“THE LATE KICK” WITH BETTER THUMB ON PULSE OF MIAMI HURRICANES’ REBUILD THAN MOST

(The Late Kick with Josh Pate)

Josh Pate gets it… and I’m not just saying that because he dedicated an entire early episode of Late Kick to a comment I’d made on a Canes message board years back. I’m just a sucker for logic, reason, common sense, practicality and educated conversations driven by facts over feelings.

Tuning into these Monday morning breakdowns; it feels infinitely more-productive than the contingent of Miami’s fan base that heads over to WQAM 560—ready to pounce-on and dissect every word Mario Cristobal shares with Joe Rose, in the wake of another Hurricanes’ loss.

The obligatory weekly appearance by a head coach answering softball questions on the flagship station—fueled by coach-speak and back-to-the-grind soundbites—before heading over to Greentree to actually get back to said grind; what kernels of wisdom are people truly expecting from what’s intended to be nothing more than fluff?

Conversely, Pate’s latest six-minute segment—in the wake of an offensive-less 20-6 showing at North Carolina State— all killer and no filler as the on-the-ball host spits knowledge and avoids the type of hyperbole the knee-jerk fans pointlessly dissect with in the aftermath.

A true professional knows to avoid the tired, cliché ramblings about Miami’s staff getting out-coached, while demanding change at quarterback or other emotional, way-too-long, cold takes—rants rooted in authentic embarrassment that comes by way of unabashed fandom in this modern-day, all-encompassing, social media- and message board-driven vortex… which is a bigger societal issue to unpack at another time, but is a real trigger nonetheless.

The Late Kick’s platform is dedicated to an objective view of college football as a whole, with agenda-less, unbiased takes on match-ups, storylines and an in-progress season unfolding in real time—which isn’t something your average, everyday super-fan YouTuber is going to deliver from his orange and green man-cave—triggered after a loss as the trolls lay him out for predicting a Canes’ victory, resulting in a shoddy recap video driven by the visceral shame that comes from being an overly-dedicated fan, opposed to an unbiased observer talking shop.

DECADES OF IRRELEVANCE REPLACED DECADE OF DOMINANCE

The trajectory of the diehard Miami Hurricanes fan has been sheer misery over these past two decades—based on self-imposed expectations—and especially for those who lived through the rise-up moment of the ’80s, the rebuild in the late ’90s and what looked like an infallible dynasty in the early ’00s, which soon became a two-decade long drought.

Longtime supporters of “The U” grew up embracing Miami being the villain in the black hat—which was gratifying-as-all-hell watching this counterculture program not just dominate, but do so while turning the entire sport inside out—which is what’s makes the mocking, hate and rival laugher sting that much more after every new hiring, firing and rebuilding effort since the demise.

The only thing worse than being hated-on for once being dominant and great; constantly getting laughed at for becoming inconsistent and irrelevant.

It’s a sentiment that’s taken its toll over the years—resulting in false bravado and overconfidence with every new hire—which quickly results in a desire to burn-it-all-down a year or two in when the new regime hits a few speed bumps early in the rebuild process… which is also why the overemotional contingent of this fan base needs to find a way to self-regulate.

All good things take time and lest anyone expect another microwave dynasty, this is the wrong place and time as college football has become big business and cutthroat competition across the board for ultimate supremacy.

“Everyone that doesn’t properly study the history if these programs leaves themselves vulnerable to mis-defining, or ill-defining expectations—and that sets you up for failure and disappointment,” Pate shared on this latest Canes-themed episode of Late Kick, in regards to fans moving the goal post on Miami’s win total now at 6-3 with three to play—many now pushing back that 8-4 or 7-5 should be deemed progress in the wake of 5-7 last fall.

Pate went on to legitimately ask what business to fans have taking a program with one double-digit win season since 2004 and “just blindly expecting 10 wins to be the baseline” in this situation—rightfully calling the reaction and expectations “illogical”—because that’s precisely what today’s entitled fan behavior has become.

RINSE, LATHER, REPEAT—JADED FANS ALWAYS CLAMOR FOR CHANGE

It’s a point re-litigated here ad nauseam, but as the insanity reaches new levels—due to years of incompetence and irrelevance—and patience wears thinner and thinner, it will continue being brought up in some way, shape or form until is resonates with the masses.

Cristobal is Miami’s third head coach over a five-year span; one month from wrapping up year two after three short years after Manny Diaz assembled a 21-15 record—the former defensive coordinator taking over for Mark Richt, who was ready to hang it up after 15 long years at Georgia and the meat-grinder that is the SEC, but instead choosing to give his alma mater three years of his time—and $1,000,000 of his own money—to try his hand at a much-needed rebuild and infrastructure revamping.

