MIAMI — University of Miami football coach Manny Diaz addressed the media Wednesday for the first time in person since fall camp in August, facing a larger-than-usual contingent that typically gets Diaz on Zoom.
Two days after UM athletic director Blake James was fired by the university, Diaz, whose own job is in jeopardy as the regular-season home finale Saturday against Virginia Tech approaches, said he’ll “be forever grateful” to James.
“Blake spoke to me and told me the news,’’ Diaz said. “And obviously, I thanked Blake for the opportunity that he gave me here. I’ll be forever grateful to him. Wished him the best. But what he told me and what he wants for this program is our complete focus on Virginia Tech.”
The Hurricanes (5-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) and Hokies (5-5, 3-3), whose head coach Justin Fuente was fired Tuesday, each need one victory in their final two regular-season games to qualify for a bowl.
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— How difficult is the speculation for you on a personal level? When an AD gets changed you start looking at dominoes.
“Since we started the way we started, all of us in this program have had to focus on one-week missions. And by doing that we won three games in a row, had a chance to win a fourth game [last Saturday at Florida State] that we didn’t finish. I think that’s the same thing this week.. There’s a mission. The mission this week is to beat Virginia Tech. That’s all we control.
“Because of that mentality, our team has been pretty resilient through the course of the year. They’ve stayed together. They’ve fought for each other. They’ve fought for this program every week this summer. And that to me is the goal. That’s what we want to get done this weekend. We want our guys to stay together, fight for each other, fight for the older guys, fight for the seniors and find a way to win a football game.
“To me that was no different when we were 2-4. It’s no different this week.”
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— Do you see that speculation leak into the locker room? Is it noticeable?
“That would probably be in their conversations. I’ll tell you what I see. I don’t see it in the way we work. I don’t see it in the way we practice. I don’t see it in the way our guys come in the building preparing for a football game.”
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— Has anyone had a conversation about your security and your job?
“No. The conversation has been we want to make sure you’re focused on beating Virginia Tech. And that’s it.”
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— Do you feel like you have something to prove these last two weeks when it comes to your future?
“No. I think we have to beat Virginia Tech. That’s the most important thing. Because this is not about me. This is about the players. This is about a group of 15 guys give or take that are going to play their last game in Hard Rock Stadium, that have had phenomenal careers here, that have put the work in, the sweat. Those guys deserve to go out winners. And as a coach, that’s what we do. We understand it is our responsibility to pour into these guys because that memory they’ll never forget.”
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— How do you stay focused? There’s a lot of stress on you now.
“It hasn’t changed though. I understand the question and I’m not trying to sound dismissive of it but I guess nothing is really any different when you think about it. Right? There’s a game Saturday that we have to go win. I’m almost done with six years at the University of Miami, and I’ve never felt going into a game that it’s not a game we have to win. ... When you sign up and you wear the U, that’s what’s required. That’s the expectation. So to me, the level of what you put into it, that’s the same every week.”
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— You’re at a private school. What qualifications, what kind of an AD does a school like this need?
“Those are decisions for people above me. To be honest, from my vantage point, I don’t know half of what an AD does anyway. They’re pulled in so many different directions and that’s a difficult job. Certainly football is a part of it but there are a lot of other demands on their time. That’s not a question for me.”
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— The coaching carousel starts this time of year. Va Tech is a well-coached team and Fuente loses his job. A lot of guys are going to lose jobs. Has the profession gotten thankless in some ways? The cycle never seems to end.
“It’s hard to say when you really try to put things in perspective. What I always remember is when [former FSU coaching great] Bobby Bowden was at West Virginia they hung him in effigy. People want to win. There are a lot of good coaches. There are a lot of good teams. And when good coaches play other good coaches and good teams play other good teams we haven’t figured out a way that someone has to win and someone has to lose.
“That’s what it is. We’re trying to push this team to get the best record we possibly can and the way to do that is to get a win this week. That’s what’s in front of us.”
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— There’s a lot of ugliness on social media. Do you get the good stuff too. Do you get a lot of support recently through this very hard time?”
“Look, listen, the people inside [are] what really matters. The people that are in here up for the fight. When I say inside, I don’t mean just inside the locker room or inside this building. There are people inside the university, people inside, you know, our donors. There are a lot of people who have been unwavering in their support.
“Because there are a lot of people who are very successful in the business world that understand results don’t always come in a linear graph no matter how much we want them to. But I also understand things that need to be fixed and need to be improved to go forward. I don’t spend a lot of time seeking outside reaffirmation, watching Jack Handey videos or something like that from ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ”
AD update
Before Diaz spoke Wednesday, UM associate athletic director for communications/digital strategy Carter Toole read the following:
“As you know, we sent out a press release Monday evening announcing the national search for a new director of athletics at the University of Miami. We have no additional details to share on the search at this time. And when we do have an update we will communicate it at the appropriate time.”
