'The New Miami' Set to Debut on Greentree
By Camron Ghorbi
HurricaneSports.com
Seven months of flames, all thanks to one man.
The social media blaze first broke out when Miami head coach Manny Diaz dropped the infamous “#TNM” hashtag in January. It spread like wildfire through National Signing Day and has been burning hot ever since spring ball concluded.
A little more than 24 hours out, and with excitement reaching an all-time high, Diaz and his staff are making final preparations for the first fall practice of ‘The New Miami.’
What’s it all about? What, exactly, is new? What has changed?
There have been yachts pulling up on the Miami River, videos of a secret transfer portal entry way in the head coach’s office and even GIFs of a kangaroo playing an air guitar.
In the midst of the frenzy, at a spring fundraising event at The Wharf in downtown Miami, however, Diaz insisted that ‘The New Miami’ was more than just a social media phenomenon.
“It’s not just a Twitter hashtag or something that sounds good on social media…believe me, it’s real,” Diaz said. “This is something that you can feel, and this is something that you will see in the fall.
“You will see ‘The New Miami.'”
Perhaps no scene better explained the concept than what unfolded at the Westin in downtown Charlotte last Thursday.
It was there that senior linebacker Shaq Quarterman, graduate transfer wide receiver K.J. Osborn and the architect himself, Diaz, took the podium at ACC Kickoff, the conference’s annual media day.
Osborn said he knew right away that, despite the coaching staff change that took place in Coral Gables in late December, he was on board with Diaz’s mindset as the first-year head coach began the rejuvenation process.
After a standout career at Buffalo, Osborn planted his flag in Coral Gables for his final collegiate season.
“Just his energy, his vibe, what his vision was for the program, what he wanted to do, the new Miami, bringing some of that old-school Miami back, putting us back where we need to be,” Osborn said of his new coach.
The old school Miami – that’s the key takeaway.”When he got the job, he called me the next morning. He told me all the things he wanted to implement. He really didn’t have to – just being underneath him for three years, I knew what type of mentality he was going to spread across the team,” Quarterman said on his Charlotte media tour.
Though he earned All-ACC first-team recognition – and Miami’s defense ranked among the nation’s best – Quarterman admitted to being hurt by last year’s 7-6 record and blowout loss to Wisconsin in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.
“There was a time where it seemed like they didn’t think we wanted to win and that hurt me to my core. It’s for the fans…they pay so much money, season ticket holders and stuff like that,” Quarterman said. “It’s for the fans. We work hard to win. But it’s for the city.”
Quarterman, who includes Jon Beason and Jon Vilma both among his idols and mentors, knows he has a standard to live up to.
‘The New Miami’ isn’t about yachts or turnover chains. It’s not about Army fatigues or touchdown dances.
‘The New Miami’ is about what Miami has always been about – hard work.If you’re looking for a more accurate definition, check first with Hurricanes legend and current Cleveland Browns vice president of player personnel, Alonzo Highsmith.
He recently gave his definition of ‘swag’ to The Athletic:
“It’s never missing a practice. It’s practicing like every day is your last day. You don’t get swag because of a haircut. Or because you pound your chest or because someone said you were a five-star. Swag is something that is earned. You don’t just give it to somebody.”
Diaz saw it firsthand, originally as a youngster growing up in the stands of the Orange Bowl watching players like Highsmith. He saw it during his television career and then, during his journey into coaching, got an even closer glimpse.
For a Miami native and Cuban-American, Diaz has a perspective of ‘The New Miami’ that resonates a lot deeper than most.
“That’s really what the Miami Hurricanes did in the ’80s. There’s not many college football programs that crash the college football scene. This has been a sport for a long time been dominated by the bluebloods. Very rarely does a team sort of sneak in. Miami did. Miami snuck in,” he said.
Diaz, the 25th coach in program history, and his staff are now charged with lifting the program back up to its own lofty standards.
“For me to be now in charge to bring Miami back to that point,” Diaz said. “I’ll be very honest, if you wrote it on a script, Hollywood would throw it out, it would be too unbelievable.
“On one hand I pinch myself every day. On the other hand I realize there’s a lot of work to be done because this is a place where it can happen. The script has been written in terms of how it happens. My job is to follow the script and have these guys understand the recipe for success and hold them to it.”
The script has been written. The standard has been set. It’s ‘The New Miami – and it continues tomorrow night on Greentree Practice Fields.
