Manny Diaz has led Miami to a strong finish this season after a very rough start, but it is still unclear if the head coach will be back in 2022. From the sound of it, administrators are nowhere near a decision.
Miami needs an athletic director. James Blake was fired last month after being with the Hurricanes since 2013, and Brett McMurphy of Action Network reported on Thursday that the search for Blake’s replacement has been a “mess.” There are more than 50 board of trustee members and donors trying to sort through the AD situation and weigh Diaz’s future. They are said to be split.
Multiple Miami AD candidates told @ActionNetworkHQ UM’s search is a “mess.” With more than 50 board of trustees & several donors involved “everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. They don’t know what they want to do w/Manny (Diaz). Half want him gone, half want him to stay"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 2, 2021
That meshes with what Michelle Kaufman and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald wrote earlier in the day, which is that there are differing opinions on what to do with the AD and head coach situations. Some board members want Diaz replaced with a big-money head coach. Others want to allocate more resources toward improving the athletic department as college football enters the name, image and likeness era. Many board members believe hiring a prominent head coach will help get Miami football back in the national spotlight, and the money will follow.
A decision needs to be made fairly quickly, otherwise Miami will fall behind in recruiting. The Hurricanes are 7-5 in Diaz’s third season. If the rumors about one top head coach being interested are true, Miami might be more likely to fire Diaz. For now, it sounds like there is as much uncertainty behind closed doors as there is publicly.
Photo: Oct 30, 2021; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz puts his headset on against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
