forums

2 simple questions you need to ask yourself as we come to the close of year one of Manny

Manny's got until the mid to end of next season. If he flops in recruiting and/or drops a couple of very winnable games, the calls for his departure will grow exponentially.

The problem is that FSU has now set the tone for impatience. If we dismiss Manny too soon it will look like we're a toxic athletic department. We'll have had 3 different coaches in 6 years. Our ability to attract anybody decent without paying big will he impossible. The only way we can avoid that is to replace Blake James. Everything flows from there. All of the failures get blamed on him and we get a free reset.

So we have two options. Manny Diaz becomes a success or we have to replace our AD because no other option gives us any hope for the future.
 
Advertisement
Empirical Cane said:
Can someone dig up all the "Golden needs more time" threads.

Just insert Diaz for Golden, and these posts are word for word lately.
Click to expand...

With Golden, the defense never ever looked like a Miami caliber defense. Our defense since the UVA game has been pretty stout, and our offense has improved the last 2 weeks, albeit against weaker competition. I think Jarren is starting to hit his stride as a QB.

Manny was a 1st time head coach with a new OC, DC, freshman QB and a bad OL. I am not giving him a pass, as the UNC/VT/CMU/GT games were inexcusable. But, the last 3-4 weeks we are looking like we are improving in all phases (defense, OL, QB play, kicking). We look better prepared and have had less penalties.

Is this a true upward trend or a 2-3 game outlier? Time will tell. I was ready to fire him after GT, but the last 3 wins have given me some patience. He must win out though, and convincingly.
 
Robj3411 said:
- Is this team better now than it was 1 year ago?
- Do you see improvement ?


BL- I feel much better about this team now then I did at the close of last year. We started Youth all over the field minus the LBs and now in week 10, those players are starting to look like the team we expected at the beginning of the year..

Yes, the year got derailed with the early loses, but who expected Bubba Baxa to implode, plus honestly this team lacked a few "Refuse to Lose" leaders. I think the staff took a while to adjust to the personel, but they have and this team just had to learn to win.

Looking ahead
You now have 10 of 11 starters (maybe 9 if DJ leaves) coming back on Offense with a QB ranked in the top 10 of CFB in a lot of categories.
you have a young OL that is returning the entire 2-deep and has shown much improvement over the beginning of the year.

On defense you are replacing 3 and 1/2 starters (bethel, Hill and whole DL rotates a lot)
Yes the LBs + Striker are graduating, but bringing back a 5th year McCLoud stabilizes the position some and frierson has played at the striker which really means that out of 11 on defense only 1 LB will be inexperienced.

There were and still may be some growing pains with Manny as HC, but if they finish strong as expected next year looks like a year of real growth.
Click to expand...


I appreciate the optimism. I too am a die hard & want everything to come out perfect with this project, but doing to exercise after a good win. One of very few in this campaign is deceiving.

I will reserve judgement until the entire body of work is in the books.

Let us not forget. 24 months ago we were crowning MR & proclaiming from the mountain tops that we were back and better than ever.

This being said, my support is with This U, The Players ( 13,55,56,26,5,15,23,2x,9,65 etc ),& with Manuel Diaz.
 
Empirical Cane said:
You do realize Miami lost to a HS caliber team in GT right?

Lost to an abysmal VT team.

Manuela has shown ZERO that he is the leader who can take the Canes to an ACCCD Title, let alone beyond.
Click to expand...


Abysmal and HS:

9ED349E9-9B5B-442A-AD08-4D0A0C1E6C74.jpeg
 
I’ll reserve judgement until I see these final 3 game(at least) - FIU, Duke, Bowl Game. Right now though, the team has improved since earlier the season big time. Earlier in the season this offense wasn’t putting up almost 60 points on even a bad Louisville defense. ****, they struggled with the likes of Central Michigan who I believe now if they played, it wouldn’t even be a game. The OL and Williams is where most of the improvement has come from. We all expected some great season but we should’ve known better with the amount of young players on the offense. RFR QB in Williams who played what maybe a few drives the season before against Savannah State? TF at LT who was severely undersized when he came in. New center in Gaynor. Campbell started out at RT as a RFR and now seems to be pulling snaps away from Donaldson at LG. TF at RG. That’s a lot of youth on offense and not to mention a brand new offense for everyone. Look I’m not saying Diaz or Enos are the right people for the job but there has been development in these kids from earlier in the season which is what coaching is. Williams moves a lot better in the pocket instead of looking dead at the rush and taking a sack. There’s also more of a pocket now. Win the final 2 games and then the bowl game, if day that’s pretty **** good improvement considering where they were earlier in the season.
 
Advertisement
JD08 said:
It's hard to be a fan and not get excited. It's also hard to face the reality that we've seen optimism get crushed far too many times.

We have the expectations we do because it's happened before.
Click to expand...

Excited about a game yes. Excited about expectations for the future no. Huge difference
 
Dghustla said:
I will be believe it when I see it.

No I’m not some overly skeptical person. But the last 3 coaches all showed promise during an outlier season. Where the rhetoric was “the team got better we will be back next year if we just fix a few minor things”. Even though their were glaring concerns about their abilities. Manny has not out performed expectations so until proven otherwise it will be the status quo which is a wildly inconsistent team that could be beat the best teams they play and lose to the worst team they play.


And those things never ever got fixed. I like Manny but he got some major red flags so far.

Recruiting if you’ve been following this year this needs no explanation. He didn’t even get the 1st year bump...or at least we’re hoping because if this is the bump we are in trouble next year.

personnel decisions: jimmy murphy more carriers than lo Lingard, and Robert burns, playing a walk-in Lb over a scholarship play in a conference game that you lose to a 1-win team, general unrest amongst players about the rotations, not starting Roussou sooner because of a “bad camp” Even though everyone could see he was dominating every snap he played, starting 2 freshman tackles.

