ItsAUThing.com
Following 'The U' since '82—covering it since '96.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2017
- Messages
- 2,707
Finally dove into the OBB podcast featuring Zo a few days back and left with more optimism about this program, than I've had in a long time.
Granted, the entire athletic department would need an *****—the BoT to get their heads out of their collective asses and egos checked, a REAL athletic director brought in to properly handle everything non-football related (with an understanding that football reigns supreme), 'Zo on staff as a football-focused AD and player personnel type—as well as a real head coach, with a budget for a real staff.
All of that feels like a pipe dream based on the past 20 years of bad decision making (starting with dropping the ball on extending Butch's contract in late 2000)—but a imperfect storm seems to be brewing with Diaz's epic collapse becoming a lead story in college football, soon as Kirk Herbstreit took the program down a peg on College GameDay the week after Miami slipped to 1-2 and got worked by Michigan State.
Herby had his way with the admin back in 2006 in Larry Coker's swan song—the Thanksgiving weekend night game against Boston College, where Bryan Pata was honored—the ESPN talking head taking UM's admin to task for shoddy facilities and being way behind the times in comparison to the composition (Coker finishing 7-6 on the season, after back to back 9-3 runs, after that three year 35-3 start with Davis' kids.)
Seems it takes being humiliated nationally for UM to pay attention—and that is happening right now—which is why "rooting" for losses and Diaz's free fall to continue remains in the best short-term and long-term interest of this program.
16-14 since 2019—2-4 on the season, 2-6 dating back to the end of last year and no P5 win since beating Duke on 12/5/20—this thing is spiraling.
No. 18 North Carolina State head south to what should be a barren HardRock on Saturday night—outside of their fans willing to make the 10-hour drive to support their 5-1 team; something the commentators will most-definitely talk up and focus on .... how Miami home games are a morgue when this program struggles.
If the Wolfpack can deliver a 45-17 like shellacking, safe to say Diaz would be gone Sunday morning. If the Canes keep it close enough, he buys another week and hopefully No. 23 Pittsburgh plays tough and puts this era out to pasture. (Crazy fact; Kenny Pickett—freshman quarterback of that 2017 upset where 10-0 Miami went down—still the quarterback this season, with the bonus COVID year.)
All that to say, the Zo podcast is must-listen and there is a glimmer of hope for this now-embarrassed program, who is watching a collapse from Diaz on par with the 2-8 season Carl Selmer put together in 1975.
May our division rivals pour it on these next two weeks to end this knee-jerk, lazy-hire era that never should've happened in the first place.
https://itsauthing.com/miami-hurricanes-football-alonzo-highsmith-orange-bowl-boys-podcast-the-u
EDIT: Those stating that Manny being out is a "foregone conclusion"—bet your *** the administration is rooting for him to turn it around and to finish 7-5 / 8-4 — giving them the narrative that he was able to rally the troops with his back to the wall, buying him another year.
You saw the PR machine in full spin-mode last weekend when Diaz retuned to the field at Kenan Memorial for his somber thousand yard stare at the the scene of the crime carefully position at 2 o'clock from the press box, so any lurking reporters could watch him trying to make sense of what just happened (as a politician—and even the son of a politician—ALWAYS knows were the cameras are.)
Miami wants so badly for Diaz to bounce back, so they can push the "five points separated us from 2-0 in the ACC and 0-2"—and that two plays are the difference between 4-2 right now and 2-4.
It took a 58-0 *** kicking at the hands of Clemson to send Al Golden packing in October 2015—given some grace after 6-7 year four, as they pitied him for the Sharpiro situation he was blindsided with.
Miami isn't going to can Diaz when he's losing close games; at least not in-season. The best case scenario for the Canes in the short- and long-term—hope that North Carolina State put a pasting on them, fire Diaz on Sunday morning and root for the kids to bounce back under an interim head coach. (Proving recent losses to UVA and UNC weren't last-second gut punches—but 59 minutes where the Canes were outplayed, out-coached, made boneheaded mistakes, started slow, couldn't tackle, et al.
Anything less and this team will bleed out slowly; ekeing out a win here or there, or losing heartbreakers. Canes need to get crushed to put Diaz out of his misery—and based on UM's decades worth of incompetence, until he's gone, I don't believe they're firing him—and the quickest way to get him out is for Miami to get humiliated in the coming weeks (regardless of what any of us are choosing to "root for" or not—as rooting has zero bearing on anything.)
