Vilma lands new job, explains what must change with UM football. And a new MNF booth
As a TV analyst and the most contemporary former player with a seat on the University of Miami’s Board of Trustees, former Hurricanes and NFL linebacker Jonathan Vilma is in a unique position.
Vilma endorsed the hiring of Manny Diaz as coach before athletic director Blake James made the decision and is still optimistic it will work out. But his days of commenting on UM as a television analyst are over.
Vilma is leaving his job as an ABC and ESPN college football studio analyst to become an NFL game analyst for Fox.
So he will be watching the Canes from afar and without a national television forum to offer immediate comment, while remaining hopeful that the program can regain past glory.
He said he liked the hiring of a proven offensive coordinator (Rhett Lashlee) who has run offenses that put up big numbers.
“I do like the move to a spread offense with an offensive coordinator who knows how to run a spread offense,” he said. “And I’m excited who’s at the helm of instituting the spread offense. I thought [new quarterback] D’Eriq King was a rock star two years ago [at Houston]. He is every bit the leader that everyone hoped.”
He said the “talent is there” to make the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game, but he’s cautious about making predictions because he expected that last year, too.
What simply must change with this program, Vilma said, is “you cannot lose to inferior teams. Play up to the caliber [of the competition]. They have [enough] on paper. Now it’s a matter of not losing to inferior teams.”
Vilma loves the combination of Greg Rousseau (“he’s a first-round draft pick”) and Quincy Roche (“I remember watching him at Temple and he was the man).”
Even though James made the decision to hire Diaz without influence from the UM Board of Trustees, Vilma said “I embraced the Manny decision. I trust in Blake that he took the time and made the right decision. I said great [when he was hired]. Unfortunately the season wasn’t what anyone wanted or expected.”
But he expects — or at least hopes — the “learning experience” and on-the-job head coaching experience for Diaz will pay dividends.
Two Hurricanes — Vilma and Seattle Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen — were Fox’s biggest NFL hires this offseason.
Olsen already was on “retainer” as a contributor to Fox, but Fox named him to its No. 2 NFL team when he retires, perhaps in a year or two. Vilma, meanwhile, will be paired with Kenny Albert on one of the six teams that gets regular NFL game assignments. Albert previously worked alongside Ronde Barber, whose contract was not renewed.
With Vilma, Olsen and studio analyst Jimmy Johnson, Fox’s NFL coverage will have a strong UM presence.
Vilma remembers Johnson — who predated him at UM — once telling him at J.J.’s fishing tournament in Islamorada that if he ever wanted to come work for Fox, to let Johnson know.
On the day Vilma interviewed with Fox this offseason, he considered texting Johnson but decided against it.
“I thought if I call him, I won’t know if [I was hired based] on merits or on Jimmy Johnson saying something. So I didn’t text him.”
Vilma has warm feelings for his new Canes Fox colleagues.
“I’m excited to have Greg to bust his chops,” Vilma said. “He was not allowed to play my senior year. He was on the scout team and gave us all types of hell” as a skilled receiving and blocking tight end.
Why did Vilma decide to become an NFL game analyst on Fox instead of remaining a college studio analyst at ESPN/ABC?
He previously worked in ESPN’s booth for a couple of bowl games — and a UM-North Carolina game — and enjoyed it.
And during his meeting with Fox in recent months, two of the network’s executives told him: “We know you like talking ball and watching film and we know you’re a student of the game. They said why wouldn’t you want to do that for three hours instead of 10-, 12-minute halftimes?
“I said, ‘That does make sense.’ That right there tipped me over to Fox. I like watching film, what offenses do, the coaches, the players, of course. There’s only so much time I am allowed to speak at halftime on ABC or on [Mike Greenberg’s ESPN morning show] “Get Up.” And I always enjoyed watching Fox on Sunday. I feel I’ve done a good job honing my craft [on ESPN/ABC]. I would love to try this opportunity.”
NEW MNF BOOTH
ESPN is expected to name Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick as its new “Monday Night Football” announcing team, a source confirmed.
They replace Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland, who were re-assigned.
Levy and Griese had been one of ESPN’s top college announcing teams in recent years. Riddick, a former Eagles front office executive, has done good work as a commentator on the network’s NFL studio programming.
ESPN also had considered moving its lead college announcing team — Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit — into the MNF booth, but decided against it in part because it appears there will be college football this fall.
MEDIA NOTES
Per sources, Fox shuffled some of its other network NFL announcing teams beyond hiring Vilma to replace Barber. We’re told former Dolphins and Packers receiver Greg Jennings will get a larger role and will work with Chris Myers.
Adam Amin, a strong pickup from ESPN, will team with Mark Schlereth. Daryl Johnston will work on the No. 2 team with Kevin Burkhardt, keeping the seat warm until Olsen retires.
▪ With the addition of Amin, Dick Stockton, 77, will work fewer games and a part-time schedule. Fox also is sensitive to the fact that older people are more vulnerable to COVID-19. Stockton, who has had a wonderful career dating to his time as CBS’ NBA voice, also has worked as the Dolphins’ preseason TV voice.
▪ Heat television voice Eric Reid was heartened by reaction to his eloquent and heartfelt commentary about systematic racism and raising children in an interracial household.
Reid delivered the commentary in a conversation with Jason Jackson at halftime of last Saturday’s Heat scrimmage against Utah, which was aired live on Fox Sports’ app and later on tape delay on Fox Sports Sun.
Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed the clip, including 125,000 view on the Fox Sports Sun twitter account.
“I didn’t anticipate it would go viral like it did,” Reid said this week. “The overwhelming response has been positive, hearing from so many respected NBA colleagues and people in our own community I look up to.”
Among those who reached out with praise or support after Reid’s commentary: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, general manager Andy Elisburg, ESPN/ABC’s Mike Breen and Mark Jones and CBS and TNT announcer Ian Eagle.
Reid called Heat executive vice president Michael McCullough about expressing his views on the issue a “couple months ago and we discussed the possibility of doing something at halftime or writing something on heat.com. I talked with all my family members and my wife and figured if the opportunity came I would be ready for it.... Last Thursday, [Heat senior producer] A.J. Speaks called and said, ‘Do you want to do it at halftime Saturday?’... I said of course.
“I did not spend much time thinking what the reaction and ramifications would be. I’m glad I did it because I think I spoke up when it matters. I’m standing right alongside players and coaches in terms of social conscience [with] Black Lives Matter.”
Reid said he wasn’t “fearful or nervous about what the response was going to be. I just wanted to deliver my message coherently and with love and truth.”
▪ Reid and John Crotty are calling the Heat’s Orlando games from AmericanAirlines Arena. When they’re not on camera, you’re not even able to tell that they’re not in Orlando, which means it’s going seamlessly.
Calling games off TV monitors “wasn’t as difficult as I thought,” Reid said. “All the Heat broadcasters are thankful for the safe environment they’ve given us to do our job at AmericanAirlines Arena.”
▪ Whereas the TNT and ESPN coverage of Heat games can be televised in South Florida opposite Fox Sports Sun’s coverage, NBA TV is required to black out its Heat broadcasts here.
And NBC-SN and NHL Network won’t be permitted to air any Panthers-Islanders games in South Florida opposite Fox Sports Florida’s coverage.
