So this debacle of a first regular season for Manny Diaz is now mercifully over - with an irrelevant bowl game to come - and at least we all now know what The New Miami is.
It’s a program that consistently underachieves, unable to manage a schedule stuffed with teams with inferior talent and mediocre records, the latest ignominy coming in Saturday’s 27-17 loss at Duke that dropped the Hurricanes to 6-6.
It’s a program that runs a slow, plodding, predictable offense that can’t protect the quarterback, can’t consistently run and can’t sustain adequate quarterback play for more than two games in a row.
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It’s a program that has the worst third-down offense in college football, one that went 0 for 11 in the second half against a Duke team that was bludgeoned for 49 points by Syracuse two weeks ago and 39 against Wake Forest last week.
It’s a program that loses more games as a 14-plus point favorite than any college football team this century.
It’s a program that can talk a big game but rarely can back it up.
It’s a program prone to shoddy tackling and mind-boggling coverage breakdowns at the most inopportune time.
It’s a program that’s among the worst in the country in sacks allowed and rushing yards.
And it’s a program that somehow managed to go 6-6 against a schedule that’s infinitely easier than any SEC team plays.
It’s almost impossible to overstate what an enormous disappointment this season was, not only because Diaz’s bravado raised expectations but also because this weak schedule alone should have produced at least nine wins and probably 10.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised - UM, for the most part, hasn’t been nationally relevant in more than a decade - but here’s why I am:
Diaz is a smart, impressive guy, and I thought that would translate into better decisions, and as a byproduct, more success. I still believe it might.
But through 11 months of his tenure, it hasn’t, and he essentially has a year to figure it out, or the unrest among boosters will be too intense to survive another season of this. (Diaz’s job is safe for 2020, as we reported Monday.)
As we explained here, the decision to stick with a slow-moving, pro style offense was his biggest misculation.
But there’s more to it.
All of the bells and whistles this offseason ultimately meant nothing. Not the boasting on Twitter. Not the creation of a touchdown ring to match the turnover chain. Not giving lobsters to players who excelled in offseason workouts and hot dogs to those who didn’t.
Not taking his team to Hard Rock Stadium and having them run the steps - while last year’s Duke loss played on the video boards - to remind them that losing at home, and to Duke, were unacceptable. Not borrowing yachts to allow coaches to arrive in style at a Hurricane Club event.
Ultimately, none of those decisions or gimmicks - not a single one - translated into anything substantive.
And here’s what I don’t want to hear in the weeks ahead: I don’t want to hear that the systemic problems that have infested this program, the humiliating losses to lesser teams, the persistent underachievement, can be fixed simply with better execution, or looking in the mirror, or better recruiting or more competition or more voluntary offseason workouts or any of the lazy cliches that coaches routinely spew when they don’t have substantive answers.
Here’s what I want to hear: There will be fundamental changes in how UM plays offense. You’re not going anywhere meaningful in college football averaging 25 points a game, and that isn’t going to change if UM keeps playing this system, because Andre Johnson and Bryant McKinnie and Edgerrin James and Ken Dorsey are not walking through that door.
I want to hear a plan to identify better offensive linemen - whether it’s more recruiting in the Midwest or another region - and not merely blame the misevaluations of the previous staff.
I want to hear that the staff will be augmented with a top recruiter or another top football mind or someone who can make a genuine difference.
And if Diaz doesn’t commit to significant changes - not window dressing - I want the administration to make clear it’s required.
There was none of that from Diaz after Saturday’s game, aside from Diaz saying: “We have to change the way we’re playing, I know that. Now there’s a lot of things that go into how that happens.” (He also said he hasn’t thought about staff changes.)
Instead of focusing on the future, Diaz told his players he was proud of their leadership and effort and told WQAM that the big problem Saturday were injuries to Navaughn Donaldson and John Campbell that forced UM to make changes on its offensive line - though UM should have been good enough to overcome that against a bad team that entered with five consecutive losses.
“This week was an issue of simple things that take to win a game - our inability to throw and catch, and protect our quarterback, some of that due to lineup changes,” Diaz said, correctly pointing out that UM receivers couldn’t win one-on-one battles enough. “The execution stinks. But there were a lot of guys that played really well.”
I’m not in Durham, so I can’t ask Diaz the question that needs to be asked: Will he commit to the significant changes needed in how UM operates its program, not merely assuming that “better execution” or “better throwing and catching” or better recruiting will fix this.
Because this much is clear: This season was unacceptable, from the 10 sacks allowed in the opener, to the inexcusable loss to a dreadful Georgia Tech team, to the FIU and Duke losses, to the underachieving offense, to the inexcusable errors that largely went unpunished (DJ Ivey not bothering to run with the Georgia Tech player who scored on a fake punt).
