Miami cheeky and blatant in the hunt for Mario Cristobal

ATLANTA – On Saturday night, as the city of Atlanta sat spellbound by Alabama’s Georgia throttling in the SEC title game, an earlier generation of college football titan planned a long game of catching up on that caliber.

A few miles from the Mercedes Benz Dome, University of Miami officials met with Clemson’s sporting director Dan Radakovich to become the school’s next AD. While they were planning this move, they had already feverishly and clumsily started putting together an offer to lure home Mario Cristobal, the Oregon coach, who is expected to decide on Sunday night whether to stay in Eugene or return to Coral Gables.

The Miami of camouflage clothing, relentless bragging rights, and an assembly line of NFL first-round draft picks is now the stuff of lore, the fodder for the “30’s or 30’s” and the grumpiest base of former stars in the sport. Aside from the blip in the turnover chain in 2017, Miami failed to match the five national titles won in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Eventually, a number of poor coaching attitudes and an apathetic sports department watched the SEC race. Miami suddenly found itself a leader in the nation when eligible alumni complained to the media.

And this is where Miami’s new money, brave executives, and even more new money come into play – including HR director Rudy Fernandez, UHealth CEO Joe Echevarria and chairman Laurie Silvers. The UHealth tie has generated hundreds of millions of additional revenue for the university, some of which is expected to spill over into the advancement of athletics. Miami never had money, it always had talent. And the new guard wants investing in athletics to help build the university’s brand, just like it did when Miami Football helped the school become a national brand.

There’s a new guard in Miami who has taken a bold, unemotional, and occasionally crunching approach to resurrecting “The U”.

Let’s be honest: the ideas are strong. The execution was shaky, especially on Sunday. Originally from Miami, Cristobal is a prolific recruiter from South Florida, and has the kind of institutional ties to the area that could reinvigorate the aura of the program.

The story goes on

Mario Cristobal is considering an offer from Miami to become the next head coach for the Hurricanes. Miami currently employs Manny Diaz as the head coach. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

He won a Rose Bowl and lost a Fiesta Bowl in Oregon, where he lost 35-13. It could also prevent programs like Alabama and Georgia from raiding South Florida, where recruits no longer see the school as a prime destination.

“Why shouldn’t he go and crush it?” said an experienced coach about Cristobal on Sunday evening. “It’s not just the location because it has proven that it can do it anywhere in the country. Put him in his sweet spot and it’s a lot more dangerous. He’ll do it in a place that has more talent running around his garden than any other place in America.

Radakovich is one of the best sporting directors in the country, and he could add a compelling coda to an excellent career by bringing about a modern take on Miami that he knew from 1983-1985.

The execution was what you’d expect from a bunch of rich, well-meaning people who didn’t know much about college athletics. It was bold and cold, ambitious and amateur, brash and sloppy. Perhaps that’s the cost of doing business in a place that college athletics has never done really well and has gained more than campus accommodations due to the surrounding talent.

What Miami did to current trainer Manny Diaz on Sunday is the kind of egregious mismanagement that happens when the big -wigs go blind. Dangling your soccer coach for a full day while you wait to potentially fire him – or not – is a terrible look. Many people in college athletics laughed at Miami on Sunday while feeling terrible for Diaz turning in the wind in a cruel way.

According to sources, Diaz did not hear from any Miami officer about his job all day. He received a signing from a Dade County player, linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, on Saturday. On Sunday he was marched onto the plank for the world to see. He’s still there late on Sunday.

The Diaz acquisition was reported in the $ 8 million range. No one will shed many tears for him, but it was generally uncomfortable.

On a pure, cold-blooded business level, Miami’s audacity and tenacity also showed that the new Miami regime doesn’t care about feelings. Judge that as you can. Miami suddenly realized how far behind its program and the new leaders won’t care about bad looks and hurt feelings.

Miami’s head coach Manny Diaz encourages his team during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Duke on Saturday, November 27, 2021 in Durham, NC (AP Photo / Chris Seward)

There’s also a chance Diaz will stay if Cristobal turns down Miami. Hence the silence. The public and nasty coach slogan needs to be resolved before anything happens to Radakovich. This is the second domino.

The development schedule in Miami will be a decision by the manager – either Cristobal will come or stay with Diaz – and then some discussions with the manager and Radakovich before that deal is finalized.

The reasons Radakovich is likely to leave are simple. He was there when Miami was elite, and his experience at Clemson makes him perfect for reviving Miami and making it relevant again. Miami will never be what it was under Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson, but Radakovich is uniquely suited to maximizing what it can be in the new world of college football.

Radakovich returned from Saturday’s meeting impressed by Miami’s leaders. There seems to be a few final paperwork to be done before he takes up the job later this week. At 63, he’ll likely end up where he started.

Can Miami regain its relevance? Diaz’s potential parting present is quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, a young star who threw 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions as a freshman. He is an elite building block for the neighbor, provided he does not enter the transfer portal to see how the bidding war develops.

This Sunday will be remembered as Miami brave again. Audacity has returned and now we shall see the results.

The post Miami cheeky and blatant in the hunt for Mario Cristobal first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

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