It’s a death of a thousand cuts.
1. The brand isn’t nearly as strong with the youth. These kids care nothing about Miami from 20-30 years ago. They barely remember what they ate for breakfast and it’s a short attention span society on top of it . I have a HS kid that works for me when schools out. He’s a low level D1 commit. He looks at me like I have turds hanging out of my mouth when I try to explain what we used to be. These kids know who’s playing in big games and winning natties. Wins do matter.
2. Development and draft. These recruits pay attention to who’s getting drafted at their positions and who’s being developed. Miami has been almost non existent in the early rounds for a good while. There’s a reason OSU keeps landing stud after stud at wr. Every Saturday there’s a three hour infomercial on the wr position.
3. Conference. Yes it matters , it’s not the end all but it’s one of the ingredients in the cake. These kids know the perception. The Sec is slurped nationally by the day and even more during the season. On top of that they see the draft. They want to be considered the best so the narrative is the Sec is just that. So of course they want to say “ I play in the Sec”. Being in the Acc one hundred percent has a negative affect on things. As I said earlier “ kids have asked for 200 k more to come here because it wasn’t the Sec. Oh and spare me on the ND comparison. That brand is bigger and stronger nationally on top of having their very own network. Also let’s not forget being far more relevant than Miami the last 10–15 years.
4. Coaching. Mario isn’t considered a high level coach , nowhere close , that’s just the blunt truth. Kids want to be coached and well. We brought in a guy everyone knew was an elite recruiter and haven’t got elite results. If he can’t keep Miami top 5-7 in recruiting rankings consistently we’ll get the same results . He’s not going to overcome talent with his gameday coaching.
5. NIL. I save the most important one for last. Kids want to get paid . Miami is a top ten NIL program but they are not elite. There’s 4-5 teams that just play at a different level. Miami is far from being the Rays but nowhere close to being the Dodgers.
The uncomfortable truth is the Miami program and a lot of us fans view the program as something that we aren’t nationally. We’re closer to Pit than Georgia even though most of our recruiting battles are against UGA and teams at their level. Thank god for NIL!! The brand has been abused worse than Tina Turner.
One ten win season every 8-10 years won’t change the narrative and perception. Especially when you nose dive to finish the two times we accomplished double figure wins. Fans nationally believe Ward did everything last year and put cologne on the program . So this year is an absolute must to keep trending up. The one thing Mario has left to tell kids is look at the programs direction, 5,7,10 and double figures again.
The Acccg and a playoff spot is essential. That’s not hyperbole or fan hope. That’s the feeling inside the program. The coaches know how important this year is.
It’s year four and there’s been a lot of equity piled into this roster / staff. Any thing less than improvement is another lost season with a program and fan base stuck in the drive way.
