Manny Diaz, fired by Miami, is a victim of the same cutthroat system he used to his advantage when he took the job.
The University of Miami officially announced the termination of Diaz on Monday and quickly followed by naming Mario Cristobal its new head coach. Cristobal played offensive tackle at Miami from 1989-1992 and started his coaching career as an assistant there. At Oregon, his teams went 35-13 in four seasons and won the Pac-12 twice.
Cristobal is expected to be joined in Miami by Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, per multiple reports.
“We are grateful to Coach Diaz for his many contributions to our campus community and to his native South Florida, and for the strong leadership and exemplary character he exhibited during his tenure at the University,” Miami president Julio Frenk said. “We wish him and his family the very best as they move forward.”
The Hurricanes were 21-15 in three years under Diaz, who replaced his former boss Mark Richt as head coach.
Despite the pleasantries in the statement, Miami did not show much consideration for Diaz’s feelings in this process. The negotiations with Cristobal were public for days while Diaz twisted in the wind.
“The Cristobal negotiations began midway through last week and concluded mid-afternoon Sunday,” tweeted Miami Herald reporter Barry Jackson. “He conveyed to UM he was planning to take the job but Canes held off on firing Diaz until certainty. He’s being given big budget for assistants, significant resources to fix this.”
Don’t shed too many tears for Diaz. He is due a buyout of several million dollars. Further, he leveraged the cutthroat game of college football when he took the Miami job. Diaz had just signed a contract in late 2018 to become head coach of Temple, but bolted for Miami in under a month.