I read so much on this site about Mario’s not going to make it, players stink, our OC blows, mostly just a lot hyperbole. I have a few thoughts I want to bring because I’ve been involved in a few corporate turnarounds (currently in one) and understand the depths of what it takes to turn something around from the brink of failure to a success.
- Turnrounds are not easy – it why they are called a turnaround. For 20 years we have not played good football, invested correctly, hired competently, developed talent the right way, etc. It’s why we had a crappy season last year and it’s why we’ve continually had bad seasons with lots of unrealistic expectations. It’s also why we have few players drafted and why so few have developed. Makes complete sense. To think this can be fixed overnight is not correct. It took me and a very talented group 5 years to turn around a business with 30K employees and we didn’t get every hire right. Mario didn’t get the OC right last year. I hired a CFO from Microsoft, great pedigree, etc., yet he failed. Not everything is going to work, especially with senior level hires. Making changes quickly is important when you identify problems. Not everyone on paper that looks the part is going to be successful or have the wherewithal to know the challenges ahead and adapt. Not to mention the CEO has to be able to chance and evolve too. I think we are seeing that in Mario.
- Focus on 3 things and do those well. Miami has far more problems than just 3 things as we all know, and you can’t fix everything all at once nor can you do it at the drop of a hat. This stuff takes TIME. Far too often in turnarounds people try to tackle a hundred things but do a hundred things average so you don’t really improve drastically. It’s mostly just band-aids on the problems. Focus on 3 things – fix those and move to the 4ththen the 5th and so on. I think all of us would agree Miami never invested in the program. Issue 1. They are doing that. Capital injection and bringing Miami up to par. Paying for coaches, staff, facilities, etc. Again, not always going to get everything right but it’s a start. You can’t compete with Bama or OSU if you aren’t going to invest. Issue 2 – identify talent. I believe in Mario, but he can’t do it all on his own. Alonzo and the strong team he gathered around to identify talent I believe will help – something we haven’t had in years since Butch (Al had an eye but didn’t develop that well or change). All of you talk about evaluations and players, something I can’t speak to as just a fan, but it takes time. If you haven’t been good at identifying talent and developing it, why do you expect to be anything other than middle grade and few guys drafted??? Issue 3 – Develop it. Again, it takes time and having good coaches. Outside of Gattis – and look the guy was at Bama, worked at Michigan, the signs all pointed but like everything – not everyone on paper that appears to look great works out. We must develop talent and hopefully the coaches we have will do that. But to expect guys to be overnight sensations and live off the high school highlight reels is not realistic. Being great at something requires time, mentorship, help, coaching, support, all those things need to happen. Hopefully we are injecting this into the program.
