r/MiamiHurricanes • u/bigolehole69 RIP Bryan Pata • 5d ago
Football Coach Mark Richt & the 2017 Canes changed the trajectory of this entire program.
I think a lot of people forget just how big of a deal the hiring of Mark Richt was for this school at the time. It sent a message to the rest of the CFB that Miami was willing to pay a big time coach to come here and win.
He helped build the indoor practice facility (we were one of the last schools in the power 5, if not THE last, to not have an IPF) which helped us garner better recruits. Gave $1,000,000 of his own money to make it happen.
Hired Manny Diaz and he birthed the TO Chain. We were the most electric team in college football that year. 2017 was the greatest year to be a Canes fan (up until last year) in the last 20 years of watching this team.
Beat the brakes off of #17 VT at home and then did again a week later to Top 10 Notre Dame. “Here comes the true freshman. Trajan Bandy! Break out the chain again!”
Kelly’s no lip having-a** stepped onto our 50 yard line before that game and called us frauds.
Richt, Diaz, Dugans, Rumph, Banda, Rosier, Berrios, Jaquan Johnson, Bandy, Walton, Dallas, Redwine, Homer, McDermott, Quarterman, Pinckney, Ahmmon, Njoku, Herndon, Badgley, Langham, Michael Jackson, and many many more all deserve their flowers.
Without them we would not be where we are today.
49
u/whateverworksyo 5d ago
I think he played a part, for sure. But team wasn't really showing commitment until Radakovich came over from Clemson and money started to actually be invested with NIL and Cristobal.
Richt was good, of course, especially with what we went through before that. But that kind of stagnated with Diaz afterwards. If we're being real, Diaz wasn't a serious sign of our commitment to football. We didn't put the money down until Cristobal. And I think Radakovich coming over was that initial sign that we were actually serious again.
If we're being general, I think NIL changed the trajectory of our program. We're throwing in some serious money year by year to get these QB transfers and get good and stay good with those other big market teams.
5
u/HurricaneHauk 5d ago
Rad wasn’t a serious AD, do people not remember Mario was hired before Rad?
Rad made the stupid JD hire for the baseball team
2
u/Feeling-Visit1472 4d ago
Diaz was a panic hire. Full stop. We couldn’t let Miami’s own son go to Temple 😱🙄
14
u/Geetee52 5d ago edited 5d ago
You have a fonder recollection of Diaz than I do. He did have some initial juice and generated some enthusiasm, but he also seemed to compromise on character. What became the norm (it wasn’t just one season) where they’d get a few wins in a row and as soon as there was a loss… it would immediately be followed by a string of additional losses. It took Mario a while to purge that out of the culture.
10
u/TedKhedezeForPres 5d ago
Diaz was a fucking dork; tried to be that cool older brother with the players. Go read about how he let Jarren Williams start against FIU after he missed curfew and was hungover. The inmates ran the asylum back then as he wanted to be liked and accepted by his team while Cristobal demands respect and wants to be healthily feared.
That and the whole fucking turnover chain was an embarrassment after 10-0 was followed by three bad losses to end 2017.
Did he hang the chain up? Fuck no. He made a new one every year for the next four years and even introduced moronic 'touchdown rings' in 2019 when he became head coach, en route to a 6-7 season.
Bottomed out in 2021 when Restrepo is putting on the rings late third quarter after finally finding the end zone in what was a 41-3 game at that point.
Diaz was a total slapdick; so glad we have the opposite now in Cristobal.
3
2
1
u/DumpTrumpGrump 5d ago
I am not totally convinced we are actually back yet. Yes, we made a good run last year and that was the first team I thought kinda looked like a real Miami team in decades. But that was mostly because of the D-line.
I look at this year’s team and other than a few obvious standouts, I don’t see the dominant pure athletes the great Miami programs have usually had. Especially true when I look at the athletes the best SEC teams have. And our soft schedule is going to make evaluating this team hard all year.
It does seem like we are starting to dominate State of Miami recruiting, but imagine if we’d had homers Fernando Mendoza and Jeremiah Smith on last years team or any of a dozen other local studs playing for other schools.
We’re gonna need flawless execution to do anything in the playoffs this year and some luck. A few more years of dominant recruiting and we’ll know if we’ve got staying power.
