A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:
▪ Of all the fallout from Saturday’s Miami Hurricanes loss to Florida State, this quote stuck out like one of those million Canes missed tackles this season:
“We were very undisciplined. That’s on us,’’ linebacker Corey Flagg said. “It’s habits that happen in practice. Coach [Manny] Diaz gets on us about it all the time. We got punished for it… Probably for the game it’s not a shocker that it happened.”
Diaz, asked about Flagg’s comment about the penalties not surprising him because it happens at practice, told WQAM’s Joe Rose and Zach Krantz: “He was mentioning the offsides thing. What we do is we work on hard counts all the time in practice and try to get guys to jump offsides. That’s what he was expressing there.”
One player who has played for the Hurricanes during Diaz’s tenure said the penalties are part of a larger issue with this program: Diaz too often lets things slide.
When a UM coach discovered that Jarren Williams had broken curfew to party the night before the 2019 loss to FIU, there was no immediate punishment, even though at least one Canes coach was aware of this in the immediate aftermath.
When a player skips practice to mull his future, UM happily allows him back if he wants to return, meaning there are no consequences.
That player — who requested anonymity because he doesn’t want to burn bridges — voiced displeasure about that, and also for UM not punishing players who don’t go hard all the time in practice. (Practice performance is factored into lineup decisions, however.)
And in the case of penalties, physical punishment — such as running laps or pushing heavy objects — hasn’t been enough to deter players from continuing to commit penalties.
UM ranks 114th in the country in penalties per game and had 14 penalties for 105 yards against FSU.
The player punishment for Saturday’s parade of penalties was “pushing a 45-pound plate in the indoor facility,” Diaz said.
But here’s a thought: Why not try something different, since the current punishment isn’t working? Why not remove a player from a game for a play or series if he commits a mindless penalty?
Two reasons: 1) If UM removes its best players from the game, that lessens the chance of winning.
2) As a UM source explained, Diaz wants the players to like him because he doesn’t want to increase the risk of losing good players in this new NCAA world that makes transferring as easy as picking up a burger in a drive-through.
Those reasons are understandable.
But Diaz’s approach hasn’t fostered discipline in the program.
And he admitted last week that the coaching staff must do more to fix it, though it seems a little late for that.
“In the first quarter, we were jittery on defense; three guys jump offsides because they’re so anxious and eager,” Diaz said on WQAM’s Hurricane Hotline. “You lose your training. Those are preventable penalties. We have to own that as coaches. We have to train our guys better for a stressful environment and what they’re going to be in.”
Diaz, intelligent and well-intentioned, has done some good things at UM: fixing the quarterback position, maximizing the transfer portal, implementing a modern-day offense.
He will ultimately be doomed by an inability to lure enough elite players on defense and the offensive line, his team’s lack of discipline and an inability to prevent his team from making a flood of mistakes, whether it’s lining up too deep on a fourth-and-14 or repeatedly committing careless penalties.
That, regrettably, will be on his UM coaching tombstone.
▪ UM is in the process of hiring a search firm to assist in its search for a new athletic director.
“The University of Miami intends to use a search firm that specializes in athletic director hires,” the school told me. “We are currently in the process of selecting a firm.”
▪ Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin would accept the UM coaching job if it were open and offered, local talk show host Andy Slater reported, citing multiple sources close to Kiffin.
Kiffin has expressed interest in the UM job in the past, according to a source.
Kiffin is 74-41 as a college head coach at Tennessee, Southern Cal, FAU and Mississippi. His team is 8-2 this season.
▪ Entering Saturday’s home finale against Virginia Tech, how does Diaz energize his players at 5-5 and coming off a tough loss?
“There are two things you’ll remember in college: the Florida State [games] and your last home game,” Diaz told WQAM.
Diaz said 5-5 Virginia Tech is “similar to us – a team better than their record. Offensively they want to run the football.”
▪ Dolphins rookie linebacker and former Hurricanes standout Jaelan Phillips, asked about the state of the UM program on Thursday said: “The results haven’t been what fans and the program and what we want. Manny has developed a culture at the U. You can see a lot of the young guys making an impact. He’s a great coach, really talented, really cares about his players.”
Asked about the dismissal of athletic director Blake James, Phillips said: “Blake was good to me. He’s a great guy, as well. I think football success doesn’t determine how good of a man you are. Blake James, great person. They’re looking to uphold the standard of what the U is. I’m all for making changes and doing what they think they need to do to improve.”
▪ Freshman Chase Smith, who entered UM as a striker, is now at linebacker.
“Chase’s role is only to grow more and more,” Diaz said. “He’s got a great future at Miami. He is going to really help us at linebacker.”