The Bank (1/8)

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It was before Manny was fired, but it was after weeks of Mario speculation so it seemed weird. Manny and his supporters used it as ammo that we shouldn't get rid of him because he was still recruiting well.
agreed. i didnt say he didnt know mario was coming when he committed, i just said he committed prior to mario officially coming on which means he couldnt have recruited him FOR MIAMI. he visited him after he was hired and was already committed. remember, he visited FSU and then committed to us right after that.
 
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Alonzo was involved in drafting Mayfield #1 overall. He didn’t draft Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen (who were busts) but he missed big time on Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

Hoping this ends up being a good eval but I am skeptical if in the end he ends up being QB1.

Will reserve full judgement until we get to see the on-field product.
 
No, actually they are. There’s multiple people who have made that point through multiple threads. Not approving of Mario is one thing and a completely valid feeling. Backing the point up with a guy who got the job because his daddy was mayor is another.

A 6 win season with consecutive losses to Duke, FIU, and LaTech. A COVID season of 8-3 where some rosters were down 1/4 of their players depending on the week. And mercifully a final season of 7 wins where 3-4 games could have gone either way. All while losing to 3 in state schools in a 3 year tenure and getting your doors blown off against top competition.

Hating on Manny is not giving more ammo against Mario. As much as I support him and the program, his decisions like not taking a knee or giving PT to a wavering, not fully committed QB as opposed to the guy who got you a win against Clemson are strikes against him.

Manny left a lopsided, JAG filled roster when he got the boot, plain and simple. I believe 24’ will be far better. If it’s not, Mario deserves as much mercy as Manny got.
those are some good points.. I would never advocated for having kept Manny... i haven't seen anybody flat out say we should have.. I understand the sentiment of "if we're ok with where Mario is now, then we should have kept Manny". But that's different in my opinion. Neither, through 2 seasons, have met the standard. But Manny was a first year head coach with limited resources. I expected a big learning curve.

And I think Mario has been a bigger disappointment because of his experience and resources given. First year was absolutely atrocious. You can talk about losses to Duke, FIU, LaTech for Manny. But Mario got blown out by MTSU, Duke, Pitt, FSU, Clemson. That team flat out quit! Was the worst season we've had in 40 years. We were all expecting a big leap in 2023 and he failed badly to deliver that.

In my opinion, unless Mario wins at least 10 games in 2024, he's still behind expectations. He was so bad in year 1 and 2 that many have lowered expectations on him. But if he had won 7 games in 2022, then anything less than 9 would have been a disappointment for 2023. And anything less than 10 would be a disappointment for 2024. I'm not reducing my expectations because of how badly he underperformed in years 1 and 2.
 
those are some good points.. I would never advocated for having kept Manny... i haven't seen anybody flat out say we should have.. I understand the sentiment of "if we're ok with where Mario is now, then we should have kept Manny". But that's different in my opinion. Neither, through 2 seasons, have met the standard. But Manny was a first year head coach with limited resources. I expected a big learning curve.

And I think Mario has been a bigger disappointment because of his experience and resources given. First year was absolutely atrocious. You can talk about losses to Duke, FIU, LaTech for Manny. But Mario got blown out by MTSU, Duke, Pitt, FSU, Clemson. That team flat out quit! Was the worst season we've had in 40 years. We were all expecting a big leap in 2023 and he failed badly to deliver that.

In my opinion, unless Mario wins at least 10 games in 2024, he's still behind expectations. He was so bad in year 1 and 2 that many have lowered expectations on him. But if he had won 7 games in 2022, then anything less than 9 would have been a disappointment for 2023. And anything less than 10 would be a disappointment for 2024. I'm not reducing my expectations because of how badly he underperformed in years 1 and 2.

I think that's fair. 10 or better should be the expectation. I also think he has job security as long as he wins 8 or more to show progress.

FWIW, IMO, it would be a a huge opportunity lost if we have to go with Poff as our starter in 2024, because we should have enough talent to make the playoffs with a Taulia level QB or better. But I still think we can pull off 9-10 wins with him. Dawson/Mario will make sure he won't lose games. And if we need him for only a game or two as QB2, we definitely should be getting to 10 wins and possibly make the playoffs.

