Sometimes the best remedy to stop the bleeding is to cut something off.
The Miami Hurricanes were doing their best to band-aid their difficult situation when they had Al Golden as their head coach. Speak to coach Golden for a few minutes and you’ll probably walk away from the conversation saying he’s one of the nicest people you’ve ever spoken to. However, it was very unfortunate that his nice personality didn’t get his players motivated to play otherwise we would be sitting with a top 25 ranking.
It’s been a long way since we got to see the Hurricanes of old that would take the field, slaughter their competition and laugh at their opponents while doing it. Now that there’s a head coaching vacancy, there’s one offensive line coach at the University of Alabama who can get Miami back to the level of national prominence they once were at. Here’s why the Miami Hurricanes should hire Mario Cristobal.
Not that I’m doing the hiring… Let’s not overthink this. Miami Hurricanes needs to hire Mario Cristobal.
— Jorge Sedano (@SedanoESPN) October 25, 2015
People say that the new coach of the program shouldn’t have ties to the program, but that’s everyone who isn’t from Miami. The coach of the team should have some type of ties to the program or at least have immense knowledge of the school. Does anyone apply for a job that they know nothing about the company or at least has a grand understanding of what the company stands for? With Cristobal, this factor wouldn’t be a problem. As a graduate of the school, Cristobal was a player on the 1989 and 1991 championship roster. After his playing career ended, he not only coached at the school in 1998-2000, but he came back in 2005-2007 before he left the program to coach at Florida International University.
Cristobal was a miracle worker at Florida International and took that program, almost got them ranked in the AP Top 25, brought in and developed NFL talent such as Johnathan Cyprien and T.Y. Hilton who both were three-star athletes and then proceeded to have the two best single seasons at FIU while winning two bowl games in the process. Cristobal got the talent that Miami, Florida, Florida State, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic and South Florida failed to see and turned his players into professionals before leaving.
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One of the biggest reasons why Cristobal should get hired is because of the people that he considers his mentors. Right now Cristobal is working for arguably the best coach in college football, Nick Saban. Having the advantage of working with an intelligent football mind like Saban is a blessing that many can’t have. For example, if you needed to have surgery would you rather have someone who got their degree from an online college, or someone who graduated from Harvard? Though both might be competent surgeons, most people are going to gravitate towards the Harvard grad because of the prestige of people that have graduated from the school.
The biggest difference between Cristobal and Golden is the way that they turn their ship. Cristobal is similar to Saban in some aspects because he runs his program in a very particular way. Cristobal is a players coach but not in the traditional sense that the phrase is thrown around. He’s a make sure his players get better, coach. If you’re looking for a buddy, or someone to kick it with, Cristobal isn’t that. He’s very strict, very demanding, very passionate and he’s going to work his tail off to make sure you get better. It’s that same type of drive that took FIU out of the doldrums of college football. It’s that type of aggressive leadership that the Hurricanes have been missing.
The Hurricanes have been dying for a home run hire, and this might be it. At 45-years-old, Cristobal could coach for 20 years and become a Joe Paterno, Mack Brown like figure to the university if given the proper time. This move needs to happen or were going to keep scratching our heads.
The itch is done. It’s time to start winning again.
D’Joumbarey A. Moreau covers sports in Miami-Dade & Broward County. You can follow him on Twitter @DJoumbarey.
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