Assuming Diaz has two more years before he gets canned, at this point the best course of action for Diaz's career might be to focus his efforts on making sure the offense is as dynamic as possible and accepting the defense is hugely flawed. The scheme on offense is fine, it just needs a talent infusion and a few tweaks. The defensive scheme is broken and unless he abandons his defensive philosophy, he's not going to be able to fix it before the clock runs out. High end CBs aren't available in the portal and I don't see any talent on the rooster that will develop into lockdown CBs. His position coaches on defense are generally awful so I don't think player development at any other position is going to address the flaws. Taylor might be a dynamic DT, but that is going to be because of natural skill like Gerald Willis.
Bring in some top notch offensive analysts and hit the portal hard for offensive talent. A dynamic offense with a terrible D will look a lot like a Mike Leach team or a homeless man's Oklahoma, but at least it will be more fun to watch. Diaz really has one year to fix it. I know we are worried about 2021's opener with Bama, but 2022's schedule is absolutely brutal and I already see 3 near-guaranteed losses on the schedule: @ Clemson, @ TAMU, UNC. Just two slips (@ VT, @ UVA) and he's 7-5 or maybe 7-6 in year 4 and I am sure that will be it for him.
This may seem like an exaggeration, but this UNC loss is probably the end of his career if you look at the big picture. If Miami wins that game and then a NY6 game (or lost a hard fought NY6 game), he'd earn huge amounts of goodwill for success during a crazy season and that might have enough to get him a fifth year even if he finished 7-6 against a brutal schedule in year 4. No one will remember 8-2, they'll remember the season ending with the worst defensive performance in program history, at home, and players quitting on him for the second year in a row. If there was ever a time for Diaz to hit the panic button, right about now would be a good time.