That aforementioned 10-win season Pate referenced—Miami’s only double-digit win season since 11-2 in 2003—a fugazi of a 2017 campaign for the Hurricanes, who eked out miraculous early season wins which paved the way to two massive primetime night games against No. 13 Virginia Tech and No. 3 Notre Dame—before closing the season 1-3, struggling early before closing out Virginia, falling on the road to a four-win Pittsburgh squad, getting rolled by Clemson in Miami’s first-ever ACC Championship game and outlasted by Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl.

Mario Cristobal went 35-12 over four years at Oregon, where he won two Pac-12 titles, a Rose Bowl and had two double-digit win seasons.

Richt wound up going 8-9 overall after the Canes’ old school beatdown of the Irish—Cristobal eventually taking over a team that was 29-24 since final stretch of 2017 and through the Diaz era, which ended in 2021—roughly a 7-5 annual average over that span.

Need to run it back even further for some bonus context?

Miami’s record between that 2005 Peach Bowl debacle against LSU—a 40-3 ass-kicking that extended from the field to the tunnel post-game—the Hurricanes were 116-85 prior to the Cristobal era; an average of 7.25 wins per season and 5.31 annual losses over a 16-year span.

Miami’s current senior class were freshman in the COVID-defined 2020 season—one where Diaz’s roster got a quick boost after nabbing D’Eriq King from the transfer portal—replacing Jarren Williams, who famously missed curfew in 2019 prior to an embarrassing “home” loss to Florida International—on the hallowed grounds where the Orange Bowl once stood.

King’s run ended three games into the 2021 season, prematurely launching the Tyler Van Dyke era—which was relatively pressure-free for the redshirt freshman quarterback as expectations were in the tank after the 1-2 start—and quickly 2-4 after close losses to Virginia and North Carolina.

Van Dyke threw it all over the yard in wins over North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech—before his first real career implosion in a road loss at Florida State—rebounding with wins over bad Virginia Tech and Duke teams for a 7-5 run that sent Diaz packing and welcomed Cristobal as next coach up.

Rhett Lashlee took his offense to Southern Methodist when getting his first head coaching opportunity, while Van Dyke was saddled with one season of Josh Gattis calling the shots in 2022 and was looking for a rebirth under Shannon Dawson—his third offensive coordinator in as many seasons—while his short-lived comeback has crashed and burned miserably over the past several weeks.

DREAM SEPTEMBER, NIGHTMARE OCTOBER, UNKNOWN NOVEMBER

Week Two of the 2023 season literally feels like a lifetime ago; a long-gone era where Van Dyke looked flawless, slinging it all around HardRock for 374 yards and five touchdowns against Texas A&M—sitting at 11 touchdowns and one interception four games into the season and statistically one of of the best quarterbacks in the game after one month of football.

Three games later—and sidelined for a win over Clemson—Van Dyke has since throw five touchdowns, ten interceptions and fumbled twice the past two outings.

The most-important position on the field—evidenced by a successful program that once owned the moniker “Quarterback U”, en route to four championships over a nine-year span, with four different gunslingers—where would this current team be if Van Dyke was merely playing pretty good and somewhat protecting the football, opposed to next-level awful and morphing into a world-class liability overnight?

We’re literally talking the difference between the reality of 6-3 and what could realistically be 8-1, or even undefeated right now.

Knowing the weakest link with this 2023 is literally tied to a quarterback who lost his mojo—one has to have bigger picture clarity and look past the numerical value of 6-3 with three games remaining—recalling that this team was absolutely passing the eye and smell text before the wheels completely fell off for a third-year starter being praised for making NFL-caliber throws and heady decisions just over a month ago.

The Hurricanes’ improvement at offensive line, running back and wide receiver had this offense humming out the gate under Dawson, while a feisty Lance Guidry-run defense was making a difference before Miami started massively losing the turnover battle weekly and a unit that was bending was now officially breaking.

This most-recent loss at North Carolina State; a microcosm of the entire second act this season in four quarters of football—ill-timed misfortune resulting in field goal attempts and points left on the field when Miami had been driving and was in position to find the end zone—as well as turnovers that gifted the Wolfpack points, while the Hurricanes’ defense stood strong on most drives and continued getting the ball back in Van Dyke’s hands.

Late third quarter, Miami had gone a methodical 72 yards on 12 plays—eating up 7:35 and getting to the 9:47 mark in the fourth—when the Hurricanes faced a 4th-and-Goal from the three-yard line, trailing 10-6.

Had Miami not missed a 45-yard field goal on the opening possession of the second half, a safe bet Cristobal and Dawson kick it again—as the goal was for the Hurricanes to finally get a momentum-shifting lead.

Instead, a battle of wills as Miami ran Mark Fletcher into the teeth of the line and the back was expectedly stuffed for no gain.