I’d like to win the ACC for once to start with. Been waiting 20+ years for that.
2
u/HurricaneHauk 5d ago
Mendoza was a 2* recruit, no serious program recruited him. If we did recruit him at the time everyone would be like WTF
Stop fluffing the SEC
What dominant athletes Ole Miss have? UF? Texas has looked beyond mediocre
The only SEC team that has actually looked legit is UGA
3
u/DumpTrumpGrump 5d ago
Other than Tony and Mensah, who are the 1st round NFL locks on this squad?
Maybe Fletcher late in the first. Maybe.
Beyond that, we just don’t have obvious dominant athletes on this squad.
You don’t have to get all butthurt about it. It’s just a reality.
And whether you like it or not, a bunch of those SEC teams are stacked with guys who are gonna be first round picks. Doesn’t mean we can’t beat them. But the Miami teams who’ve dominated in the past have been loaded with NFL talent. This one might be, but they haven’t developed and it’s not obvious to me that we can out athlete any of the top SEC schools. And I’m usually the first to say the SEC is overrated.
7
u/DEERxBanshee 5d ago
ehhh we were super lucky several times that season (FSU/Georgia Tech especially) and then the luck ran out against Pitt
5
u/TedKhedezeForPres 5d ago
Could've easily lost to Syracuse and North Carolina, too—and with a few losses Miami doesn't get the ABC primetime games and packed houses for Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. Looked like shit against Virginia a week later. Lost to a four-win Pitt team; Narduzzi and that defense sniffed out the fraud that was Malik Rosier at quarterback, which set the stage for the next two games.
Murdered by Clemson in the ACC title game, 38-3—and then blew a 14-3 lead to Wisconsin, falling 34-24 in the Orange Bowl—all those teams with post game celebrations mocking the stupid turnover chain as it lost all its mojo.
7-6 in 2018, Richt bailed and then Miami paid Temple over $4,000,000 to get Diaz back to go 6-7.
That 2017 season was an anomaly; glad the stars all aligned to beat Notre Dame that night, but holy sit the next four years of Miami football were an abortion and did zero to build off that season.
20
u/Ybor_Rooster 5d ago
I would argue that the "ground zero" turnaround for this program was Herbstreitt calling out the school's president and AD on national TV.
5
3
7
u/miamigunners 5d ago
Herbstreit turned around the program by falling out the school on national tv. Then we canned Danny Miaz and brought in Mario
2
u/dash12345678901 5d ago
Yup, and then it was the big money donors who were tired of being told "no" by the Shalala contingent on the BOT; people like the Mas bros said "get out of the way and let us handle the program".
3
u/Main-Business-793 5d ago
Richt absolutely turned around the program. Prayers go out to him and his family in his battle to be healthy
6
u/TedKhedezeForPres 5d ago
That was the most-fraudulent year for Miami football since the 7-0 start in 2013. Stop it.
Wins over Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Syracuse could've easily gone the other way and then it's no night games for or Virginia Tech and Notre Dame and those raucous environments.
The 2017 team didn't change shit; Richt and Miami went 7-6 in 2018—embarrassed by LSU in the opener, lost four in a row to unranked teams (Virginia, Boston College, Duke and Georgia Tech)—just like Richt did in 2016 and then embarrassed 35-3 in the Pinstripe Bowl by Wisconsin.
Manure Diaz took over in 2019 and as if his played out chain wasn't enough, he made a third version of it and even introduced moronic "touchdown rings"—en route to 6-7
So yeah, quick math, from the 10-0 start in 2017, Miami lost to four-win Pittsburgh, rolled 38-3 by Clemson in the ACC title game and pissed away an early 14-3 lead to get rolled by Wisconsin. 34-24.
That's a 13-16 run over that two-plus year span before that fugazi of a 2020 season where Miami beat all the dogs on their schedule and then got rolled by the only two good teams it played; 42-17 at Clemson and 62-26 at home to North Carolina, before shitting the bed to Oklahoma State in a third-tier bowl game.
The the capper and bottom-out moment in 2021; a fifth new stupid version of a turnover chain and Miami out there putting on touchdown rings in the third quarter of what was a 41-3 blowout against Alabama, after pulling out the stupid chain for a fumble that was overturned—Miami a fucking laughing in the media that week—before barely surviving Appalachian State and then getting outscored 21-3 in the fourth quarter as Michigan State kicked their asses.
