Is the Lack of Improvement Under the Miami Hurricanes Mario Cristobal Concerning, or Is Patience Necessary?
When hired by Miami in December 2021, head coach Mario Cristobal was tasked with the responsibility of bringing the Hurricanes “back.”
The process of doing so was never framed as easy. Despite preseason hype, it was widely agreed that returning Miami to its former glory would require years of strong recruiting, elite development and the establishment of a winning culture capable of overcoming adversity and replicating success.
Still, through the first seven games of Cristobal’s tenure, the Hurricanes have reached a low point that many did not anticipate.
Miami, which holds a college football record with 58 consecutive wins at the Orange Bowl (1985-94). The Canes have now dropped three contests in a row at its current home, Hard Rock Stadium, for the first time since 2007. That was when the Hurricanes were defeated in the last three games played at the Orange Bowl.
“You go right to the truth. You don’t head-fake it. I don’t think, at this point in time, it’s about morale. It’s about reality,” Cristobal said to reporters of his message to the team after Miami’s most recent loss versus Duke. “The best way to build good morale is to have success and performance. The best way to do that is to go back to work and work on the things that need to get better.”
There is also a lack of consistency with what the team does well and what it does poorly.
Throughout Miami’s first three games of the season, it struggled to effectively pass the ball, but an efficient run game, highlighted by a 175-yard performance against a talented Texas A&M rushing defense, gave the team an offensive identity.
In contrast, the Hurricanes have struggled mightily to run the ball over their last four contests, even though three of these four teams are ranked in the bottom half of the country in rushing yards allowed per game.
These same inconsistencies have plagued the defense as well.
The Hurricanes entered their game against the Blue Devils with one of the top rushing defenses in the country, but Duke gashed Miami on the ground, rushing for 200 yards and four touchdowns.
Statistical outliers have also hurt Miami and contributed to the underwhelming season it has had.
Against Middle Tennessee State, quarterback Chase Cunningham threw for 16.3 yards per attempt against UM’s defense, which is over seven yards more than he has thrown per attempt in any of his six other starts this season.
Miami’s eight-turnover barrage versus Duke was also an anomaly, given that no team in all of college football has had as many turnovers as the Hurricanes had in a game since 2017.
Much of Miami’s fanbase has been let down by the Hurricanes this season, considering the team was ranked as high as No. 13 in the AP Top 25. Some have even questioned if Cristobal was the right hire as head coach to turn the program around.
It is worth noting, however, just how difficult this head coaching job at Miami has been. Since 2004, the Hurricanes have won 10 games in a season only once, and the team has failed to make a conference championship game in 17 of the 18 seasons since it joined the ACC.
Cristobal is also the fifth head coach to have been hired by Miami during this time with the expectation, like each of his predecessors, to return the Hurricanes to greatness.
Cristobal’s previous head coaching stops support the argument that he is a program builder. At Florida International, he took a Panthers team that had previously gone winless before his arrival and produced two winning seasons, including a bowl-game win in 2010.
Then, at Oregon, Cristobal helped guide the Ducks to a pair of double-digit winning seasons in his four years as head coach, including a PAC-12 championship and Rose Bowl Game victory in 2019. The Ducks won only seven games in the season before Cristobal took over.
Cristobal has an understanding of the problems that have afflicted Miami for nearly 20 years. He plans on taking the same approach to program construction that he did at his previous stops.
“We all know that it’s been inadequate for a while,” Cristobal said to reporters on Monday about Miami’s program. “We came here, on a mission, with a purpose, understanding that it’s gonna take tough-minded people, with the right demeanor, and approach it the right way and fully invest in our players and the program. That’s what it’s taken when we went to Rutgers, when we spent time at Oregon, all the places we’ve been at, and it’s no different here, and so we’re here for every part of it.”
It remains too early to judge Cristobal’s tenure at Miami, even when the team has underwhelmed in his first season. More time must be given for Cristobal to fully lay out his “mission” to rebuild the Hurricanes.
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