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Current State - Miami Turnaround

Bob Stoops
inherits a 5-6 team, goes 7-5 in Year 1, 13-0 in Year 2

Pete Carroll
inherits a 5-7 team, goes 6-6 in Year 1, 11-2 in Year 2

Nick Saban
inherits a 6-7 team, goes 7-6 in Year 1, 12-2 in Year 2

Kirby Smart
inherits a 10-3 team, goes 8-5 in Year 1, 13-2 in Year 2
 
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SinisterCane said:
You left out getting his **** pushed in backward by Utah st. and stop following me all over CIS you cotdamm weirdo
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Utah St.?

Fail Catch Me GIF by Digimate.io
 
The only metric that can be quantifiably be used to compare any 2 CFB programs are W-L records. Everything else is comparing apples and oranges as there are literally dozens of variables from one program to another.
 
Rellyrell said:
As someone who created an article preaching patience to the fan base w/ Mario, there’s some things that need to be addressed.

1. My call for patience wasn’t for a 5 yr project, vs. tempering expectations for the first yr, just based upon the make up of the roster, & culture.

2. CFB is not the same as Corporate America, neither is a team w/ 85 scholarship players comparable to a company of 30k employees

3. In the day & age of CFB, there’s way too many overwhelming data points suggesting that a good coach typically turn around a team within 2 yrs, but the fruits of the labor truly bears by yr 3.

4. We talk about Miami woes for 20 yrs & what Mario inherited; well, let me furnish this board w/ another example from a disgraced coach by the name of Art Briles. Briles inherited a Baylor program in 2007 that hadn’t had a winning season since 1995. They were about 50 games under .500 as a program for 20 yrs b4 Briles took them over. He got them to their first winning season by yr 3, & their first double digit winning season since 1980 by yr 4.

In sports, especially with CFB due to the ability to acquire talent at an accelerated rate, you don’t need several yrs to accomplish goals. This yr alone we’ve seen Riley, Elko, and Dykes remake rosters in one yr & knock it out the ball park.
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7-5 minimum this year.
 
You don’t get paid $8,000,000 to take over the defending National Champion who’s the heavy favorite to repeat. The clock is ticking and you need to show wins and improvement giving hope that he brings the results he’s being paid for.
 
jdg3158 said:
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.
Overall, patience is not something people want to hear. But the truth is. This is a turnaround, and the fruits of this turnaround are not all noticeable nor seen just yet. They take some time and my guess is we see this in year 3 (not this year), but to expect to be in the playoffs or top 10-15 after so many years being average or slightly above is not realistic.
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Turnarounds can take time but that doesn't excuse losing to Middle Tennessee State
 
TheEye said:
He’s in good company. Lincoln Riley suffered the same fate.
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Yes, UTAH beat USC. I'm sure you just overlooked what he wrote but neither Lincoln Riley or Mario Cristobal lost to Utah St. :)

This place is a hoot. People will criticize each other, act like know-it-alls and tear down the people trying to right the UM ship and they don't even know the difference between a Championship Pac-12 power-5 team in Salt Lake City and a lowly GO5 Mountain West program in Logan that lost to Weber State this year by 28 points.

@SinisterCane, stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold. Love your work!
 
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DTP said:
It took Sonny Dykes one season to take a 5-7 team to 13-2.

Some of these guys are the same people who were still waiting for Golden and D’Onofrio to get “their guys” on defense in season three. It doesn’t take four years to go from 7-5 to 9-3
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Thank God this only Mario's 2nd year!
 
GojiraCane said:
Bob Stoops
inherits a 5-6 team, goes 7-5 in Year 1, 13-0 in Year 2

Pete Carroll
inherits a 5-7 team, goes 6-6 in Year 1, 11-2 in Year 2

Nick Saban
inherits a 6-7 team, goes 7-6 in Year 1, 12-2 in Year 2

Kirby Smart
inherits a 10-3 team, goes 8-5 in Year 1, 13-2 in Year 2
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In Mario's defense, you listed 4 HOF coaches. He's not that IMO. Times have changed since the first 3.. and Kirby inherited a dang good program. Not really comparable.
 
TpaBayFlyFisher said:
I think he is saying we should expect several more seasons of 5-7.
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Ohhhhhhhh.

We DID regress last season . . . Like Jimmy Johnson regressed HIS first season . . . but then I recall Attila the Hun also took a couple old-fashioned country ***-whippings coming out of the gate before he went on a tear.
 
I would feel better about Mario if he had made coaching changes after the MTSU debacle. A Lou Holtz went ballistic when we slaughtered his ND team and you knew changes were coming. I don't like Lou Holtz but I'd like to see some of that fire from Mario.
 
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jdg3158 said:
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.
Overall, patience is not something people want to hear. But the truth is. This is a turnaround, and the fruits of this turnaround are not all noticeable nor seen just yet. They take some time and my guess is we see this in year 3 (not this year), but to expect to be in the playoffs or top 10-15 after so many years being average or slightly above is not realistic.
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Look at USC. They were a putrid 4-8 in 2021. Riley comes in year one and misses the CFP by a game while winning a Heisman for Caleb Williams. USC is doing it right. I’d say the Trojans are “back to work”.
 
Bigdaddycane44 said:
Look at USC. They were a putrid 4-8 in 2021. Riley comes in year one and misses the CFP by a game while winning a Heisman for Caleb Williams. USC is doing it right. I’d say the Trojans are “back to work”.
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Riley is a top 5 HC in CFB but IMO, that's misleading. Without Caleb and the transfer portal, they are not going from 4-8 to 11-3 in one year.

Honestly, this all just boils down to QB play. If you take over a new program and have the good fortune of having a good QB (see Duke), you can make a quick turnaround. If you have bad QB play (or, ahem, hire one of the worst OCs ever that turn an otherwise good QB into a bad QB), then brace yourself.
 
AlexCane said:
Riley is a top 5 HC in CFB but IMO, that's misleading. Without Caleb and the transfer portal, they are not going from 4-8 to 11-3 in one year.

Honestly, this all just boils down to QB play. If you take over a new program and have the good fortune of having a good QB (see Duke), you can make a quick turnaround. If you have bad QB play (or, ahem, hire one of the worst OCs ever that turn an otherwise good QB into a bad QB), then brace yourself.
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Correct, and Mario is maybe top 50 HC’s in CFB.
 
Mario is paid as a top college football coach so the comparisons are more than valid.

7-8 wins is not good enough. This isn't add a couple wins per year bs. Not very many great programs are built that way. Lots of solid teams are built that way but not champions. I don't want to be a Wake Forest or Boston College.
 
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