For days now, the college football world has been waiting to find out when the Miami Hurricanes head coaching carousel will stop spinning. It appears to be slowing down now that reports are out that Manny Diaz has been fired as head coach after three seasons at the helm.
His firing clears the way for Miami to hire Mario Cristobal away from the Oregon Ducks to be their new head coach.
BREAKING: Miami coach Manny Diaz has been informed he has been let go, per source. He was 21-15 in three seasons at UM. The move paves the way for the Canes to hire Oregon’s Mario Cristobal as Miami’s next head coach.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 6, 2021
Miami finished this season 7-5 and will play Washington State in the Sun Bowl, though presumably now with an interim coach.
Diaz took over as head coach at Miami from Mark Richt after serving as his defensive coordinator. He went 21-15 in three seasons, which isn’t terrible but doesn’t match the expectations that come with being the head coach at The U.
Diaz notably had accepted the head coaching position at Temple before Richt retired, and then doubled back to Miami to take that job instead.
Miami has been aggressively pursuing Cristobal all week as they see the Miami native, former Canes assistant, and former FIU coach as an ideal fit.
Three years after he was hired, the college football world has some thoughts about the way things worked out for Manny Diaz and how he’s been waiting for this news for a while now.
Insanity. But, Diaz totally screwed over Temple and gets a fat buyout so I won’t be shedding any tears for him. https://t.co/ffHf3R7DvH
— Charlie Burris (@Charlie_Burris) December 6, 2021
oh so they decided to do that part https://t.co/3VPtJC52wS
— ¡BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL! (@edsbs) December 6, 2021
Ive never wanted to buy drinks for a guy getting millions in a buyout but here we are. Drop the Venmo, Manny https://t.co/YVxNFjt8pP
— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) December 6, 2021
Left him hanging all weekend. Terrible way to treat someone. This business is ruthless. https://t.co/W7kMvUwTrk
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 6, 2021
Phew. Good thing Miami acted now, after openly flirting with another coach for weeks while it still had one employed. Otherwise this thing could have gotten awkward. https://t.co/R8bNHZrhBt
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 6, 2021
All signs point to Cristobal taking the job now, so we’ll have to look back in three years and see if all this drama was worth it. In the meantime, Diaz gets to enjoy his healthy buyout and likely land somewhere else with a head coaching job if he wants it.