Manny Diaz went 21-15 over three years at Miami, including an 0-3 run against North Carolina and former boss Mack Brown.

While the focus was on the Canes going for it and not punching it in, the bigger issue was a non-threat, turnover-prone quarterback in the shotgun—everyone in Carter-Finley Stadium well-aware Van Dyke would handoff to Fletcher, as the odds of him rolling out to pass or run it himself were less than zero—which remains a philosophical issue for Cristobal and Dawson, leaving them deciding between a broken junior quarterback, a true freshman not quite ready to go, or an athletic, one-dimensional sophomore whose aerial attack leaves much to be desired.

The struggle is real, as all with ties to this program are painfully aware—but there has to be context within these three losses.

A flubbed kneel-down giving away the Georgia Tech game, while losing the turnover battle to North Carolina and North Carolina State—the Canes coughing it up eight times in those two contests—while the Tar Heels played clean and the Wolfpack had two turnovers.

They “why” in these losses couldn’t be more obvious, while the answer to solving the riddle remains murky—yet the second-year head coach and first-year coordinators remain the punching bags through this understandable, albeit misguided frustration.

CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP

Fans love to point at successful programs that are riding high, while often ignoring the arduous path that a successful team and coaching staff took en route to newfound, dominant ways.

Case in point, Georgia didn’t wake up one day as college football’s newest powerhouse.

The Bulldogs benefitted from 15 years of Richt running a very solid program that won two SEC Championships and six division titles during his 145 -51 run—averaging out to 9.66 wins and 3.4 annually. He simply couldn’t get over the hump and spent a big chunk of his career dealing with Urban Meyer and Florida dominating the SEC East, while Nick Saban turned Alabama around and began owning the conference halfway through Richt’s tenure in Athens.

Kirby Smart was handed the keys in 2016—another sign of the University of Georgia’s commitment to building a winner, along with dumping over $200,000,000 into their football program as part of their “Do More” campaign, aimed at outspending the likes of Alabama as their desire was to dethrone and replace the Crimson Tide.

By year six, Smart finally had the Bulldogs’ first national championship since 1980… nabbing another year seven and looking for a three-peat here in year eight.

Southern Cal and the Lincoln Riley narrative of 2022 was understandably compared to Miami and Cristobal, as both were hired around the same time and rolled up their sleeves to rebuild once-proud, private school football programs on opposite costs—Cristobal with a focus on culture and rebuilding “The U” in the mold he once knew as a former player and national champion.

Conversely, Riley brought his high-flying offense in from a powerhouse Oklahoma program; one that Bob Stoops built over 18 seasons, where he won 11 conference championships and one national title—amassing a 191-48 record that averaged out at 10.6 wins a year and 2.6 annual losses—which Riley maintained for five years before bailing and chasing a huge payday and rebuilding effort in Troy.

The only “culture” Riley focused on what implementing his high-flying offense—a system where he calls his own plays, poached his own Heisman-caliber quarterback from the Sooners and reeled in the transfer portal’s top-dog, Biletnikoff-winning wideout—all of which helped the Trojans air-mailed their way to 11-3 in year one.

Fast-forward to the follow-up and the old adage that defense wins championships; it’s rearing its ugly head for USC as Riley’s squad got rolled by Notre Dame, lost its third game over the course of a year to tougher-built Utah and was outscored in a shootout with Washington—while almost losing in triple-overtime to Arizona in-between.

Now USC gets Oregon and UCLA down the stretch—with Riley and the Trojans legitimately staring down the barrel of 8-4 or 7-5 in year two—which would be major backsliding and reason for concern after a strong opening act last fall.

Still, no other comparison is better-suited to what Miami fans just witnessed these past three-plus seasons at Florida State regarding the trajectory of Mike Norvell and roller coaster ride Seminoles Nation has been on since bringing on the former Memphis head coach in 2020.

Norvell went 38-15 with the Tigers—handed the keys to a program future Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente built—before getting the nod at Florida State; a program that was rolling and hit a wall in 2017 when strong>Jimbo Fisher bailed out when Texas A&M backed-up the Brinks truck; leading to a failed two-year run with Willie Taggart, only to settle on Norvell when some bigger names didn’t want to take on the job in Tallahassee.

Sound familiar, Miami fans?

Norvell’s first year was nothing short of a complete disaster; a 3-6 run during the COVID-defined 2020 season—including a 52-10 loss to Diaz at Miami. By year two, it was 0-4 out the gate—including a home loss to Jacksonville State, on the game’s final play—while stumbling to 3-6 before a 5-4 Hurricanes’ squad rolled north and choked away a late lead in Tallahassee; a season that ended with a thud by way of a  road loss against rival Florida.

