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Coaching Staff daily update: 1/7. Are we there yet?

We're down to two (2) coaching spots left! Who will the final staff members be?

By Cameron J. Underwood
Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

I'm just here so I don't get fined.

Hartley coaching TEs

Yesterday, as found first by an intrepid twitter user Brett Gersetenblatt, new coach Todd Hartley updated his twitter profile. In it, it says he now the Tight Ends coach and Special Teams coordinator

This move means the assistant staff is nearly complete. We'll look at that in a second.

What's up with Kevin Beard?

At this point we are, like he is, waiting to know what his fate will be relative to this staff. Miami still has an opening at WRs coach, but Mark Richt appears to be in no hurry to fill that position. And, remember what CMR said: he'd rather be right than fast with his hires.

There are 2 external issues attached to Beard's coaching status:

  1. Top rated 2016 WR recruit Sam Bruce has a very close relationship with Beard, who coached Bruce early in his HS career. If Beard is not retained, that opens the door for Bruce to explore flipping his commitment elsewhere. For more, here's yesterday's Recruiting Radar.
  2. Stacy Coley, potentially the Canes leading returning receiver, is said to be waiting on making his decision on entering the NFL draft or returning to school pending Beard's status with the staff. While there may not be a direct correlation here, this situation is at least a factor that Coley is considering. But, when you factor in a report by Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald that the NFL advisory committee gave Coley a 3rd day (round 4-7) grade for his draft status, and he may be forced to make the decision on whether or not to return absent of whatever happens with Beard.

Strength Staff report


In a report by Dawg Nation, an affiliate of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Miami is poised to hire 3 Strength and Conditioning coaches from the University of Georgia: Gus Felder, John Thomas, and Kelin Johnson. You can read the full report here.

If true, that would mean there would be no less than 6 former UGA staffer now at Miami: Mark Richt, Thomas Brown, Todd Hartley, and the 3 S&C coaches. And, you could really say it's even more, since Manny Diaz and Stacy Searels also worked with CMR in his time at Georgia.

How many spots?

Ok. We've debated this repeatedly. NCAA rules say you can have 1 Head Coach and not more than 9 Assistant Coaches. So, here's the list

  • Head Coach - Mark Richt
  • Assistant 1 - Thomas Brown (RB/Co-OC)
  • Assistant 2 - Todd Hartley (TE/Special Teams)
  • Assistant 3 - Stacy Searels (OL)
  • Assistant 4 - Manny Diaz (DC)
  • Assistant 5 - Craig Kuligowski (DL)
  • Assistant 6 - Mike Rumph (CB)
  • Assistant 7 - Ephraim Banda (S)

So, that means there is space for 2 more coaches, and these are the open positions: QB, WR, LB.

If Jon Richt is going to be a coaching assistant (and not a grad assistant or non-coaching staff member), then that means there's only 1 open spot. But, that hasn't been announced yet, so we'll operate as though he WILL NOT be an on-field coach.

Now, it stands to reason that Mark Richt will coach QBs and Manny Diaz will coach LBs, but, again, that hasn't been announced yet.

Either way, there's still room on this staff for 2 more assistants, and until they're named, this staff will be like Franz Schübert's 8th symphony: unfinished.

1/6 Update

Get caught up on yesterday's news here

Dassit. Updates as they come.

Go Canes!