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Listened to a Podcast with Brad Tejada..

Liberty City El said:
From what I’ve heard Banda left because he wanted to call the shots on Defense, he basically gave Manny an ultimatum, either bump him up to full time DC or he’d go be a DC elsewhere, he had leverage because along with the Utah State offer, he had a few other offers at other programs on the table too.

The Ed Reed stuff I’m unsure of & I think is being blown up out of proportion because a lot of the former players don’t like Banda because they were Rumph loyalist so they tend to insert a narrative there about him budding heads with guys, the reality is there would be no reason for him to bump heads with Reed because Reed wasn’t a full time coach on staff. But he definitely did have issues with Baker, I heard directly from a current player on the team that Banda & Baker really didn’t get along at all this season & that played a big part on why the Defense regressed so bad, because Banda wanted to assert himself & move Bake out the way after we got our asses whooped by Clemson, but Diaz didn’t want to rock the boat having two coaches fighting for play calling duty, because as people seem to forget Banda did have the title of Co-DC but had no say so on play calling.

Based on what I’ve gathered, my guess is Banda got ****ed at Diaz for not making him the Capo of the Defense & decided it was time to move on, he took Zuck & attempted to bring DVD with him, but Manny really wants to keep DVD because he knows how integral he is to our recruiting, especially on Defense for the 22 class.

Idk how concrete this Tejada guy’s info as in terms of a meeting with the BOT, but I definitely believe they made it clear to Manny that the Baker man needs to be removed as DC & they are willing to shell out extra cash in order to get some better coaches on the Defensive side. We’ll know exactly how true any of this is come next week once everybody is back off vacation on Jan 11th & the following week.

Idk how optimistic I should be, but I’m kinda leaning towards more action happening next week in terms of hirings & possible additional firings. I have no idea if Baker stays or gets demoted or fired, if I had to make an educated guess I would say it all depends on where we stand with T-Rob, if we get T-Rob I expect things to be shaken up, if not it could be more reshuffling of the chairs on the deck of the titanic, but as of now everything is wait & see. We’ll have a clearer picture come next week.

But I will say I do think we’ll make a good hire at DL coach, I mean for Diaz’s sake he better lol.
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I had to read this twice to absorb everything you said here. wow. Couple of things for me: if all this tension between Banda and Baker went on for the majority of the season, added to the COVID situation, I understand better why it seemed like the top just blew off in the UNC game.

It also seems that Manny took Baker's side in all of the discord. I find that really interesting considering his long time relationship with Banda. Could be Baker was easier for him to control? I wonder what Lashlee/Likens/Justice thought about all of that. They came in with the goal of building up /restructuring a solid offense only to watch the defensive staff implode... Had to be really frustrating.
 
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Hoyacane1620 said:
I had to read this twice to absorb everything you said here. wow. Couple of things for me: if all this tension between Banda and Baker went on for the majority of the season, added to the COVID situation, I understand better why it seemed like the top just blew off in the UNC game.

It also seems that Manny took Baker's side in all of the discord. I find that really interesting considering his long time relationship with Banda. Could be Baker was easier for him to control? I wonder what Lashlee/Likens/Justice thought about all of that. They came in with the goal of building up /restructuring a solid offense only to watch the defensive staff implode... Had to be really frustrating.
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Don’t want to look too much into this, but Lashlee’s demeanor was different in his interviews during the last couple weeks of season. Could just be his competitive spirit, get kissed and focused when getting beat, but he definitely had an edge in his body language.

Crap. I’ve just stooped to sports/social psychology expert. Now I didn’t work with Rumph. Lol.
 
Although Banda still has a relatively weak resume for Miami, I can definitely understand the animosity with the other Def coaches as his was the only coach to truly produce on the recruiting trail. To the point where Banda was helping recruit other positions.

I can give a F about all the drama.... Manny assembled this junior college staff and those are the results we got

maybe the presence of Ed Reed is changing a few things
 
chipcane said:
to summarize, he said the Board met with Manny just after the bowl loss to see where Manny stood re: the defensive staff. Manny seemed set to run it back, with the exception of Rumph and of course Banda's expected departure. He added that Ed Reed and Banda didn't see eye-to-eye on some things.
According to Brad the trustees weren't exactly thrilled with Manny's plans and allowed time to "re-group" before again meeting with Diaz Mon. January 4. In that meeting trustees expressed concern regarding a repeat scenario of Golden-D'Nofrio in terms of the Diaz-Baker working relationship. Apparently finances for new staff members were then discussed, and Manny was given the backing to field a competitive crew on the defensive side of the ball. The board is confident in terms of the provision available for these hires to the point of saying the Diaz will fix the problem(s) coaching-wise on the defensive side of the ball - and if he doesn't we'll make sure it's fixed. That didn't come off to me as a threat to Diaz's job status, but assurance that quality hires would be made, and unqualified current staff members would be moved/removed. MY GUESS: Reid's evaluations may play a factor here.
So Manny has been given the resources to build his staff, according to Brad, with the inference being however that Blake Baker will NOT be defensive coordinator, or if retaining the title, being nothing more than a glorified position coach.

