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CORAL GABLES — nearly every way, the most new coaches get.
When Manny Diaz was introduced as the 25th coach in Hurricanes history on Wednesday, he posed for pictures with his family and Miami athletic director Blake James. He shook hands with some of the big-money boosters that fuel UM’s athletic department. He answered questions.
But even as Diaz celebrated and was celebrated, the new coach — who served as Miami’s defensive coordinator while the Hurricanes sputtered to a disappointing 7-6 season last year — made it clear he understood he faced some significant challenges in helping turn things around at Miami.
He also made it clear he alone can’t fix it — the Hurricanes players and staffers have to do their part, as well.
“Everyone in this building has to own 7-6, starting with me. I’ll say that one more time: Everybody has to own 7-6. There’s not a blame to the people who were not retained on the [offensive] staff as if it’s all their fault. If you wore the U on the side of your helmet last year or you wore it over your heart on a coaching shirt, we are all responsible for 7-6,” Diaz said this week. “Therefore, it is all of our responsibility to do everything we can to make sure that never happens again. I do not want to have a tone set where certain guys can think they have status, certain guys can think ‘Well, that wasn’t on me.’ That is not true.
“It was on all of us. Everyone returns after winter break with no status. Everyone returns 0-0, which is a great thing about college football. We live in a different world every year. The 2018 football team is over. It’s finished. They will never be back in the room again.”
The need for players and coaches to be accountable after what happened last season — when Miami opened the year as a preseason top-10 team before faltering — was on display after the Hurricanes’ 35-3 loss to Wisconsin in last month’s Pinstripe Bowl.
After that game — when the It was, in pep rally Hurricanes turned the ball over five times, managed just six first downs and couldn’t get in the end zone — running back Travis Homer bemoaned a lack of effort. Defensive end Jonathan Garvin said some of Miami’s defensive players displayed a “victim mentality” as they played well and their offensive teammates struggled.
And Diaz himself, who was then planning to head to Temple as its new head coach after his last game as the Hurricanes’ defensive coordinator, tweeted Miami’s performance had made him feel “disgust” and “disappointment.”
Unifying that splintered locker room will be one of the challenges Diaz faces in the days and weeks ahead of spring practice. Another challenge he’ll face? Finding ways to kickstart the Hurricanes’ anemic offense.
To that front, Diaz said quarterbacks N’Kosi Perry, Cade Weldon and Jarren Williams — all of whom were suspended under coach Mark Richt at some point last season — will have a clean slate as they begin competing for the starting job.
Of that group, only Perry has seen significant playing time, the rising redshirt sophomore starting 6 of 13 games and completing 51 percent of his passes for 1,091 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. He alternated starts this season with outgoing redshirt senior Malik Rosier, who also struggled with his completion percentage (52% for 1,052 yards) and turnovers
That’s not good enough, in Diaz’s opinion and so, while Perry, Weldon and Williams will have the chance to compete for the starting job in the spring, the coach said he has no qualms about mining the transfer market for a quarterback that can come in and give the Hurricanes experience and stability at the position.
One such QB Miami is targeting is Buffalo graduate transfer Tyree Jackson, who this season was 225-of-407 for 3,131 yards with 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 14 games.
Whether Miami lands him or anyone else, Diaz said play at the quarterback position must improve. (eight interceptions).
“The 800-pound gorilla in the room is that you’ve got to play better quarterback. If you watched the College Football Playoff games and you watched the New Year’s Day Six games and you watched the guys who were under center or in the gun on every play, there [weren’t] a lot of guys playing on Jan. 1 that didn’t have a guy playing quarterback for them,” Diaz said. “We have to get the guys on our campus to play a lot better. We’ve got to put them, as much as we can, in the best position for them to succeed or we’ve got to find another guy.”