On today's CS article Manny revealed that there was a players' only meeting before playing Pitt. I like this.
I think Manny is still trying to change the culture. It's not easy. There are some players that aren't Canes and don't belong on this team.
Of course there are some coaches that don't belong on this staff and must be gotten rid of too. We need an upgrade at several positions, beginning at OC.
Here's what Manny had to say:
Diaz referenced a meeting among players last week leading up to the Pitt game.
And the team showed a lot of fight in the game - after all the outside noise things could have gone differently.
“I’ve been preaching and we’ve been preaching what it means to play for the Miami Hurricanes and the standard set from those before us,” Diaz said. “And one of the key things is player accountability. … some guys back in the day weren’t fit to be a Miami Hurricane. The hardest thing is when you face adversity and the results don’t go your way - I’m not talking about blaming players’ performance, it comes back to preparation, can be something like going to class, doing things the right way. I think our guys finally started to get it. There were some things said, players did speak, there were some hard truths mentioned. The biggest concepts our guys understood is we are all tied to one another. If somebody is not pulling their weight it is hurting their fellow teammates. That can be the reason why - this has been the cycle going on here for while, could be the reason the win-loss record has been the way it’s been. There’s that different type of peer accountability you have to have to take us to the next level. … what we know now is the road map and our guys understand what works and doesn’t work. It doesn’t mean everyone in there is up for the challenge. (Part of changing that) is recruiting. But at least we exposed it. And it wasn’t me saying it, the coaches saying it, it was the players saying it and that’s what had to happen. You’re either being a Cane or not being a Cane and that was really cool for us to see.”
“Leadership is starting to emerge on this team,” he added. “Our team has come closer together with all the adversity.”
* Diaz was happy to point to this as a key last weekend: “Our special teams dominated,” he said. “In a game where everything mattered we got a lot of the little things right.”
I think Manny is still trying to change the culture. It's not easy. There are some players that aren't Canes and don't belong on this team.
Of course there are some coaches that don't belong on this staff and must be gotten rid of too. We need an upgrade at several positions, beginning at OC.
Here's what Manny had to say:
Diaz referenced a meeting among players last week leading up to the Pitt game.
And the team showed a lot of fight in the game - after all the outside noise things could have gone differently.
“I’ve been preaching and we’ve been preaching what it means to play for the Miami Hurricanes and the standard set from those before us,” Diaz said. “And one of the key things is player accountability. … some guys back in the day weren’t fit to be a Miami Hurricane. The hardest thing is when you face adversity and the results don’t go your way - I’m not talking about blaming players’ performance, it comes back to preparation, can be something like going to class, doing things the right way. I think our guys finally started to get it. There were some things said, players did speak, there were some hard truths mentioned. The biggest concepts our guys understood is we are all tied to one another. If somebody is not pulling their weight it is hurting their fellow teammates. That can be the reason why - this has been the cycle going on here for while, could be the reason the win-loss record has been the way it’s been. There’s that different type of peer accountability you have to have to take us to the next level. … what we know now is the road map and our guys understand what works and doesn’t work. It doesn’t mean everyone in there is up for the challenge. (Part of changing that) is recruiting. But at least we exposed it. And it wasn’t me saying it, the coaches saying it, it was the players saying it and that’s what had to happen. You’re either being a Cane or not being a Cane and that was really cool for us to see.”
“Leadership is starting to emerge on this team,” he added. “Our team has come closer together with all the adversity.”
* Diaz was happy to point to this as a key last weekend: “Our special teams dominated,” he said. “In a game where everything mattered we got a lot of the little things right.”
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