Following an extremely disappointing season, Mark Richt decided to step down and retire from coaching, opening the door to the Manny Diaz era at the University of Miami. With the new head coach, there comes an entirely new offensive staff and a familiar defensive staff.
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With the hire of tight ends and wide receivers coaches, Diaz has now filled all of the positions on the coaching staff. Some of the coaches have ties to the program, while others have connections to the head coach or new offensive coordinator.
RELATED: Who is New OC Dan Enos? The Answer to Miami's QB Woes
Dan Enos, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
The offensive staff starts with Dan Enos, the new offensive coordinator. Enos comes from Alabama, where he was the quarterbacks coach and apparently next in line to become the OC. Before coaching for the Crimson Tide, he was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas.
Enos seems to have a pretty good philosophy that should pair well with Diaz. In an interview with WQAM Radio, he talked about installing an offense that best-utilizes his players:
"Good coaches can do things that best fits the personnel. Obviously, there are going to be core things we do fundamentally within the system that we're going to install and get up and run... Certainly with my experience, I've been with different teams that have different personnel groups. We have some talented tight ends and we've got some good wide receivers. We have to find a way to use those guys and implement them and get them on the field and do things that help use their abilities." — Dan Enos
This is a huge change from the last three seasons when it didn't seem to matter who was in the game, it would be called basically the same way. Like in season one under Richt, he was calling run-pass-options with Brad Kaaya, just like in seasons two and three with Malik Rosier and N'Kosi Perry.
But the position coaches are just as important as Enos. And this is more about them than it is the offensive coordinator.
Eric Hickson, Running Backs Coach
Hickson is mostly being praised for his strong ability in recruiting. He spent last season at Kansas State where he was giving the Wildcats chances at South Florida talent because of his strong ties to the area. He coached at two high schools in the area and is from Broward, Florida himself. When he left K-State as a player in 1998, he was their all-time leading rusher.
If he was able to get talented running backs to even consider the Wildcats or Akron, he should be able to do a pretty good job with the Hurricanes. He just needs to show his ability to coach the position.
Taylor Stubblefield, Wide Receivers Coach
When Stubblefield graduated from Purdue, he was the NCAA all-time leader in receptions. He has made quite a few stops since retiring from football in 2007. He has coached receivers for nine different team, including Central Michigan, Wake Forest, Utah, Air Force, and the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. His most recent job was as receivers coach for Air Force for the past two years. His connection to this Miami is with Enos, who he coached under during the 2011 season at Central Michigan.
If his ability to get open and catch the ball is something he can teach his players, he definitely has value as a coach since he had 325 catches at the collegiate level.
Stephen Field, Tight Ends Coach
I don't think there is a coach with bigger shoes to fill than Fields. He will be replacing Todd Hartley, who is now in the same position for Georgia. Field does have a great group to work with though and has shown he is a great recruiter, so that will only help bring in more talent. He also has experience with the Hurricanes, starting his career as a grad-assistant in 2007 and 2008. He was a huge part of Louisville's recruiting while there for two seasons until becoming the recruiting director for Oregon in 2018. The Ducks had a great year of recruiting with Field and head coach Mario Cristobal, who is a former 'Canes player.
Butch Barry, Offensive Line Coach
Barry is another coach who was a part of Enos' staff at Central Michigan. He coached for the Chippewas for five seasons — four of them as the tight ends coach — before becoming the assistant offensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for four seasons.
It is never a bad thing to have a coach who has experience at the pro level. He has a bunch of experience at the college level as well, so he definitely knows what he is doing. But he will have a lot of work to do with an offensive line that lost most of the players who started games. D.J. Scaife and Navaughn Donaldson do return, though.
