Confirmed Alonzo Highsmith (joining Miami staff, 5.25 update)

[cyrez8]

Cool. But what’s he gonna do specifically?

The misery

Remember when Manny and Blake refused to hire him...

Nail in his coffin

 

[Bender]

Thank u. I'm just glad there's clarity for u guys now. He's been on staff since before Mario technically. Just in a different capacity. Now he can get his normal job goin and build this train up.

Can he directly speak to recruits?

 

[OldhamA]

We got the athletic director everyone wanted.
Fck why stop there?!!!
then we went and got the other athletic director everyone wanted too!!!
A double rainbow all the way around!!!!!!

 

[OldhamA]

You can't convince me they're not clones.

 

[blushrts]

Remember when this board said there would be no way there could be a GM of football ops reporting to the AD?

I'll take an L here. My thinking is you would never see a guy like Urban Meyer not having complete control of his program.

But in the words of the immortal Al Bundy, "Let's Rock"

 

[Dyalect79]

The more the merrier. Man, I just want to shut up all those **** boi Buckeye fans I work with. Please gawd make it happen….

 

[Empirical Cane]

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/acc/university-of-miami/article257486479.html

"...A well respected talent evaluator, Highsmith, 57, will work alongside Miami native and coach Mario Cristobal and new athletic director Dan Radakovich in a scouting-intensive capacity, overseeing all recruiting operations and building a department intent on acquiring top talent..."

Can anyone think of another program that has someone with this pedigree focused on this type of role? Obviously he has to perform and add value to Miami, but this could be a move where Hecht not only closed a gap with "elite" programs, but has now leap frogged them.

 

[siulrc]

I'll take an L here. My thinking is you would never see a guy like Urban Meyer not having complete control of his program.

But in the words of the immortal Al Bundy, "Let's Rock"

You do have a point but I don’t think Mario would relinquish total control especially when coming from Oregon where he was in total control. I’m pretty sure he gave ok to this hire

At least Miami doing things differently after 20 years of the same chit!

 

[WestEndZone]

Mainly scout. He's essentially the head of the recruiting dept with a day to day that includes oversight and development. But that's just my guess. What do I know.

Would love to see this.

 

[WestEndZone]

The misery

Nail in his coffin

Huh?

I am actually asking. I'm curious to know his role.

 

[423Hurricane]

I’ve said several times in the last 6+ months “Just when I think it can’t get any better, it does.” With our history of the last 20 years or so, I never in my wildest dreams thought we’d see this type of transformation of our Canes.

Although I’ve proudly worn my Canes gear for many years, I have a little more swag in my step theses days. What has transpired these last several months is truly astonishing. I even have fans of other teams saying they’re blown away by what’s happening in Coral Gables.

 

[KANE]

Aye… y’all remember just a short time ago, when we thought Manny was the king of the off season? Mario don snatched that **** from him too….

Now… let’s get this momentum rolling on the field of play.

 

[Southcane]

 

[Southcane]

Where are the posters who didn't want "Miami Guys" to have anything to do with this program? I mean even our AD got his higher education degree from Miami. Something is wrong here.

 

[ristwasdown]

Would love to see this.

Dee is be sarcastic. That is his role. It was said as much in an interview somewhere I read. Scouting, player development, etc. Bringing an NFL office dynamic to college/Miami.

 

[mirvin88]

Now that he's officially official, I guess I can relate this story from the past season...

After the Mich St loss, I started hearing from people that were pretty significant boosters, long-time season ticket holders (who had up to like 8 seats per game) etc, were telling me that they were no longer even going to home games. That they wouldn't be going for awhile. And these were die-hards who didn't miss games for years, and traveled to a lot of road games.

I saw some tweets expressing the same thing

I DM'd Alonzo about this, and his response was, "This is alarming, I'd like to talk to these people." He was serious. And he actually wanted to give his thoughts on Miami and what he had seen throughout the country at other programs.

So a special Zoom conference call was organized (and some on this board were on this call) and guess what, for over an hour he held court. There was no doubt he wanted to help rebuild this thing. Mr Highsmith has a real plan and vision. He isn't here to just be a figurehead, or occupy an office. This is not his job, but a passion. Or a vocation as Mario Cristobal would say.

One thing he said that really stood out to me was that, "Every booster counts, doesn't matter if you're at the very top, a Golden Cane, or just a guy who gives a hundred dollars -- you guys ALL matter." Alonzo, beyond the football aspect has an acute understanding that UM had lost the community to a certain degree. Part of his aim it get back to the grassroots in the Dade County area and beyond.

Im very excited about this move and extremely happy for Alonzo.

 

[hotshot]

You do have a point but I don’t think Mario would relinquish total control especially when coming from Oregon when he was in total control. I’m pretty sure he gave ok to this hire

At least Miami doing things differently after 20 years of the same chit!

I'd bet that one man is "in charge" of recruiting and his initials are MC. If Alonzo can add some useful input, all to the better. I mean, it's not as if identifying talent and recruiting were problems at Oregon. In fact, most would say that was Mario's strength!

I wonder what this job pays in the new UM structure?

 

[miamicanephins]

I have hoped that Zo would join this program in some capacity for a while now, really happy this has finally happened. Go Canes!

 

[dantheman349]

weekend starts early it seems Cheers!

 

[rccollins]

We need to give Herbie an honory degree and retire his Jersey number at this point.

I think Vilma is the one that got Herbie to speak up..VIlma the hidden hero In all this?