And Diaz, I suspect, has a year to fix it. The clock began ticking at 7:15 pm Saturday.
It’s a program that consistently underachieves, unable to manage a schedule stuffed with teams with inferior talent and mediocre records, the latest ignominy coming in Saturday’s 27-17 loss at Duke that dropped the Hurricanes to 6-6.
It’s a program that runs a slow, plodding, predictable offense that can’t protect the quarterback, can’t consistently run and can’t sustain adequate quarterback play for more than two games in a row.
TOP ARTICLES
SKIP AD
It’s a program that has the worst third-down offense in college football, one that went 0 for 11 in the second half against a Duke team that was bludgeoned for 49 points by Syracuse two weeks ago and 39 against Wake Forest last week.
It’s a program that loses more games as a 14-plus point favorite than any college football team this century.
It’s a program that can talk a big game but rarely can back it up.
It’s a program prone to shoddy tackling and mind-boggling coverage breakdowns at the most inopportune time.
It’s a program that’s among the worst in the country in sacks allowed and rushing yards.
And it’s a program that somehow managed to go 6-6 against a schedule that’s infinitely easier than any SEC team plays.
It’s almost impossible to overstate what an enormous disappointment this season was, not only because Diaz’s bravado raised expectations but also because this weak schedule alone should have produced at least nine wins and probably 10.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised - UM, for the most part, hasn’t been nationally relevant in more than a decade - but here’s why I am:
Diaz is a smart, impressive guy, and I thought that would translate into better decisions, and as a byproduct, more success. I still believe it might.
But through 11 months of his tenure, it hasn’t, and he essentially has a year to figure it out, or the unrest among boosters will be too intense to survive another season of this. (Diaz’s job is safe for 2020, as we reported Monday.)
As we explained here, the decision to stick with a slow-moving, pro style offense was his biggest misculation.
But there’s more to it.
All of the bells and whistles this offseason ultimately meant nothing. Not the boasting on Twitter. Not the creation of a touchdown ring to match the turnover chain. Not giving lobsters to players who excelled in offseason workouts and hot dogs to those who didn’t.
Not taking his team to Hard Rock Stadium and having them run the steps - while last year’s Duke loss played on the video boards - to remind them that losing at home, and to Duke, were unacceptable. Not borrowing yachts to allow coaches to arrive in style at a Hurricane Club event.
Ultimately, none of those decisions or gimmicks - not a single one - translated into anything substantive.
And here’s what I don’t want to hear in the weeks ahead: I don’t want to hear that the systemic problems that have infested this program, the humiliating losses to lesser teams, the persistent underachievement, can be fixed simply with better execution, or looking in the mirror, or better recruiting or more competition or more voluntary offseason workouts or any of the lazy cliches that coaches routinely spew when they don’t have substantive answers.
Here’s what I want to hear: There will be fundamental changes in how UM plays offense. You’re not going anywhere meaningful in college football averaging 25 points a game, and that isn’t going to change if UM keeps playing this system, because Andre Johnson and Bryant McKinnie and Edgerrin James and Ken Dorsey are not walking through that door.
I want to hear a plan to identify better offensive linemen - whether it’s more recruiting in the Midwest or another region - and not merely blame the misevaluations of the previous staff.
I want to hear that the staff will be augmented with a top recruiter or another top football mind or someone who can make a genuine difference.
And if Diaz doesn’t commit to significant changes - not window dressing - I want the administration to make clear it’s required.
There was none of that from Diaz after Saturday’s game, aside from Diaz saying: “We have to change the way we’re playing, I know that. Now there’s a lot of things that go into how that happens.” (He also said he hasn’t thought about staff changes.)
Instead of focusing on the future, Diaz told his players he was proud of their leadership and effort and told WQAM that the big problem Saturday were injuries to Navaughn Donaldson and John Campbell that forced UM to make changes on its offensive line - though UM should have been good enough to overcome that against a bad team that entered with five consecutive losses.
“This week was an issue of simple things that take to win a game - our inability to throw and catch, and protect our quarterback, some of that due to lineup changes,” Diaz said, correctly pointing out that UM receivers couldn’t win one-on-one battles enough. “The execution stinks. But there were a lot of guys that played really well.”
I’m not in Durham, so I can’t ask Diaz the question that needs to be asked: Will he commit to the significant changes needed in how UM operates its program, not merely assuming that “better execution” or “better throwing and catching” or better recruiting will fix this.
Because this much is clear: This season was unacceptable, from the 10 sacks allowed in the opener, to the inexcusable loss to a dreadful Georgia Tech team, to the FIU and Duke losses, to the underachieving offense, to the inexcusable errors that largely went unpunished (DJ Ivey not bothering to run with the Georgia Tech player who scored on a fake punt).
And Diaz, I suspect, has a year to fix it. The clock began ticking at 7:15 pm Saturday.
