Well, if we are willing to delve into the world of reality for a brief moment, lets recap:
1, Diaz had successfully coordinated the defense to (a) high levels nationally, (b) handled the only side of the ball that had ANY sort of national buzz; (c) young coach with energy;
2. That we( non insiders ) know of, no big names were available or interested. do you think that Meyer would consider us? Stoops? Gruden( oh ,wait, he took the Raiders job)?.
3. Richt quit DEc 30, 2018; Second signing day was 5 weeks away;
4. We were 7-6 and got embarrassed by Wisconsin 2 days earlier; think there were " big names" lining up to come here?
5The REAL Boss at UM, President Frenk, was/ is a fan. So for all those ripping Blake James for this hire, you have very little understanding of who is in charge at the University.
Now I have ZERO idea who are/ were " up and coming , hot shot coordinators " out there, and obviously a national search committee would have taken its time and vetted a bunch of names. None of us have ANY idea of who would have been eventually hired if not Manny but im pretty sure it would have been a SIMILAR hire- young, successful coordinator with no HC experience.
Not saying this was the right decision- maybe it was and maybe not- but there was logic and basis for this hire, not some knee jerk 5 minute response by the BOT , AD and University President.