Granted, the entire athletic department would need an *****—the BoT to get their heads out of their collective asses and egos checked, a REAL athletic director brought in to properly handle everything non-football related (with an understanding that football reigns supreme), 'Zo on staff as a football-focused AD and player personnel type—as well as a real head coach, with a budget for a real staff.
All of that feels like a pipe dream based on the past 20 years of bad decision making (starting with dropping the ball on extending Butch's contract in late 2000)—but a imperfect storm seems to be brewing with Diaz's epic collapse becoming a lead story in college football, soon as Kirk Herbstreit took the program down a peg on College GameDay the week after Miami slipped to 1-2 and got worked by Michigan State.
Herby had his way with the admin back in 2006 in Larry Coker's swan song—the Thanksgiving weekend night game against Boston College, where Bryan Pata was honored—the ESPN talking head taking UM's admin to task for shoddy facilities and being way behind the times in comparison to the composition (Coker finishing 7-6 on the season, after back to back 9-3 runs, after that three year 35-3 start with Davis' kids.)
Seems it takes being humiliated nationally for UM to pay attention—and that is happening right now—which is why "rooting" for losses and Diaz's free fall to continue remains in the best short-term and long-term interest of this program.
16-14 since 2019—2-4 on the season, 2-6 dating back to the end of last year and no P5 win since beating Duke on 12/5/20—this thing is spiraling.
No. 18 North Carolina State head south to what should be a barren HardRock on Saturday night—outside of their fans willing to make the 10-hour drive to support their 5-1 team; something the commentators will most-definitely talk up and focus on .... how Miami home games are a morgue when this program struggles.
If the Wolfpack can deliver a 45-17 like shellacking, safe to say Diaz would be gone Sunday morning. If the Canes keep it close enough, he buys another week and hopefully No. 23 Pittsburgh plays tough and puts this era out to pasture. (Crazy fact; Kenny Pickett—freshman quarterback of that 2017 upset where 10-0 Miami went down—still the quarterback this season, with the bonus COVID year.)
All that to say, the Zo podcast is must-listen and there is a glimmer of hope for this now-embarrassed program, who is watching a collapse from Diaz on par with the 2-8 season Carl Selmer put together in 1975.
May our division rivals pour it on these next two weeks to end this knee-jerk, lazy-hire era that never should've happened in the first place.
https://itsauthing.com/miami-hurricanes-football-alonzo-highsmith-orange-bowl-boys-podcast-the-u
EDIT: Those stating that Manny being out is a "foregone conclusion"—bet your *** the administration is rooting for him to turn it around and to finish 7-5 / 8-4 — giving them the narrative that he was able to rally the troops with his back to the wall, buying him another year.
You saw the PR machine in full spin-mode last weekend when Diaz retuned to the field at Kenan Memorial for his somber thousand yard stare at the the scene of the crime carefully position at 2 o'clock from the press box, so any lurking reporters could watch him trying to make sense of what just happened (as a politician—and even the son of a politician—ALWAYS knows were the cameras are.)
Miami wants so badly for Diaz to bounce back, so they can push the "five points separated us from 2-0 in the ACC and 0-2"—and that two plays are the difference between 4-2 right now and 2-4.
It took a 58-0 *** kicking at the hands of Clemson to send Al Golden packing in October 2015—given some grace after 6-7 year four, as they pitied him for the Sharpiro situation he was blindsided with.
Miami isn't going to can Diaz when he's losing close games; at least not in-season. The best case scenario for the Canes in the short- and long-term—hope that North Carolina State put a pasting on them, fire Diaz on Sunday morning and root for the kids to bounce back under an interim head coach. (Proving recent losses to UVA and UNC weren't last-second gut punches—but 59 minutes where the Canes were outplayed, out-coached, made boneheaded mistakes, started slow, couldn't tackle, et al.
Anything less and this team will bleed out slowly; ekeing out a win here or there, or losing heartbreakers. Canes need to get crushed to put Diaz out of his misery—and based on UM's decades worth of incompetence, until he's gone, I don't believe they're firing him—and the quickest way to get him out is for Miami to get humiliated in the coming weeks (regardless of what any of us are choosing to "root for" or not—as rooting has zero bearing on anything.)
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