Offense: the points are nice but the statistics show that it’s more of a by product of the bad defenses we’ve played. 3rd down and rushing stats are some of the worst in CFB. If will be almost impossible for us to compete at a high level with stats like that.


My BL: I will believe in growth where and I see tangible growth like penalty improvement and presnap improvement. We’ve def. improved in those areas. I canT remember the last time we got a false start or an illegal formation.
Click to expand...
I agree with most of your points on the decision Manny and his coaches made at the beginning of the season. Some of the decisions were a little head scratching after now seeing the performance of those in starting position now as well as the effectiveness of individuals given more time on the field though not first team starters.

A few head scratching early decisions:
1- How did Martell after not winning the start as QB get the nod to take away valuable playing time from other receivers that played the position from day one?? None of us will know the real reason why Hightower left the team, but it made no sense because it would be hard for Manny to tell guys to work hard during the off season and it will pay off by getting on the field if he did not straighten this situation out. Now it look as though he did not lose the team over favoring Martell especially granting him time off after they made the decision on QB1. It looked strange since Perry did not take time off. Our receiver group is performing the way we thought they would, it just took a little longer for everyone to get on the same page.

2- How did Scott Patchan who was clearly over matched most of the time get the nod to start over Gregory Rousseau? Rousseau was dominating all through spring and fall practices to only sit the bench in favor of Patchan. That was a grave mistake and only the coaches didn't see that Rousseau should have been the first guy on the field from that DL. Patchan is not even the best guy off the bench, so how was this decision made.

Those are but a few besides the ones you listed in you post. but I will give them a pass on the OL since none of them were world beaters to begin with. So the coaches had no choice but to take the best athletes there and hindsight they made the best of what was available. Many were very critical of Zion Nelson early on but the guy has turned it around since the Florida game which he was rightfully criticized. He should only get better as he is the best athlete on that OL.

The team need to continue to improve and the coaches need to make decisions that will not hurt the morale of the team by pandering to certain guys making special provisions for them. They still need to work on the kicking game as well, they alone hurt us in at least 2 games we could have won.

We are in a much better place than last year and that is not even a real discussion to be honest with you. Go Canes!!
 
For_The_U said:
Cute sensational post, bud, but that's not what I said at all. You said "Manny is TERRIBLE with people"; your quote, not mine. I asked you what that's based on as the only evidence I've ever heard in that vein are from a few family members whining that their kids aren't getting PT and that the staff's communication about it hasn't met their standards. I've yet to hear a single player on our team other than from that group say one bad thing about Manny. On the contrary, I've heard many players, not just Shaq, espouse their love for the man.

So I ask you again... what do you base the comment "Manny is TERRIBLE with people" on? That's a **** of a broad statement.
Click to expand...

I base it on interactions that I've had with him personally, indirectly (recruiting & family events), and the way he interacts with fans & family members in general. He's just a very isolated type of guy. He doesn't have a very inviting personality at all, like a Coach Richt did for example. I'm sure it's something he can improve upon, but most of the people I know that have interacted with him, have the same feelings about him.
 
Advertisement
For_The_U said:
These next two games will speak volumes.
Click to expand...
Next three. FIU and Duke aren't exactly top competition. I'm guessing our bowl opponent will be better than both of them, and will tell us a lot more about where we are heading.
 
Anyway, even 9-4 wouldn’t thrill me this year. But it would look pretty good after the 3-4 start.

I’m not done with Manny yet, but even winning out wouldn’t make this year a success.
 
Last edited:
Next year isn’t a growing year. If we don’t win the Coastal, Manny needs to go. Period. I know we say that every year, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had stability at the QB position. We have that now. Put up or shut up.
 
Advertisement
Empirical Cane said:
More important questions:

1. How quickly will Blake be relieved?
2. How quickly will Diaz be relieved?
3. How quickly will new AD (assuming competence) find the right HC?
4. How quickly will new HC be able to lead Miami to unqualified ACCCD title?
5. How quickly will new HC be able to lead Miami to ACCCG W?
Click to expand...
LOL ... if ever a post was begging for downvotes .... this is it !
 
Last edited:
Empirical Cane said:
If Miami had a competent HC, they would be headed to Charlotte.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

They barely beat CMU.

This team LOST to GT.

A squad that THIS SEASON is incorporating the concept of FORWARD PASSES.

Let that sink in.
Click to expand...
the Diaz Groupie Flying Monkeys will be coming after you, EC ! LOL

flying monkeys.gif
 
10 wins and a top 10-12 class next year.

There will be no excuses left for the staff next year (youth, new system, etc.)

Manny needs to step up his recruiting or he'll leave this place worse off than Richt/Golden.
 
Advertisement
Caneillac said:
I base it on interactions that I've had with him personally, indirectly (recruiting & family events), and the way he interacts with fans & family members in general. He's just a very isolated type of guy. He doesn't have a very inviting personality at all, like a Coach Richt did for example. I'm sure it's something he can improve upon, but most of the people I know that have interacted with him, have the same feelings about him.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I respect that opinion. He just doesn't come across to me as a person that people don't like. But I base that off very little of substance as I've never met the man myself
 
Well, off-season, he talked a solid upgrade over a beat up, but refurbished 1980s Toyota Tercel. What came out the gates was the 1980s Toyota Tercel, with a missing wheel. What we now have, is the same Toyota Tercel, with a fix up, a better tuneup, and an unspoken promise of a trade up, next year. Yes, it is better than what came out of the gates games 1 - 4, but the same Toyota Tercel next year loses me completely. I will personally fly like Batman with my own personally made banner, if it makes a difference!
 
Advertisement
Back
Top