I'm probably in the minority here, but ***** firing Manny now or announcing he won't be back at the end of the season. If you don't make an announcement that Blake has been fired first (or demoted at least), the head coach decision at Miami will mean NOTHING.
I see people talking about cronyism in the athletic department, it is more likely desperation and laziness. Blake wasn't hired due to cronyism, Miami was desperate. Hocutt quit in February 2011. This was right before the Shapiro $hitstorm was made official in the form of an NCAA investigation, but he knew it was coming. Shapiro was talking to the Herald in August 2010 about a huge story he was about to bust Miami on. Hocutt knew what was coming and got out of Dodge as soon as he could. Eichhorst was hired in April 2011, about a month after the investigation had begun, and was supposedly not informed about the investigation during the hiring process. Less than 18 months later in October 2012, he jumps ship to Nebraska.
So Shalala looks at a situation where they are in the middle of the NCAA investigating the U and it is widely public knowledge. Who would have wanted the job at that point? It would be possible career suicide if the NCAA threw the book at Miami. Oh, I know, let's hire the Assistant AD who has stuck around during the entirety of this fiasco. Yeah, he doesn't have real experience hiring coaches at the P5 level, but he can raise money at least. So they give James the job.
A couple of years later, Shalala quits and Frenk takes over. Frenk is a full-blown ivory tower guy. He thinks football is played with a round ball with goalies. He couldn't care less about athletics so Blake has been able to stick around. Say what you will about Shalala, but I think if she would have stuck around, a new AD would have replaced Blake in 2016 when the Golden era was coming to an end.
Manny's hiring was just plain pure laziness. You have a guy with no real experience hiring a coach in James, just throwing a dart against the wall. When Golden was fired, Blake didn't make the new hire, he created a hiring commission to get it done. This time around, he didn't have the benefit of time to get a consensus on who the new coach should be. He had to make the decision himself. He $hat the bed and made the decision that would require the least work - hire Manny.
Anyway, get the AD position handled first. Otherwise, you will just have another head coach mistake.