After two full seasons with the Seminoles, Norvell was 6-12 and any college football fan worth their message board weight saw Florida State faithful in full-blown meltdown-mode—doing that simpleton fan math and trying to figure out if and how FSU could even afford to buy Norvell out after paying Taggart eight figures worth of get-lost money.

It wasn’t a matter of “if” with Norvell those first two years; it was “when” as he was considered dead-man-walking in all Seminoles’ circles… until he wasn’t.

Somehow a No. 23-ranked recruiting class in 2021, No. 20 in 2022 and some moves made in the transfer portal—as well as the emergence of Jordan Travis at quarterback—and things finally got rolling for Norvell in year three and continue.

What a difference a confident and capable quarterback can make…

PATIENCE A VIRTUE FOR HATED RIVAL UP NORTH

A fast 4-0 start that was just as quickly 4-3 after Florida State lost to the only three ranked teams it faced in the 2022 season—N0. 22 Wake Forest, No. 14 North Carolina State and No. 4 Clemson—before bouncing back with wins over Georgia Tech, Miami, Syracuse, Louisiana and Florida.

Throw in a another fortunate bounce with big-named Oklahoma—despite the Sooners rolling into the post-season 6-6—and that eked-out victory in the Cheez-It Bowl had the Seminoles putting their stamp on a 10-3 season that ultimately set the tone for year four.

Since that mid-October loss to Clemson last fall, Florida State assembled a 15-game win-streak, is now 9-0 in and sits atop the ACC with a legit shot at the Playoffs this season—all while being led by the same head coach their fans wanted to run out of town two years ago, as well as a left-for-dead transfer quarterback who miraculously entered the Heisman conversation this fall.

Had Miami fans had their way, Butch Davis would’ve been canned in year three and not been around to assemble the most-loaded team in history.

None of this is any type of proclamation or guarantee that Cristobal will turn Miami into a championship contender, but 21 games into his tenure—it’s hardly enough of a sample-size to warrant any stick-a-fork-in-him, pull-the-plug chatter.

Especially in regards to the state of the program inherited, a broken culture needing to be stripped down the studs—fully rebuilt—and the fact that all three setbacks in 2023 have been mostly-tied to unprecedented quarterback regression, considering how good and successful Van Yips looked earlier this season.

Too much of the conversation around Cristobal still treats him like the former Florida International head coach of yesteryear, while leaving out a four-year stint under Saban at Alabama—where he earned Recruiter Of The Year honors in 2015—as well as what he pulled off at Oregon after replacing FSU-bound Taggart.

An impressive 35-12 run over four seasons, two Pac-12 championships, two double-digit win seasons, a Rose Bown win over Wisconsin and an upset over No. 3 Ohio State on the road in 2021—not to mention, recruiting like a beast and leaving the cupboard full in Eugene.

Lest not forget the last time Miami had an alpha dog head coach in this mold—who was also a tireless recruiter that was oft knocked for some game day blunders early in his career with the Hurricanes—fans always wanted to run him off, as well.

Butch Davis was lambasted from day one, up through an early year six loss at Washington—constant bearing the brunt of the blame for turning “champs into chumps” after a 1-2 start year three back in 1997, where a banner flew over the Orange Bowl before a loss to West Virginia and fans openly talked about his ousting.

That third-year Davis-led squad bottomed out with a 5-6 run that season and a 47-0 loss at Florida State, but the head coach continued recruiting like a beast, stockpiled talent, got Miami to 9-3 in 1998—including an upset of No. 2 UCLA a week after losing the Big East title at Syracuse, 66-13—before an improved 9-4 campaign in 1999, which featured some big-time moments (an upset over No. 9 Ohio State), a head-scratcher (blowing a 24-3 lead to East Carolina) and a few close-but-not-quite-there outings (No. 2 Penn State, No. 1 Florida State).

Still, the growth was obvious and the talent upgrade undeniable.

By year five in 2000, it was smooth sailing and an 11-1 run—including upsets of No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Virginia Tech, as well as a Sugar Bowl win over No. 7 Florida—which should’ve been an Orange Bowl match-up against No. 1 Oklahoma—but the glory eventually came in 2001 when the most-loaded roster in college football history rolled on to 12-0 and the Hurricanes’ fifth national championship… which never would’ve been the case if the savages had their way, running Davis off in year three.

In short, progress it taking place on a macro-level even if there are some micro-level setbacks that have ruined a handful of Saturdays this weekend—so buckle in for the bumpy ride and pray for smooth sailing over the next couple of seasons—as progress it taking place, even if it felt like one step forward and two steps back these past couple of weekends.

(Editor’s Note: Pate’s deep-dive into the history of “The U” and breaking down why Miami was hated in the ’80s and ’90s—a good use of one’s time—an informed outsider explaining what us veteran insiders and 305 natives lived through during that iconic era.)

