Podcast: Canes’ high-risk, high-reward Ishmael Aristide hire. And baseball jumps to No. 1
Manny Diaz certainly has a type this offseason as he tries to rebuild the Miami Hurricanes’ defensive coaching staff.
For the second time this winter, Miami has found a new linebackers coach, hiring Ishmael Aristide from the Texas A&M Aggies, and it fits in with Diaz’s clear philosophy for his coaching staff. The coach wants young, energetic assistant coaches with recruiting chops, and Aristide checks all those boxes.
What he doesn’t have, however, is any experience as a position coach after he spent the past two years as a defensive analyst in College Station, Texas. On a new episode of the Eye on the U podcast, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, weigh the pros and cons of the Hurricanes’ newest hire, and explain why it’s a high-risk, high-reward move for Miami.
The risk is in his inexperience. The Hurricanes’ linebackers were a major issue last season, and former inside linebackers coach Travis Williams, who lasted less than three weeks in Coral Gables before leaving to become the UCF Knights’ defensive coordinator, had the pedigree to be an immediate fixer. Aristide, who will actually be the outside linebackers coach while Jonathan Patke shifts to become the inside linebackers coach, doesn’t have any track record, which makes him a serious question mark.
The reward is in all those traits Diaz values. Aristide becomes one of the youngest assistant coaches in the country, and he already has proven he can recruit South Florida at a high level. In Aristide’s two seasons at Texas A&M, the Aggies signed three All-Americans from Miami, including defensive end Donell Harris, who was a top-50 recruit in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2020.
This weekend was all about Hurricanes baseball, though, as Miami took two of three from the then-No. 1 Florida Gators in Gainesville and jumped to No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper rankings. One week into the new season, Miami looks like a threat to get back to the College World Series and a group of newcomers — including a top-ranked recruiting class and several important transfers — make this one of the most exciting teams in South Florida right now.
