CIS Bowl: Wash St vs Oregon

Lots of kids still want to play for the Canes. Mark Richt was a historically great recruiter. Jadon Haselwood grew up a Canes fan and wanted to play for Miami. How come Richt didnt get Haselwood? Because Haselwood saw a locker room full of soft players with a loser mentality. Didn't matter how smooth Richt was in the living room, kids with a winner's mentality dont want to be on teams with other players who dont care about winning. If he went to a sec team, then you can say bags won out. I don't think that was the case for Oklahoma. He wanted to play in Riley's offense (Riley was Leach's protege in case you weren't aware).

Leach wins games and runs an exciting offense. Every game could be a highlight reel for WRs. Haselwood would have thrived. 21st century kids are all about "the gram" and social media. Offensive players would be celebrities in a high flying Miami offense. Leach as Miami HC probably lands Haselwood while "great recruiter " Richt does not.
Leach with South Fl talent....fun to watch
 
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I was listening to a Canes podcast last week (wasn't one from this site) and one of the callers to the podcast was a former Canes player with an interesting perspective. Said Shannon was the best DC Miami ever had. As a HC he got zero support from the administration in terms of a budget for staff or facilities. He won some big games but would lose relatively easy games.

In a lot of ways 2019 Diaz is 2007 Randy Shannon. 2006 Miami went 7-6 with offense minded coach (Coker). 2007 Shannon went 5-7.

2018 Miami went 7-6 with offense minded coach (Richt). 2019 Diaz will probably go 5-7.

If it plays out the same then it will be:
2019 5-7
2020 7-6
2021 9-4
2022 7-5

If Blake James is still around, I'm sure he will feel vindicated after a 9-4 season and give Diaz another 3 year deal (I'm not kidding). Then after 7-5, Miami has to buy out his contract and Miami goes after a Matt Campbell type (Al Golden pt 2). Rinse and repeat. The cycle starts anew.

Miami has had a few successes at hiring HCs.

One of Miami's best coaching hires was to get a innovative offensive coach from WSU. Fans were up in arms- if he was so good, why was he at a backwater school like Washington State? Gimmick offense. Throws too much. Ground game wins championships . He hadn't won anything. Erickson turned out pretty good. I think Leach could also be successful, with Shannon as his Sonny Lubick.

The other good hire was Mark Richt. I still think Miami could have done better (Herman was available) but Richt steadied a floundering program. That said, he had been fired for massively underachieving and could never get UGA over the hump. There is another former SEC coach, who did get his team over the hump and has a national championship, and would have an affordable salary. He has a big buyout, but I assume Miami could negotiate the buyout. Les Miles. He was damaged goods because he was behind the curve on offense. Now he believes in spread offenses. I would put him #1 on my list to stop the bleeding and give Miami instant credibility.
If ya think Shannon recieved Zero support from the Administration in ref to budget for staff...facilities..recruting expenditures...etc....Butch had it 100x worse
 
I agree. When I think of Mario, I see more in the Butch School. Butch was a ridiculous evaluator of talent, a great recruiter and he hired great assistants. I never thought he was a great game day coach. But he was an overall great coach.

I see Leach in the Erickson mold as well though weirder. He would get a lot out of the offensive talent and do things to give defenses fits.

Each of the aforementioned models has question marks.

1. Is Leach too weird to recruit S Fl? I don't think so. Kids want to be stars, his offense would be a showcase. I understand the question though.

2. Will Miles repeat his mistakes at LSU? His lack of offense was his undoing. This year he fired his OC 5 games into the season and hired a spread OC.

3. Cristobal can recruit, but is he a corch?

Of the 3 possibilities, the one I think has the least chance of failure is Miles. Before this season, he had the same questions we did with Richt (i.e. UGA forcing him to a hire an OC). Miles showed he believes in modern offenses now. He's also a great recruiter and gets mentally tough, hard-hitting players. I'd go Miles, Leach, Cristobal in that order.
 
If ya think Shannon recieved Zero support from the Administration in ref to budget for staff...facilities..recruting expenditures...etc....Butch had it 100x worse

I don't doubt it. Miami has always been cheap. It cant get away with that anymore. Football is much bigger business now than it was even in 2001. In 1996, Bowden was among the highest paid HCs at 1 million. In 2001, Spurrier was highest paid at 2.1 million. Adjusted for inflation, in 2019 that would be 3.1 million. That would barely crack top 50 now. It would be less than Derek Mason makes at Vandy.
 
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