Miami reportedly trying to hire Mario Cristobal before firing Manny Diaz

The situation surrounding the Miami Hurricanes football program is quite the mess at the moment, especially if reports from behind the scenes are to be believed.

The school is clearly not happy with the direction of the program three years into Manny Diaz‘s stint as head coach. While the Canes went 7-5 this season, that’s a step back from last year’s 8-3 finish, and the expectations of “The U” mean that people want to see this team compete for ACC titles and national titles. Whether that’s unrealistic or not, it’s what drove the school to fire athletic director Blake James a few weeks back and it’s what is driving a strong internal push to replace Diaz.

Now comes word that, despite the fact that Miami doesn’t have an athletic director, and despite the fact that Manny Diaz is still employed as the school’s head football coach, they are moving forward in an attempt to get Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal to leave and become their new football coach. Alrighty.

It’s not unheard of for a school to make a run at another coach while it still has one employed, especially in the wild world of college football. But that still doesn’t make it feel like a good thing. We’ve heard a lot this week about the “classless” way that Brian Kelly walked out on his players at Notre Dame, but the alternative is that a school can just as easily do to you what it’s doing to Diaz, and that’s not sitting well with a lot of people in the college football world.

Someone should tell Manny Diaz https://t.co/JoNU47fj5o

— Andrew Hammond (@ahammALDC) December 3, 2021

Cristobal and Miami feel like one of those pairings that have been destined to happen for years. But the way it’s all going down feels a bit icky. However, as we’ve been reminded this week, all’s fair in love, war, and college football coaching carousels.

[Brett McMurphy, Barry Jackson]