Christian Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint withBleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.comwhere he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello is a storyteller for some exciting brands and individuals—as well as a guitarist and songwriter for his Miami-bred band Company Jones, who released their debut album “The Glow” in 2021. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.

GEORGIA BULLDOGS’ $200M INVESTMENT; A NEW REALITY ‘THE U’ CAN’T IGNORE


“The Miami Hurricanes should be the gold standard of college football, not anyone else.”

That’s not a quote from the early 2000’s when ‘The U’ in the midst of a 34-game win streak, four consecutive BCS appearances, two championship game berths and a national title. Nor was the statement uttered by some NFL general manager around the same era, when the University of Miami had 19 first round draft picks over a four-year span, taking over and dominating the league—to the point ‘NFL U’ was a commonplace moniker.

Nope, these were the ramblings of a random poster on a U-themed fan site on a Tuesday afternoon in early October of this year, days after the Hurricanes slipped to 2-3 on the season after a loss to Virginia Tech; the heat getting turned up by a segment of the fan base that expected 15 years of sub-par play corrected five games in, by Miami’s fifth head coach in 14 seasons.

The Canes got a home win a few days later over Coastal Division favorite Virginia; but the difference between 2-3 and .500 football isn’t going to quiet the frustrated critics.

The rest of this particular message board thread—40 pages deep, over a four-day span—hammers first-year head coach Manny Diaz for being in over his head, getting out-coached on a weekly basis, calling for assistants to be fired five games in, while fantasizing about a world where the keys were never turned over to the former defensive coordinator late last December when Mark Richt suddenly called it a career—a wish-list of other big-named, fairy-tale options always rattled off as the disgruntled ones stew.

Logic and reason seemed to have checked out a while ago with these particular “supporters”—zero consideration given to the fact that Miami has been in a 15-year lull entering this season; evidenced by a 35-3 bowl game beat-down in Richt’s final appearance, a 97-70 record dating back to a 40-3 trouncing by LSU in the 2005 Peach Bowl and a 7-9 run since a loss at Pittsburgh in 2017 took all the wind out of a 10-0 start.

Will Diaz succeed or fail as the University of Miami’s 25th head coach? Way too soon to tell. Even the iconic Nick Saban went 7-6 out the gate at Alabama in 2007, with a home loss to Louisiana-Monroe—despite winning a national championship at LSU four years prior. Regardless of opinion, some truth.

Diaz seems as on-brand as anyone that’s ever coached this program—understanding what made Miami great in the past—while hard-wired to try and get to the root of the problem; changing, tweaking and fixing in real time, opposed to letting things play out and reevaluating down the road.

His first move last January; firing the entire offensive staff for underperforming—sparing no one—wanting that side of the ball to be as aggressive and game-dictating as the defense he was the architect of the past three seasons. As for that defense which has dropped off in 2019, while last year’s talent can’t be replaced this fall—now four losses in, Diaz has gotten more hands-on with the defensive coaching as he’s seen enough to know something has gone awry.

“There is a culture that was created here back in 2016 that for some reason we just have not been able to recreate,” Diaz shared the Monday morning after the loss to the Hokies. “It is not a coaching issue. It’s not a scheme issue. This has nothing to do with anyone on our defensive staff. This is simply just there is a lack of connection between the players on our defensive side of the ball.

“We don’t look like we trust each other. We don’t play with the techniques that were coached during the week, and ultimately they need the utmost accountability. That comes from the head coach, which comes from me. That process began last night. We sat and we watched every snap of the game as an entire defense. We talked through all of our mistakes. We owned all of our mistakes collectively as a group and that will be what continues now going forward. We need to get our defense playing like the Miami Hurricanes again because it didn’t look like that on Saturday.

“I’m jumping right in the middle of it. I’m going to make sure we’re all accountable to just do what we’re supposed to be.”

Halfway through a new season—and regime—Diaz is doing all he can right now, which fans must let play out; saving their evaluation for year’s end—and then another a year from now, looking to see that year-one to year-two improvement and how the Hurricanes look this time next fall.

Instead, a group of “fans” attempted to fly a pregame banner prior-to the Virginia game—a low-rent, pro sports fan-type move, thankfully thwarted due to bad weather—calling for Miami to fire athletic director Blake James and his deputy director Jennifer Strawley, while others continue encourage supporters to stop going to games, in some that’ll-show-em-we-mean-business type of protest, which is the crux of this piece.

EMOTION BESTING LOGIC—COMMON SENSE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND

The small-mindedness, entitlement and delusion on display; it’s hit a point where a long overdue reality check is needed. This ongoing approach where so many continue sharing their take on what they think this program should look like—taking out 15 years of embarrassment due to  irrelevance and a lack of consistency by way of coaching turnover; completely rooted in nostalgia and emotion, with zero attempt at any logic or reason.