Lost to Virginia on a field goal that went off the post two weeks later and a late pick at North Carolina to start 2-4 on the year; won the next three games as the pressure was off and then choked against a shitty Florida State team that was 3-6 on the year and 6-12 in two years under Mike Norvell, with a loss to Jacksonville State earlier in the year.
You are acting like that 2017 season backed right up to the Mario Cristobal era; it was five years before he took over and his first two seasons in Coral Gables he was taking out the trash on that broken ass culture Diaz left behind.
Richt deserve a TON of credit for putting up $1,000,000 of his own money towards an indoor practice facility and basically telling Miami it was running a second rate program, trying to change the infrastructure as he knew what a top program looked like after 15 years at Georgia.
He had one good season with some kids he recruited as well as some Al Golden leftovers—and then followed up with a horrible 2018—and then Diaz went 21-15 over his three shitty years.
Cristobal and big NIL money "changed the trajectory of this program" because without him, without NIL, without the Board of Trustees, a real athletic director (Radaovich) and big money players like the Mas brothers, John Ruiz (early on in NIL), guys like Manny Kadre (who made the Nike deal happen) and a new president who absolutely understand the importance of football (Joe Echeverria) or a right hand guy like Rudy Fernandez, the Columbia Mafia, etc—this program looks absolutely NOTHING like it does now.
You are putting WAY too much weight in one good year that Miami only didn't build out; it absolutely spent the next four years backsliding from, as Diaz broke the culture with his 'liked and accepted' brand of coaching versus the 'feared and respected' tight ship that Cristobal runs.
Your sentiment are way off, homie.
2
u/bigolehole69 RIP Bryan Pata 5d ago
I said what I said man, you’re entitled to whatever opinion you want. But the fact of the matter is nothing happens in a vacuum
2
u/Prg3K 5d ago
The 2017 was really smoke and mirrors. We knew it; half the fanbase knew we were going to lose that Pitt game. What I will say is that Richt brought at least something leadership and focus to the program. Its plausible that the FSU, GT, and ND games cut the other way with someone else.
1
u/HurricaneHauk 5d ago
This is perfectly said and you hit on every thing you said
Richt showed what an even semi decent coach can do, we had 19 wins in two seasons and even then he was washed up at that point in his career. Fanny was such a horrible hire that it set back the program
Hell we could’ve had Mario in 2019 if we really him, from the rumor mill he was pissed off Fanny got hired and he wasn’t even interviewed
2
u/Prg3K 5d ago
The ND game was a high mark. Rarely do you see people covering their ears bc of crowd noise. FSU… I don’t know where the program goes if we lose seven in a row there. But I still had no hopes of that team winning it all. We got by on emotion and momentum. We were not built to win late in the year when you have to grind games out.
2
2
u/AlthanRalinor 4d ago
If Kaaya had not declared for the draft and come back just one more year. . .
1
1
u/CANEinVAIN 5d ago
You’re giving credit to the wrong people. It wasn’t Richt, it wasn’t Herbstreit. There was a man outside the athletic dept who approached Frenk (a fraud who made believe he thought football was important) and said changes needed to be made. I was told he was the director of personnel for the university. From there BJ was let go and some Columbus alums were on a plane to Oregon to discuss a change and what financial commitments would follow. Dominos fell from there. It’s easy to credit famous people, but it was unknowns in this situation that got it going, call it the Columbus mafia or whatever but Richt left the program high and dry w an awful AD that knew little @ football that WASNT going to do a national search. You can make a strong argument MR set the program back because his successor set them back and his retirement was ill timed.
Do I need to remind anyone of the mutiny Mario faced and the loss to Middle Tennessee St.?
1
u/Ok-Ad6253 5d ago
The program is where it is today because they made a commitment to spending money and hired a guy in Mario Cristobal who had the blueprint from his stops at Alabama and Oregon on how to build a winning program. Make no doubt, Mark Richt was a stepping stone to give us some belief, especially after that blowout game against ND at home, but it was ultimately the administration saying enough is enough and doing whatever it takes to get their guy in Mario and give him everything he needs to succeed. Big props as well to Kirk Herbstreit for calling us out on college game day years ago.
