Who could have ever thought Miami could reach this point, this quickly? After a 28-21 overtime loss to Georgia Tech, a team in Stage 1 of a "tear it down to the studs" rebuild, on Saturday, Manny Diaz said his program is in the middle of its own rebuild.
"To me, for lack of a better word, this is a rebuild," Diaz said Saturday. "We are not picking up where we left off with great success. To me, the [commits] have been excited in my conversations with them to be a part of the solution." He said later: "You can see the promise of the future while, at the same time, seeing the ugliness of the present."
Who indeed would have declared Miami a rebuild at, say, the 14:15 mark of the fourth quarter back on Aug. 24, when the Hurricanes held a 20-17 lead over No. 8 Florida? Certainly not Diaz, and certainly not Miami AD Blake James. If you're going to tear things down, you don't hire the defensive coordinator of the staff that necessitated the tear down in the first place, right?
"I have absolute confidence that The U will be back, and back quickly," James said at Diaz's introductory press conference on Jan. 2.
Diaz later clarified he was trying to rebuild the confidence of Miami's current players, not the 'Canes' roster. That clarification seems to fly in the face of what Diaz said Saturday -- why are Miami's 2020 recruits excited about being the solution to rebuild the 2019 Hurricanes' confidence? -- but, sure, okay.
Regardless, Miami's 3-4 start -- which includes an 0-2 record against teams undergoing honest-to-God rebuilds in North Carolina and the aforementioned Georgia Tech -- has brought the dreaded vote-of-confidence from James:
"I will say I feel 100 percent as confident in the decision today as I back when we made it in December. It is frustrating to lose games — I hate losing, but I know Manny hates losing and so do our guys. They are going to do what they need to do to put themselves in position to win every game with the understanding that we are not going to win every game," James told WQAM, via the Miami Herald.
He continued: "I am very confident in his ability to take this program where we all want it to go and that is competing for ACC and National Championships. The games haven’t gone the way that we would have drawn it up but the future is one that we all are confident in where it is going and Manny is the guy to take us there."
Miami closes with four of its last five games on the road: trips to Pittsburgh and Florida State, a home date with Louisville, and then visits to Florida International (a virtual home game for The U) and Duke. Given that all six of Miami's games against Power 5 opponents have been 1-score affairs, it's impossible to say with any confidence where the 'Canes' record will stand at the end of the season. 8-4 is a possibility, and so is 4-8.
And, look, no one outside of the message boards is calling for Diaz's firing even if Miami finishes 4-8. It's just striking that a program with three straight bowl appearances and recruiting classes ranked No. 8 and No. 12 comprising its sophomore and junior classes is now finds itself in a rebuild.