ESPN’s Herbstreit delivers pointed criticism of Miami Hurricanes football program

ESPN College GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit criticized the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday morning, citing a Miami Herald article by Barry Jackson that mentioned football was not a priority for the University of Miami’s president.

Herbstreit called out the Miami program for not having the president (Julio Frenk), athletic director (Blake James) and head coach (Manny Diaz) aligned in their goals and visions for the football program.

“Go all the way back to 2006,’’ Herbstreit said. “It was the last year that Larry Coker was the coach there. That’s 15 years. Miami has averaged 7-5 since 2006. They’ve had five head coaches. Just think about with the Orange Bowl gone, the student body has to drive 45 minutes to go to their games. You have an athletic department that clearly is not really showing that this is something that they are willing to try to make changes.’’

Then Herbstreit brought up the Herald article.

“There was an article from Barry Jackson this week that said the president basically told Blake James, the AD, ‘Hey, Sports? You’re on your own. That’s you’re thing.’

“I don’t know if that’s true. It was in an article.

“To me, college football — you look at the powerhouse programs: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, president, AD, head coach, same vision. They’re aligned in their vision for what needs to happen. Recruiting, budget, staff, whatever a team needs. That’s what it takes. Miami doesn’t have that. So I don’t think it matters who the head coach is. Until you get a president and an AD and a coach together on the same page, I guess football doesn’t matter.

“It matters to the alums, to the brotherhood of the U. But I don’t know if it matters to the people making the decisions at Miami. And if they don’t change that, it doesn’t matter who’s the head coach.”

D’Eriq King update

The mother of UM quarterback D’Eriq King declined to respond to a text message regarding King’s status as he rehabilitates from a shouder injury. But two UM players conveyed to sources that they were told King will be out for an extended period of time.

Gurvan Hall suspended

Miami safety Gurvan Hall has been suspended for Saturday’s game against Central Connecticut State University for violating team rules, UM announced before kickoff.