 9-3 (preferably 10-2) type of season.
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