I know everyone was upset with the Manny from the way he was hired to how we fell short of expectations the past couple years. And I'm as excited as everyone else about getting Mario and hopefully reclaiming our rightful place atop the CFB world. But let's not dance on Manny's grave. The man was all class from the day he was hired until he was finally, mercifully let go this morning. And there was a lot about him that I really liked, admired and appreciated as a coach. I'm going to name a few of those things, because some of them reflect qualities that I *hope* Mario will share:
Go Canes!!!!
- Not afraid to be bold - Going after Dan Enos from Alabama when Saban reportedly wanting him as his own OC. We were all excited about that hire, even though it didn't work out.
- Not afraid to innovate - Manny was among the first HCs in the country to really embrace the transfer portal. He brought in more immediate impact players sooner than almost anyone else and helped set the trend that everyone is now following.
- Not afraid to admit his mistakes - Firing his own hand-picked OC after just one year when it clearly wasn't working. Sure we all knew it needed to happen, but the vast majority of coaches would stubbornly refuse to admit their mistake and correct it so quickly. You need look no further than Richt sticking with his son or worse, Golden sticking with 'Onofrio, to know that this is a rare trait. Manny also ushered his own mentee, Blake Baker, out the door as DC. Sure he made a mistake being his own DC this past year, but I believe he would have fixed that given the opportunity.
- Willing to break tradition to restore tradition - How many coaches before Manny, and us fans, stubbornly clung to the idea that Miami has to run a pro-style offense? Manny realized that to be successful in the modern era we needed to go to a spread offense, and he went out and found a bright young coach in Lashlee to make that change.
- Upgrading recruiting staff, fixing QB room - Manny recognized that he had guys on staff who weren't pulling their weight in recruiting, and he moved them into different roles so he could replace them with guys like T-Rob and DVD, and even T-Will who moved on. He also helped fix the QB room - if you're going to hammer Manny for some of the recruiting misses, especially at LB, he has to get credit for recruiting King, TVD and Garcia the last three years. That's arguably the best run of QB recruits we have had since the late 80's/early 90s.
- Great communicator - Manny was media savvy and social media savvy. He was very progressive in helping build excitement for the program and recruiting on social media. We all hung on his hurricane gif's to indicate when we got a new commitment. It helped make things fun and exciting.
- Understood Miami, embraced the culture - Manny may not have gone to school at Miami, but he grew up a fan and understood the city and the culture of the U.
- Turnover Chain - The Turnover Chain was as brilliant a bit of marketing/culture/swag as we have seen in college football in a long time. It did more to restore the brand of the U and teach the new generation that Miami invented swag than anything we've done on the football field the past 20 years. Sure it got tired over the past year when we were losing, but that doesn't diminish what a master stroke it was. I, for one, hope Mario brings it back out when we reach the ACC CG or some other truly big game. ***Bonus points that the Turnover Chain also begat FSU's Dora the Explorer turnover backpack.
- Great representative of the program - You look at some of these coaches around the country like Brian Kelly and Dan Mullen and just how bad they are as the face of a program, and you have to appreciate how many carried himself and represented the U. Even while he was twisting in the wind these past few days and weeks, he was all class, and we should appreciate that.
Go Canes!!!!
