Miami AD James expounds on chief of staff Ed Reed’s role: He’ll ‘be here quite a bit’
It took two questions about University of Miami baseball, expected to be one of the finest teams in the nation this season as it prepares for Friday’s 7 p.m. season-opener against Rutgers, for Hurricanes athletic director Blake James to get the subject changed to football on media day — baseball media day.
In his first time speaking in person to the Miami media since the Hurricanes football team fell to Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl on Dec. 26, James reflected his excitement Tuesday about UM’s No. 3 baseball team, then switched to football.
James praised the hire of new UM football chief of staff Ed Reed, and said the former UM great and Pro Football Hall of Famer will be around campus frequently.
“Oh yeah, he’s here right now,’’ James said of Reed. “He’s here today. So Ed is going to be here quite a bit. Does his schedule allow him to be here every single day? No, obviously I think we all know Ed has done a lot away from the University of Miami to really establish himself as a national brand, and so that was part of the conversation.
“We understood there are commitments in place and he’s going to need to honor those commitments and do those things but he’ll be around our program quite a bit — for practices, for games. We’re in mat [conditioning] drills right now. He’s here for mat drills, for spring ball. I think you’ll see Ed quite a bit.”
James said Reed “can’t go off campus” to recruit, but has a green light otherwise. “He has to be on campus. That’s something we’ll incorporate into his routine here with us. He can be a part of our program like anyone else on our staff.”
When asked what “stood out’’ to him in James’ conversations with Reed, James said, “It’s a [Coach] Manny [Diaz] hire, so Manny had the majority of conversations.
“I’ve known Ed since he was a player here. We were here together [and I] have kept in communication with him through the years. When Manny told me he thought he was a fit I thought it was a great idea. My conversations with Ed have done nothing but confirm that and made that feeling even stronger.
“I know he’ll be a real asset for Manny and probably more importantly the guys in the program and the other coaches. So, it’s just great to have a winner like him around. Rarely do you find someone who is in the College Football Hall of Fame, the NFL Hall of Fame, won a Super Bowl, won a national championship. There are not many people that have the resume that Ed does.
“So, to have him be a part of our program with the commitment that he has and the passion he has for this institution is just a huge win for us.”
James wouldn’t expound on any previous conversations he had with former Hurricanes great Alonzo Highsmith, who also was a candidate for chief of staff.
“That would be a conversation for Manny,’’ he said. “Obviously I’m going to do whatever I can do to support Manny and his needs for our program. It’s a situation where I think Manny wanted to find the best fit for the program and it’s hard to argue against Ed Reed. When you have a talent like Ed Reed sitting out there who has interest in the position, it’s hard to argue against that.”
James finally got impatient on baseball media day when he was asked his expectations for the 2020 football season after a 6-7 2019.
“We haven’t even gotten through baseball season,’’ James said. “I thought this was baseball media day. We’ve got the No. 3… as high ranked as third in the country. Today I’d like to talk about baseball…
“Baseball has really earned the opportunity to have all of you here.’’
Forty-five seconds later: “A quick answer to your question on football. Obviously we’re excited about it. We want to continue to win. There’s never a time where I don’t want to see us win every game. Who wants to go to a game you’re not planning to win? That’s not much fun.
“So, I’m going to do everything I can to support Manny and his efforts to go out there and have the best performance possible and ideally win every game you can... We’re competitive. We want to win. That’s what we’re here for. We’re representing the U and our goal is to go out and compete for ACC and ultimately national championships in every sport we compete in.”
James was asked about the pressure of being the athletic director in a high-profile program like UM.
“You learn a lot through the trials and tribulations of everything that goes on,’’ he said. “It would be hard to give specifics other than you have to look at the big picture. You can’t react. As frustrating as any one given situation can be.
“I get that. I hear from a lot of people on those frustrations. You can’t have knee-jerk reactions. You have to be able to I guess smooth the waters. At the same time you have to be able to assess and when there are changes that are needed, make changes and have those conversations. And those are conversations with all our coaches.
“We’re not here to sit in the backseat to anyone. We want to compete to be the very best in everything we do. Have we done that to the level that I would like to see us? No. That’s something that we’re going to work on. I think baseball is in a great position to make a great run this spring…
“But to answer your question, it’s learning from the bumps in the road and figuring out how do you fix those situations in the future so they don’t happen again.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 5:24 PM.