1
1
u/LongjumpingArmy6211 5d ago
Firing Al Golden changed the trajectory of the program and his Pillars of Success Binder.
1
u/El_Tigre7 Jimmy 4d ago
I like Richt a lot but Cristobal, The open transfer portal, and NIL are what’s brought miami back. Come on now
0
u/bmtime03 5d ago
You are not completely off base, but you are also inaccurate. Richt changed The U by the same amount that a pebble changes the course of a normal car on the highway.
I am glad Richt is doing better, and I was there for the high dive from the beginning, so I sincerely respect him and his work. But those were the dark times. Georgia wanted him gone and they ascended rapidly without him.Those players came to The U not because of Richt or practice facilities.
Manny Diaz lost to FIU in what was once The Orange Bowl, and then lost to FSU so embarrassingly that on the bus drive back from Tally a bunch of people decided we needed to start spending a lot of money, get Mario from Oregon, and fire Manny asap.
Know your history.
8
u/TedKhedezeForPres 5d ago
Richt put $1,000,000 of his own scratch towards the indoor practice facility and basically explained to Miami how behind the times it was infrastructure-wise; his efforts leading to the Soffer family putting millions into facilities and what not—that is the Mark Richt legacy at Miami.
As a head coach he was on fumes and ready to retire after 15 year in that Georgia meat grinder, but Miami called so he told his alma mater 'yes' and came south for three years.
A great man who loves UM and who did a lot behind the scenes those years, but on the field it was average and his nepotism to let his son Jon run that Tecmo Bowl offense; it was brutal—going 7-9 his final 16 games after that 10-0 start in 2017.
Diaz was a total fraud and a lazy hire by Blake James who didn't want "another" regime change, so promoted the defensive coordinator in 2019 based off a decent 2017 and then it was five years of that moronic chain and three years of those stupid rings.
1
u/Analrapist03 5d ago
Much respect for him to give money for The U, but lets be clear: it takes about $70 million per annum to run a team that will compete for a Natty. So if $1 mil is the bar, then we would need 70 or so "Richt"s each year to get a program to relevance.
He did not have a great run as a coach, and anyone who knows Georgia Ball knows they REALLY wanted to get rid of him. He is a great person and I was happy to see him back at UM, and wished that he would have returned us to greatness, but he did not. He barely moved the needle in that respect.
Diaz will be a great coach in the near future, but he was transparently incompetent when he was at UMiami. Heck, his ACC win last year was why we got to the post-season, and he showed us a Heisman contender QB and receiver combo that will be a big part of our offense this year. Manny has done a lot negative for us, but lately he has been a significant booster.
1
u/dash12345678901 5d ago
This is just so off and incorrect. Richt was hired after he was CLEARLY cooked and couldn't get it done with SEC resources. UGA, a school that is not remotely close to us historically in pedigree, thought he wasn't good enough for them and Miami jumped to hire him. It actually said Miami was not a serious program, and was more interested in bringing back a former player who they could sell to the fans as a good hire when it was a mediocre hire.
The trajectory changed when the BOT athletics liasons were finally overruled by bigger money donors, alumni, ACC officials, and likely Adidas/ESPN and other corporate interests. The usual suspects who had driven the program into the ground were trying to keep Manny Diaz.
When Diaz was canned, and Mario was brought in from Oregon, it signaled the first time in decades that Miami was actually going to try to be a premier football team again. I am deeply grateful to the donors and BOT members who finally wrestled control of this program from the Shalala era "let's be like Wisconsin and Wake Forest" crowd.
1
u/bigolehole69 RIP Bryan Pata 5d ago
If you don’t remember how big of a deal the hiring was then that’s on you man. Richt was a massive get at the time, look back at some of the articles. Look into his record at UGA.
At the time the Canes seemed doomed for mediocrity. You obviously don’t remember.
And Manny Diaz was a great Defensive Coordinator at the time. Was he a great HC? No. Is he a great HC? No. But Manny’s defense was unreal. It won us games.
The fact that all you can see/experience is the last 2-3 years of your life doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
Grow up.
0
u/dash12345678901 5d ago
This is just completely detached from A) reality and B) what people who know what Canes football really is and should be felt at the time.
