Miami has moved on from Manny Diaz, setting the stage for the school to potentially bring in Mario Cristobal from Oregon.
Diaz was informed of his dismissal during a Monday morning meeting with Miami’s president, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. Diaz, the son of a former Miami mayor, was given just three seasons with the Hurricanes before the school — which currently does not have an athletic director but is close to landing Dan Radakovich from Clemson — opted to go in another direction.
That next direction appears to be Cristobal, the Miami native who has a 35-13 record and two Pac-12 titles in four seasons at Oregon. Cristobal played at Miami, coached at Miami and is one of the nation’s best at recruiting South Florida.
Miami’s pursuit of Cristobal has not been a secret even while Diaz remained employed by the school and also out on the road recruiting for the school.
“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 in a statement. “We wish him and his family the very best as they move forward.”
Diaz accumulated a 21-15 record over his three years as head coach. He was hired in December 2018 after Mark Richt retired. Diaz, the DC for the Hurricanes for three seasons, had already taken the Temple job, but was brought back to Miami only two weeks later following Richt’s announcement.
Miami closed Diaz’s first season in embarrassing fashion with consecutive losses to Florida International, Duke and Louisiana Tech. To get things turned around in 2020, Diaz hired Rhett Lashlee to run the offense and added D’Eriq King to play quarterback. It paid off as the Hurricanes moved into the top 10 amid…
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