CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Miami and athletic director Blake James are parting ways, a person with knowledge of the decision said Monday, two days after the Hurricanes’ football team lost at Florida State.
Some aspects of James’ exit were still being finalized, according to the person who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had not been announced by the school.
But it certainly indicates that Miami is considering more changes in athletics, such as the future of football coach Manny Diaz. It also comes about six weeks after school president Julio Frenk released a letter to the university community insisting he would increase his involvement with athletics and saying “we are fully committed to building championship-caliber teams at The U.”
Football — the biggest part of Miami’s athletic brand — has struggled again this season. Miami is 19-15 in Diaz’s three seasons, including 5-5 this season. The Hurricanes wasted an eight-point lead in the final minutes of a 31-28 loss to Florida State on Saturday.
James was part of the decision-making group that hired Diaz in 2018, luring him away from a job at Temple that he’d held for less than a month. Diaz had been Miami’s defensive coordinator under Mark Richt, and when Richt resigned on Dec. 30, 2018, the Hurricanes needed only a few hours before completing a deal with Diaz.
James accepted the Miami job in February 2013, with the Hurricanes still in the throes of the NCAA investigation into the actions of rogue former booster Nevin Shapiro. The Hurricanes got through scholarship limitations and probation that followed the Shapiro decision, and James helped the school complete a number of facilities projects — a baseball player development center, an indoor practice facility for football, a nutrition center and many more.
He’s also well-regarded nationally, serving as a past chair of the NCAA Division I Council.
But football is, again, nowhere near the championship level that Miami craves. And two days after the loss to Florida State, Miami made a major change.
) and Ohio State finished 7-1. Had the Buckeyes beaten Iowa, Ohio State would have been the Rose Bowl representative after beating scUM head to head.