A month ago ESPN’s Mark Schlabach penned a piece that should’ve been eye-opening and prompting more discussion amongst those who have the audacity to believe Hurricanes football should be the sport’s “gold standard”; “Inside Georgia’s $200 Million Quest To Take Down Alabama”.

Despite the fact the Bulldogs won 24 games over the past two years, played for two SEC Championships—winning one, gifting away another—as well as a national title game appearance; blowing a lead and falling in overtime, Georgia has taken on a “do more” attitude in regards to arming head coach Kirby Smart with everything he needs to gain a competitive against current king-of-the-hill, Saban and his dominant Crimson Tide.

“As Kirby has mentioned a number of times, the difference in a lot of these games is a matter of inches,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity shared with Schlabach. “With his goal of doing more, we’re trying to make up whatever that little difference could be.”

(Cue the anti-James rhetoric and rants that Miami should have an athletic director of McGarity’s caliber—while missing the irony that he has a monster budget, big alumni donations and he too hired a forty-something former defensive coordinator with zero head coaching experience, but that’s neither here nor there.)

That “little difference” McGarity speaks of, has resulted in the following for a Bulldogs program that hasn’t won a national championship over the past 39 seasons—and one that just shit the bed to unranked South Carolina at home last weekend; the annual Smart regular season flop against a double-digit underdog:

— $174,000,000 in facility upgrades over the past three years; including a new 165,000 square-foot facility (Butts-Meher Heritage Hall) that made up $80,000,000 of that spend—resulting in a bigger weight room, locker room offices and an improved sports medicine facility. Another $30,000,000 went towards a new 102,000 square-foot multi-use indoor practice facility.

— $63,000,000 went towards a renovation of Stanford Stadium; a revamped recruiting lounge, an enlarged scoreboard and other bells and whistles to dazzle potential Bulldogs on game-day, as well as recruiting trips to Athens where the Georgia has been stockpiling and poaching South Florida talent since the Richt era.

— On the recruiting front, Georgia now spends a cool $1,500,000 more annually than any other FBS program; over $7,000,000 over the past three years. This number now surpasses Alabama—second with a $5,600,000 annual spend, while Tennessee is third, dropping $5,000,000-per-year, yet little to show for it. (For context, the annual recruiting budget under Richt was just under $600,000; a $2,630,000 increase in 2018 for the Dawgs.)

— As for Smart and his staff; a combined annual salary of $13,000,000.

As astronomical and hard-to-fathom as all those numbers might be, the most-important information and footnote is yet to be mentioned—the fact that Georgia has raised over $121,000,000 in barely four years through The Magill Society, which “Serves as the leadership fundraising entity under The Georgia Bulldog Club. This organization is philanthropic in nature with its members invested in the success of Georgia Athletics.”

This group was formed in 2015 and “recognizes those that make commitments of $25,000 and above” over a five-year period. Over 1,100 new donors have joined this elite club over the past year. A minimum of $25,000 times 1,100 new members in 2018 equals at least $27,500,000 towards Bulldogs “athletics”—the majority of which will obviously be steered towards football, as Athens is the heart of SEC Country.

“That’s allowed us to basically pay for these facilities through our donations,” McGarity said of of the Magill Society. “We haven’t had to take on any long-term debt. Fortunately, we haven’t had to raise ticket prices or donation [requirements to buy tickets] to pay for these facilities. Right now the model we have is allowing us to keep ticket prices as low as we can. That’s been a key thing for these projects to move as quickly as they can. The donors have responded overwhelmingly to support what Kirby wants to do.”

Meanwhile, Miami fans just used GoFundMe to cover the cost of the aforementioned $495 banner intended to take a pre-game shit on the athletic department, believing that boycotting games in already a barely two-thirds full stadium will somehow “send a message”—while Georgia just signed up over a thousand new members ready and willing to pony up at least $25,000 towards their football program.

Stop the incessant bitching for a moment and let all that sink in—as well as questioning the overall sanity and entitlement of any Hurricanes football supporter believing Miami should be riding-high atop the sport, based on these financial facts.

All those years of getting into debates regarding support and fandom with alum of bigger state schools; “I’ll bet you didn’t even go to Miami, did you?’—this is where those arguments officially come to a head; the dollars and cents issue with the majority of a program’s fan base having not attended said university.

Alumni will break out that checkbook—not just for sports, but for the betterment of their beloved school. The affinity for their alma mater isn’t just relegated to on-the-field success—so when you’re talking about state schools with four- of five-times the undergraduates that Miami has and times that over a decade—it’s a huge numbers game, where UM is at a massive disadvantage.

MIAMI THRIVES—EXCEPT COLLEGE TOWN EXPERIENCE

The majority of Miami’s fans are individuals with nothing more than regional ties to a collegiate sports team who are along for the ride when the getting is good, but can easily pull back or bail out when things go south. Upon a crash and burn, or decade-long football program drought, interests and focus fast shift elsewhere, as a city like Miami—making it easy to check out during championship year droughts.