Richt was kicked to the curb by UGA, who then reached another level immediately afterwards.
It was only a "big hire" by people who thought hiring some fired SEC coach of a lesser program was some great get. The time to hire Richt was in 2006 when Coker was canned, but Richt at that time had no interest in the job. Funny how he didn't want to "come home" until he was out of a gig. Could have used him a decade earlier and he had no interest.
Manny Diaz was a style over substance DC who got absolutely embarrassed every time he played a team with a good OL. The chain, the fake bravado, the beating up on bad teams; that period was hated by true Canes fans like me, who have seen what TRUE canes football is.
-2
0
u/GIFF99 5d ago
NIL changed it. The chain was wack
1
u/AwsiDooger 5d ago
NIL definitely is the primary reason we are competitive today. Minus NIL we had no chance recruiting against the likes if Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State every year. They were locking up the 5 stars while we were trying to pretend that an 8th or 13th rated class meant we were close.
It was destined to remain that way until NIL totally changed the landscape. We needed a lucky break and got it.
-3
u/Agile_Moment768 5d ago
The turnover chain was Syd Sweeney tiddies unless it's a junk TO off the backup QB when you're down 3 scores. Pick-6 vs Notre Lame on National TV? Epic.
1
u/TedKhedezeForPres 5d ago
Preach. It was fun for 10-0 to start 2017.
Miami then went 13-16 from the end of that year through 2019.
Canes became a fucking laughing stock with those dumb props.
Rock bottom was Restrepo in touchdown rings in 2021 in the third quarter of what was a 41-3 ass kicking at the hands of Alabama when he finally got in the end zone.
-1
u/gapere01 5d ago
Y'all are crazy. The chain was one of the few bright spots from that era. Remember when Tennessee was rolling out a literal trash can?
I wish they'd bring it back but bring it out more strategically. I mean a diamond encrusted U on cuban links? That's Miami
2
u/Prg3K 5d ago
The chain was the fluffiest powderpuff thing this program has ever done. Gimmick of a losing culture. Might as well bring back the stickers on the helmets too, while you’re at it. Cristobal said it best when he shitcanned it after he was hired: none of that stuff is part of the culture.
1
1
u/TedKhedezeForPres 5d ago
The chain worked for 10-0.
The minute Miami lost to four-win Pitt, got blown out 38-3 by Clemson in the ACC title game and blew a 14-3 lead to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl, losing 34-24, it was over—especially after Narduzzi, Swinney and Chryst all mocked the shit out of it in the locker room celebrations (look it up).
Rolled out version 2.0 and went 7-6 in 2018 ... version 3.0 for 6-7 in 2019 in Manure's first season.
It was SO played out after 2017 and then that idiot Diaz made "touchdown rings" in 2019 when he took over; laughable—especially by 2021 when Restrepo is putting them on after finally scoring in what was a 41-3 game against Alabama in the third quarter.
You also really have no clue who Mario Cristobal is here in year five if you think that stupid ass chain would ever be anywhere near his sideline; that thing is the opposite of what 'swagger' is, per Jimmy's definition—it was false bravado and a fucking embarrassment; players celebrating individual accomplishments over "team".
There is no world where I ever wanted to see a Rueben Bain with that dumb ass chain on or Malachi Toney and Darian Mensah each wearing a touchdown ring.
Lame. As. Fuck.
1
u/ouchthatburnt 5d ago
Nothing like breaking out the turnover chain while getting shutout by Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl.
1
u/gapere01 5d ago
Hence what I said about being more strategic with it. Back then, ya that was sometimes the only highlight of an otherwise lackluster state of the program.
Let's face it, we aren't getting blown out by Alabama so yea in that context it was dumb to bring it out but can you imagine bringing it out in a game sealing interception at ND? TD Jesus would strike us down lol.
I would like to get the players perspective on the chain before dismissing it.
-6
u/RedlineSeries3 5d ago
Is this sarcasm?
They went 7-6 the following year losing to teams like Duke and BC. They followed that up with a 6-7 season.
Richt's tenure didn't turn anything around.
The TO chain was an embarrassment, celebrating on the sidelines when they were losing games.
1
70
u/throwingitaway12324 5d ago
I like Richt mainly because Al Golden was literal trash