Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
The last week in September Herbstreit calls out the University, which was clearly caught off guard. They then spend weeks scrambling to get a coherent message out to the public that doesn't make much sense. Frenk goes on the big screen at the UVA game and addresses the situation, which was bizarre. At that point it's clear the University doesn't have a plan yet. That's 5 weeks from the FSU game.
It's not until AFTER the FSU game that word starts leaking in the media (via Mike Ryan) that the University is willing to invest more dollars into the sports programs and take things seriously. Blake James gets fired AFTER the FSU game. Meanwhile, Oregon was 9-1 and #3 in the country, making a playoff run. The FSU loss prompted a major response, both from a personnel standpoint and a PR standpoint, that wasn't there before that game.
If you want to tell me Blake James was gone after the Herbstreit rant then I believe it. I also believe, up until a certain point, many people at Miami thought Blake James being replaced was going to be enough. I am sure Miami people contacted Cristobal and were trying to get him here maybe some time in October, but I also think that was not certain until some time post FSU.
I think Manny was being kept around because they weren't sure Cristobal would come. I think people thought if Cristobal turned it down and Manny won out there would be a way to bring him back because there was nobody else. I think once they lost to FSU nobody could defend it anymore and it was all in on Cristobal, which is why post FSU you suddenly get public messages out to the world about Miami willing to spend tens of millions of dollars.
I don't know what actually happened but I can't buy a story that the University went from not caring at all to securing one of the best coaches in the country and spending SEC money in a matter of a few weeks, which would have been the timeline post Herbstreit rant and pre FSU game. I think it was much more dynamic and fluid than that. I think they didn't know the outcome until the end of November.