As I said last week on my YouTube channel, these crazy-ass coaching hires in the world of college football reminded me that I have chosen the wrong line of work.
First it was the surprising Lincoln Riley-to USC-from Oklahoma hire. He had reportedly 110 million reasons to leave a stable situation in Norman for the pressure cooker in Los Angeles.
Next it was the equally surprising Brian Kelly-to LSU-from Notre Dame move. I never thought anyone would leave a storied program in Notre Dame for another pressure cooker in Baton Rouge. But as in the case of Lincoln Riley, Kelly had 95 million reasons to make that move.
Now we have what had been rumored since the conclusion of the Pac-12 championship game coming true: Mario Cristobal leaving Oregon for his alma mater Miami. The administration apparently gave him 80 million reasons to do so.
Now while I think the Cristobal hire is a home run and will turn Miami into a perennial contender in the ACC as a whole instead of just the Coastal Division, I didn’t like how the Miami administration did now-former head coach Manny Diaz.
Diaz is a Miami guy through and through, whose dad was once the mayor of the city. I bet Diaz would have loved to have the support that the administration will be throwing towards Cristobal’s way.
Lest anyone forget, Diaz turned around a team that started 2-4 to finish 7-5 — which could have been 8-4 if the Hurricanes’ defense kept Florida State from converting a 4th and 14 late. And that stud of a QB in Tyler Van Dyke, the redshirt freshman who came on in relief of the injured D’Eriq King and balled out? That was on Diaz’ watch.
By the way, we won’t get into how wrong it is to negotiate with another coach while you already have a coach employed and working his tail off.
Again, I loved the Cristobal hire and glad that Miami FINALLY got its man. It’s just that I wish they didn’t have to shit on Diaz along the way.
Categories: college football
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