We can pretend that this is real but it isn't. Barring an absolute disaster, Manny is gonna get a full graduating class and 4 years. We know Blake James aint looking for a reason to fire him and Richt had just finished a 7-6 year and the only reason he wasn't coaching in '19 is because he knew he had to fire his people and chose to quit rather than do it. Diaz may be a dead man walking in 2022 but he'll be Zombie Diaz because he won't be going anywhere before then.
I’m not saying he’s going to get fired if we have a bad season, I’m saying amongst the fans he has no more excuses, meaning if he don’t win 10 games & the Coastal this year, it doesn’t matter what Blake James does, Manny will have lost all leeway he had with the fans & once things go toxic it only becomes a matter of time before it reaches a fever pitch...
Manny still has a portion of the fansbase willing to see how things turn out this year, he hasn’t hit Defcon1 levels yet.
Because trust me, if we don’t have a good season this year, the 22 season will be dark with the fans, he won’t have anymore excuses & people will tune him out in a way that makes it beyond clear he’s a lame duck.
When I say no excuses, I’m not talking about Blake James, that mf’er is a professional excuse maker lol, he’ll always make excuses, I’m talking about the consensus amongst the fans, meaning he won’t have a leg to stand on with most of his if he doesn’t deliver this season & while people may think that’s trivial, the truth is, at Miami once the fans mark you for dead, there’s no recovering from that.
None of the previous coaches before Manny outlasted the fan heat, even Folden getting 5 years completely lost a majority of the fan base a whole year before he was fired & those last dying days before the Clemson embarrassment was a very contentious time in the program, the fans absolutely hated Al Folden & despite the steadfast support from the AD, fans wanted no parts of him at Miami anymore, he had worn out his welcome.
I don’t think that will happen with Manny, but the point I’m making is, if he doesn’t want it to go down that road he better win the coastal or else he’ll invoke that same spirit & it won’t be pretty. He’s ran out of excuses.
He either wins the Coastal this year or he’ll lose the fans completely & once he does that, the Grim Reaper will be following him around everywhere he goes in year 4.