When you look at the two deep, we're going to be young in spots. But it's essentially Mario's team now, only a handful of pre-Mario left over. And the talent should be more than good enough to win with the schedule we have.
 
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I’d much rather be a program built on HS and development. Relying on the portal ever year will be an ugly game
Well comparing our first 2 years with MC versus FSU with Norvell I'd rather have a 13-1 season than anything MC will likely give us in the next few...
 
Either way, I think we need to accept that Mario watched the epitome of what he wants his offense to be win the title last night... whether we can replicate it with MC and his obviously definitely well proven ability to switch up personnel and use motion like Michigan I'll leave up to you all...
 
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No, actually they are. There’s multiple people who have made that point through multiple threads. Not approving of Mario is one thing and a completely valid feeling. Backing the point up with a guy who got the job because his daddy was mayor is another.

A 6 win season with consecutive losses to Duke, FIU, and LaTech. A COVID season of 8-3 where some rosters were down 1/4 of their players depending on the week. And mercifully a final season of 7 wins where 3-4 games could have gone either way. All while losing to 3 in state schools in a 3 year tenure and getting your doors blown off against top competition.

Hating on Manny is not giving more ammo against Mario. As much as I support him and the program, his decisions like not taking a knee or giving PT to a wavering, not fully committed QB as opposed to the guy who got you a win against Clemson are strikes against him.

Manny left a lopsided, JAG filled roster when he got the boot, plain and simple. I believe 24’ will be far better. If it’s not, Mario deserves as much mercy as Manny got.
I certainly won’t give Mario passes for his failures on the field (we all know what they are/were) nor his seemingly inability to make decisive staff decisions (there very well be some backstories to these situations) but we also can not discount the fact that he walked into a program that was mediocre at best for the past 20 years. 7-5 average wins and losses with some of the most embarrassing losses in program history.

Far too often, “fans” play the shoulda, woulda, coulda cards. Mario can’t change the past and can only change the present and the future. So far with the exception of HS recruiting, Mario’s results are mixed at best. There’s no way in **** Mario isn’t aware of this. If he isn’t, the program is in deep dog doo.

Additionally, that 18 year run we had from ‘83 to ‘01 (excluding 4-5 years due to the Shapiro fiasco), was an anomaly for the Miami football program. Many current Miami “fans” have no clue as to what the football program was prior to 1983.

It’s now been 22 years since our last NC. Taking ALL things into consideration, expecting us to return to that level of competitiveness in 1-2-3 years is a pipe dream and unrealistic.
 
He loves him some jags that’s for sure
Not sure everything falls on Zo. Zo and coaches don’t always agree on players. Mario signs off on everyone.

That being said, since Mario has joined us, our portal additions are full of jags. We hit on several but missed on most of them. Something feels off with the portal. That needs to change.
 
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Not sure everything falls on Zo. Zo and coaches don’t always agree on players. Mario signs off on everyone.

That being said, since Mario has joined us, our portal additions are full of jags. We hit on several but missed on most of them. Something feels off with the portal. That needs to change.
Feels to me like Mario sees a lot of utility in depth guys / attitude guys in the portal. Obviously he's got some trophies (Cohen, Lee, etc.) but he values veteran grunts, while we as fans look around and see people like FSU adding more top line dudes and rightfully don't understand why we can't do the same thing.
 
Well comparing our first 2 years with MC versus FSU with Norvell I'd rather have a 13-1 season than anything MC will likely give us in the next few...
How were Norvell first two years. Compare apples to apples then.

Let’s check back in as well. FSU walked away from 2023 the same as we did. Nothing. I wouldn’t be that excited for their 2024 either
 
Feels to me like Mario sees a lot of utility in depth guys / attitude guys in the portal. Obviously he's got some trophies (Cohen, Lee, etc.) but he values veteran grunts, while we as fans look around and see people like FSU adding more top line dudes and rightfully don't understand why we can't do the same thing.
Need to find difference makers. Portal has given us way too many jags.

Also, Lou Cristobal has no business taking up a scholarship.
 
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I certainly won’t give Mario passes for his failures on the field (we all know what they are/were) nor his seemingly inability to make decisive staff decisions (there very well be some backstories to these situations) but we also can not discount the fact that he walked into a program that was mediocre at best for the past 20 years. 7-5 average wins and losses with some of the most embarrassing losses in program history.