Take those larger state schools in smaller college towns, versus a private university in a suburb of a large, diverse metropolitan city—one with four professional sports franchises and an overflow of opportunities in regards to how one spends their entertainment dollar—and the the distance becomes even greater.

Athens, Tuscaloosa, Clemson, Baton Rouge, Columbus—full-fledged college sports towns. Miami is an events town; proven by the sparse crowds when mid-level conference teams come to town, opposed to the absolute raucous party environment—both on-campus and at Hard Rock—when No. 3 Notre Dame traveled south two years ago to take on an undefeated, seventh-ranked Hurricanes bunch.

Hell, even when Miami fielded its best team in program’s history in 2001—still at the beloved Orange Bowl—the Hurricanes only drew a reported 31,128 for a match-up against Temple—as a game like that isn’t an “event” and there are better things for non-alum football fans to do with their day.

The state school versus private university difference—as well as alumni versus location-based fans—is hardly new news. Nor is the fact that football factories and SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 powerhouses will throw hundreds of millions of dollars worth of support at the cause, in effort to try and build a champion—all of which should serve as a reminder just how incredible and improbably Miami’s success has been.

$200,000,000+ raised in Athens, yet the Hurricanes have won five national titles (and left a few on the field) since the Bulldogs last championship in back in 1980. How? By Miami again creating it’s own special sauce; somehow finding an advantage and figuring out how to do more with less.

It worked in the past and it’s the only answer moving forward—staying on-brand and playing to unique strengths—as the University of Miami will never have a big enough checkbook to play at the high-stakes table—especially without a strong alumni base that speaks with their wallet, not into the ether on message boards, or social media.

This is literally textbook definition of money talking and bullshit walking.

The head coaching position—same as the athletic director gig at the University of Miami—are niche gigs and not for everyone. These are college football and university-related positions, for people who want the small college town experience, of which Miami couldn’t be any further from.

The big city energy and a region full of transplants. A  quaint school with an off-campus stadium, playing second-fiddle to pro sports franchises, eccentric nightlife, beach culture and other spirited events that make up South Florida living—as well as the lack of that large, supportive alumni base—these are all turnoffs to coaches and administrators who have chosen university-driven careers.

Canes fans turn out for big games and good times, but when losses pile up—a mostly non-alum fan base checks out.

Decades back, yes, Miami football was able to reload at the head coaching position after Howard Schnellenberger built a winner, left for the USFL and Jimmy Johnson was able to carry the torch and bring home another championship; the original “NFL U” a moniker for coaches as Johnson wound up in Dallas, Dennis Erickson parlayed his success into the Seattle job and Butch Davis, though title-less, was the architect of the rebuild and was tabbed to do something similar in Cleveland.

Had Schnellenberger, Johnson or Davis planted their flag in Coral Gables and dug in for the long haul, Miami could’ve become a full-blown dynasty, in the traditional sense of the word—especially after Davis’ six-year rebuild and the state of college football at the turn of the century.

Of course none did, because long-term hasn’t ever been the logical plan at a program with UM’s set-up and resources. All used UM as a stepping-stone to bigger paydays and higher profile jobs—while all to a man have said that their time at the University of Miami was the most-special era of their respective careers and all each had their regrets about leaving; the point where they’d have loved a do-over.

Also a stepping-stone opportunity at Miami; the athletic director position—as proven twice over the past decade when Kirby Hocutt parlayed his four years into a better opportunity at Texas Tech and Shawn Eichorst used his even shorter stint to land the Nebraska gig. Neither was a “Miami guy” or on-brand, but both had the up-and-comer designation—which is also the reason UM was merely a pit-stop and both wound up at state schools with bigger budgets and alumni bases.

Prior to Hocutt and Eichorst, the Hurricanes’ longest-tenured athletic director was the late Paul Dee, who spent 13 years in a job he fell into by way of circumstance. Originally hired as Vice President and general counsel back in 1981—Dee was thrust into the AD role when Dave Maggard left the position after two years, finding a golden parachute in a Managing Director of Sports opportunity for the 1996 Summer Olympics, opposed to hanging around to see how a pending Pell Grant scandal was set to play out in Coral Gables.

It was a role Dee held until 2008, preceding Hocutt—making almost three decades since the Hurricanes had a gun-slinging type athletic director in Sam Jankovich—which was a completely different time and brand of college football. In the modern era, all Miami knows is that the past two guys bailed for greener pastures, while James retuned to Coral Gables after seven years at the University of Maine—six as Director of Athletics.