I personally find it interesting that the moment trustees leaned on Manny (if true)to break status quo, the topic of $ came up. Let's face it, Diaz hired Baker as D-Coordinator from La.Tech, so one would imagine the salary is moderate, possibly not even moderate as far as D-Coordinator salaries run. Patke was given a promotion/raise when Richt left, but guessing again a moderate salary for a position coach. Lord knows whatever Rumph got was too much. I always hear UM people saying there's plenty of money for coaches, BUT when looking at that side of the ball with Baker, Banda, Patke, and Rumph - these all would appear to be bargain-basement hires, coaches hired from HS ball, or lower-profile college positions. I'm troubled that though there's "plenty of money" for quality hires, that money somehow isn't always used. On offense? Yes. To overpay Manny? Yes. For the defensive staff? Remains to be seen.
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can anyone share the podcast name????
 
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Cane6 said:
Although Banda still has a relatively weak resume for Miami, I can definitely understand the animosity with the other Def coaches as his was the only coach to truly produce on the recruiting trail. To the point where Banda was helping recruit other positions.

I can give a F about all the drama.... Manny assembled this junior college staff and those are the results we got

maybe the presence of Ed Reed is changing a few things
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Looking at this a little differently, maybe this is the evolution of a first time coach. After putting together a junior college staff, he learned the lesson and with Ed Reed in his ear he'll go for quality instead of diamonds in the rough.

At least that's my wishful thinking until he screws it up.
 
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CFB_Hogan said:
I can promise Brad isnt defending that defensive staff anymore lol
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That’s good to hear. I did listen to the podcast with him and D$ for a few minutes and I liked what I heard from him. Which surprised me a little.
 
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CFB_Hogan said:
Manny Diaz has not liked, commented or retweeted anything regarding departures. All of the other assistants, whether defense, offense or special teams, have done so.

I think Manny and Banda are not friends (right now). And I think Dan Sileo posted a tweet saying Manny got spooked after talking to Reed (tweet has been deleted, but I saw it for sure).
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What did the tweet say?
 
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Hoyacane1620 said:
I had to read this twice to absorb everything you said here. wow. Couple of things for me: if all this tension between Banda and Baker went on for the majority of the season, added to the COVID situation, I understand better why it seemed like the top just blew off in the UNC game.

It also seems that Manny took Baker's side in all of the discord. I find that really interesting considering his long time relationship with Banda. Could be Baker was easier for him to control? I wonder what Lashlee/Likens/Justice thought about all of that. They came in with the goal of building up /restructuring a solid offense only to watch the defensive staff implode... Had to be really frustrating.
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There are some different versions of how to interpret this and we don't know how Banda played his cards.

If Banda said 'do X or I'll go elsewhere,' Manny quite likely said (or should have said) 'thanks for your service.' But that's an unlikely way for the conversation to have gone, IMO. Because it unnecessarily burns the only bridge he has if it doesn't play out well, which it can't, anyhow.

I think it's reasonably likely (no info, just instinct) that Banda's smart enough to know that from his own career perspective, he's got to move away from Manny and broaden out at this point. He's been at UM for 5 years, with Manny. Even if he gets promoted to DC, he'll get blamed if it goes poorly and if Manny fails he'll be looking for a new mentor. Given his atypical background, it's smart for him to spread his wings at this point.

So not sure Manny actually took Baker's side. Banda could have been smart enough to tell Manny he thinks its time in his career to call plays, understands that's not an option at UM, and hopes to get Manny's help and support in finding an opportunity that makes sense for him, plus some blah blah about working together against down the road.
 
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supersaiyanshel said:
Would be hilarious if Manny and James hired Reed as a PR stunt, only for him to end up having the BOTs ear more than the both of them.
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Sweet, sweet justice.

Irwin Raij for University President (would be the most pro-athletics UM president in history), Gino Torretta for AD, and Alonzo Highsmith for whatever he wants to do. Now THAT is a winning team.

And if Irwin doesn't want to be President, he is eminently qualified to be AD. And he's living in SoFla again.
 
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dang, what a soap opera. That's why you don't want to hire your buddies unless there is the understanding that it is strictly business and personal relationships can't get in the way. Manny is smart but he should have saw this coming. Then there is the whole Golden and D'No experience to draw from.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Sweet, sweet justice.

Irwin Raij for University President (would be the most pro-athletics UM president in history), Gino Torretta for AD, and Alonzo Highsmith for whatever he wants to do. Now THAT is a winning team.

And if Irwin doesn't want to be President, he is eminently qualified to be AD. And he's living in SoFla again.
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Would like to see Gino as AD. I think AH wanted too much control and would not have been a good fit as his role would have diluted the AD and HC roles within the football program. I get under the current situation fans would have liked that, but for the future what HC and AD worth their salt would want that kind of situation?
 
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