Far too often, “fans” play the shoulda, woulda, coulda cards. Mario can’t change the past and can only change the present and the future. So far with the exception of HS recruiting, Mario’s results are mixed at best. There’s no way in **** Mario isn’t aware of this. If he isn’t, the program is in deep dog doo.

Additionally, that 18 year run we had from ‘83 to ‘01 (excluding 4-5 years due to the Shapiro fiasco), was an anomaly for the Miami football program. Many current Miami “fans” have no clue as to what the football program was prior to 1983.

It’s now been 22 years since our last NC. Taking ALL things into consideration, expecting us to return to that level of competitiveness in 1-2-3 years is a pipe dream and unrealistic.
Outstanding summary and spot on. It’s an uphill, constant battle no doubt and there’s been more turmoil and average than great going back a very long time.

Anyone who knows Mario knows this is eating him alive and he’s working his *** off to fix it. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen but it’s not going to fail due to a lack of effort. Given the circumstances my gut tells me he’s changed as a result of how things have gone. Having a blueprint is one thing. Not giving enough autonomy to those you’ve delegated authority to around you is another thing and I think he’s going to adjust. He has to.

Between some mindset and operational adjustments (which were noted and discussed during the exit portion of the season) and the infusion of not stars, but actual functional football talent, I fully expect this to be a double digit win team next year. I thought 6 and 8 were accurate in years 1 and 2 so we will see. The behind the scenes adjustments lend a lot to be optimistic about.
 
Recruiting that year was incredibly odd. Only had around 10 guys committed and basically no movement at all once the season started
It was. I think we were in the 40-60 range when we hired Mario and in 2 months he got us in the top 20. With the complete and total lack of juice we had and with Manny;s success in the portal I really wonder if that is where he was planning to attack recruiting. Similar to FSU where we clown there HS recruiting but right now the portal is looking pretty good for them. Would not surprise me if that was the plan looking back and that is where Manny thought resources should be targeted.

Not sure everything falls on Zo. Zo and coaches don’t always agree on players. Mario signs off on everyone.

That being said, since Mario has joined us, our portal additions are full of jags. We hit on several but missed on most of them. Something feels off with the portal. That needs to change.
I think the issue with the portal is it goes completely against Mario's recruiting strategy. Like if Mario could find a way to have been at the hospital to help deliver Trevor Lawerence as a baby to build a relationship with his parents he would. We have seen him miss on some HS recruits because he wants the players to take other visits, talk with family, visit here with his family, build a relationship etc. The portal to me needs a more used car salesman approach. Quick, high pressure, visit, sign, shut it down. Also when you look at the coaches that have success in the portal (aside from someone like UGA or Bama) guys like Norvell, Manny, Deon, Lane all fit that salesperson persona. I also am not even saying that negatively, it is what it is.
 
Outstanding summary and spot on. It’s an uphill, constant battle no doubt and there’s been more turmoil and average than great going back a very long time.

Anyone who knows Mario knows this is eating him alive and he’s working his *** off to fix it. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen but it’s not going to fail due to a lack of effort. Given the circumstances my gut tells me he’s changed as a result of how things have gone. Having a blueprint is one thing. Not giving enough autonomy to those you’ve delegated authority to around you is another thing and I think he’s going to adjust. He has to.

Between some mindset and operational adjustments (which were noted and discussed during the exit portion of the season) and the infusion of not stars, but actual functional football talent, I fully expect this to be a double digit win team next year. I thought 6 and 8 were accurate in years 1 and 2 so we will see. The behind the scenes adjustments lend a lot to be optimistic about.

What is he doing to fix it?

Have you seen his calendar to meet with McDaniel, Saban, any offensive head coach in any league?

How did he fix it fumbling the QB so far? And yes. Adding LilTua is not striking the QB Gold…

Why would anyone that watched us play believe Mario will change when we just watched him pull the same conservative **** with the lead against Rutgers that lost us games for 2 years?

What “behind the scenes” is happening to give us hope? Are they unique to Mario or Miami investing in football?

Working hard doing the wrong thing doesn’t help….
 
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