James started his career at Miami in ticket sales and has an affinity for South Florida, hence his return in 2010 and staying put ever since—which for better or worse is an important criteria for the Miami job, as again, it lacks the college town experience which many who work in collegiate athletics look for—limiting the field of candidates.

James was instrumental in bringing Richt back to his alma mater in 2015. Whatever one thinks of the hire in hindsight—Richt proving too tired for the rebuilding task after three years—it was a pivotal move for Miami; the first time UM went after an established head coach, opposed to an up-and-comer type.

UM broke out the checkbook and agreed to a reported $4M annual salary—the most it’d ever forked out for a head coach’s salary—only months after Donna Shalala stepped down; the former president the biggest roadblock to Hurricanes athletics since probation in the nineties.

The Richt era saw an increase in salaries for assistants, as well—which opened the door to bring on Diaz as defensive coordinator, after Dave Aranda chose LSU over Miami—while the respect for Richt and his 15 years running a top-notch SEC program helped get UM’s long-discussed indoor practice facility project over the hump; a $1M personal donation from Richt a huge perk that made up for limited alumni support.

WANTING TO WIN, VERSUS BUILDING A WINNER

In the wake of Richt’s abrupt retirement last December, James—and the Board of Trustees—made the move to bring Diaz back from ah 18-day stint as Temple’s head coach—which like the actual hire of the first-time head coach itself, is way too to judge as a win or a loss.

What the disgruntled are quick to call a “lazy” hire, was at worst a low-risk move—with huge consequences—based on some logical variables that too many either ignore or dismiss.

Sure, Miami could’ve conducted a full-blown search—starting January 6th, 2019—as Richt’s post-Christmas, pre-New Years bow-out came in the deadest week of the year. Four weeks prior to National Signing Day, the University of Miami would’ve been seeking for its 25th head coach—which would’ve decimated an already depleted 18-man class, setting the program even further back. With Diaz, there was continuity—as well as an ability to assemble his staff well before UM would’ve hired a new head coach.

Diaz’s hiring also guaranteed the return of would-be outgoing seniors like Shaq Quarterman, Michael Pinckey and Zach McCloud—which would’ve gutted a defense that already lost Jaquan Johnson, Sheldrick Redwine, Michael Jackson, Gerald Willis and Joe Jackson. As bad as things are right now defensively—they’d have been infinitely worse.

Miami’s off-season robbing of the Transfer Portal also wouldn’t have been as effective; Diaz reeling in Tate Martell, KJ Osborn, Bubba Bolden, Trevon Hill and Jaelan Phillips—as well as bringing Jeff Thomas back when he was all but gone to Illinois.

However it plays out with Diaz—as there are no guarantees with just about any head coaching hire—the logic and reason both made sense. Diaz hit the ground running as Miami’s defensive coordinator in 2016, quickly revamping an utter mess left by Al Golden and Mark D’Onofrio; immediately changing the broken scheme and getting guys to buy in day one.

Miami’s D took a huge step forward and by year two, went next-level—much of the success fueled by the on-brand, transcending Turnover Chain—that not only captivated all of college football, but give the Canes an old school, disruptive, aggressive vibe it had lacked since the heyday of the early 2000’s.

An anemic offense held both the 2017 and 2018 squads back—leaving James and the BoT with an understandable belief that half the the program was where it needed to be, so retaining the guy who built that out and trusting that he could find a counterpart to have a similar effect on the offense—was hardly far-fetched.

A reported $1.2M was allocated for Diaz to lure Dan Enos away from Alabama. How that hire ultimately plays out, time will tell—but for the Hurricanes, it was still a get—and the increased salary for assistants was again a good football move showing that Miami’s administration does care about football in this post-Shalala era.

In the end, the University of Miami is fighting this battle with one hand tied behind its back—but isn’t giving up. The way it was able to win and dominate in the past; those avenues are closed—so it’s time to take some less conventional detours in finding news ways to succeed.

Miami won’t soon become a state school with 40K undergrads, producing hundreds of thousands of new alum every decades—so it’s doing the next-best thing; trying to maintain and build off its brand—James with ties to UM’s last rebuild under Davis and Diaz having grown up in South Florida during the Decade of Dominance, with a true understanding of what the Hurricanes tick back-in-the-day.

Seeing what a Georgia is doing in regards to their investment into athletics; demeaning—but equally as liberating, as it frees Miami from feeling like it has to play the game in an orthodox manner in which it will never compete.

Just as it did four decades ago when Schnelly started an against-all-0dds dynasty in 1979, Miami is going to have to stay clever and unconventional in its process—praying for the stars to somehow align, while the football gods shine a little love—as college football is always a better place when the Hurricanes are relevant; playing in disruptive and polarizing fashion.

Chris Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint with BleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.com where he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello earns a living helping icon Bill Murray build a lifestyle apparel brand. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.