A failed savior in Year 1, Miami Hurricanes’ Mario Cristobal must earn his vindication now | Opinion

OK, Mario Cristobal gets a mulligan. Can we give him that?

He comes here on a 10-year, $80 million contract as nothing less than the savior of Miami Hurricanes football. The championship-pedigreed former Canes player is back to ignite new glory days after a 20-year lull. He proved himself at Oregon. The UM fan base is euphoric. Hopes are as big as his salary. The swagger is back, baby!

Cristobal steps up to the tee box, uncoils a mighty swing ... and shanks the shot off Mrs. McGillicutty’s condo wall as the horrified gallery gasps. The golf ball ricochets and goes kerplunk into a lake.

That was the head coach’s Year 1 back in Coral Gables.

Miami finished 5-7, quarterback Tyler Van Dyke crashed in an offense with no identity, the awful defense gave up 172 points in the last four losses and Cristobal then took a giant broom and changed half of his coaching staff including both coordinators.

To put UM going 5-7 in perspective, the team was previously that bad in 2007 — and last worse in 1977.

So it’s Year 2, and Mario is on the tee box again.

Now what?

“I think whenever you start up at a program again and it has a rebuilding aspect, you have to sometimes go through a season like [last year] and not make any excuse or sugarcoat it,” he said. “You go directly at the things that need to be addressed, and it starts with people. People in the locker room, people on the coaching staff, people in a support staff role.”

Cristobal’s staff last season was the highest paid in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the pundits were raving. But it turns out the new boss made some bad hires. One was offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who had no chemistry with quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce, both of them now gone.

Van Dyke plunged from 25 touchdown passes the season before to 10 in the aimless new offense. To the rescue comes offensive chief Shannon Dawson, architect of Houston’s “air raid” attack that saw Clayton Tune sling 40 TD passes last year.

Restoring Van Duke to ‘21 form alone should make UM better — how could the Canes possibly be worse? — but the rebound will be rooted more fundamentally in physicality and attitude.

“Football’s not a fashion show.,” as Cristobal put it. “We’ve got a lot of big, good-looking body types that are learning to play, and we have got to emphasize that you’re not walking down the runway. You’ve got to put your hand in the ground and you’ve got to get to work. You’ve got to knock each other around. You’ve got to make plays, understand coverage and angles.”

Van Dyke seems encouraged, although last season set a gutter-low bar for that.

“I’d say we’re more consistent and doing a great job executing,” Van Dyke said. “O-line looks good, receivers look good. Running backs run the ball really well. We just have to continue to do it. Continue to get better and attack each day.”

Improvement is the minimum required. A winning record. Qualifying for a bowl game.

But expecting much more this season, a bigger leap, is not something many college football experts foresee.

In the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll the ACC has three teams in Florida State at No. 8, Clemson No. 9 and North Carolina No. 21. Four others also receiver votes: Pittsburgh, Louisville, Duke and North Carolina State.

So the first poll says at least seven teams in a 14-school conference will be better than Miami. And The U plays five of them, including at North Carolina, home vs. Clemson and at Florida State.

(Miami’s first Litmus test will be even sooner, when, after a soft season opener Sept. 1 vs Miami of Ohio, the Canes face No. 23 Texas A&M on September 9.)

Dispiriting if you are a Canes fan is that FSU, not Miami, has risen faster to be the one to finally threaten Clemson’s longstanding ACC supremacy. And that North Carolina is seen as clearly better. And that even Duke is for the love of God!

The current state of the five-time national champion Canes program is further reflected in the estimation of elite talent

ESPN named its top 100 players for the coming season. The ACC has 19 of them. FSU with six and Clemson with four lead the way. The lone Cane to make it is safety Kam Kinchens. Three QBs make, it including North Carolina’s Drake Maye fifth overall and FSU’s Jordan Travis eighth. Van Dyke is omitted entirely.

At ACC Media Days 176 votes were cast for preseason ACC player of the year. Zero went to a Canes player, although UM did have three of 28 selections for preseason All-ACC in guard Javion Cohen, Kinchens and kicker Andres Borregales.

Athlon Sports ranked ACC head coaches top to bottom and has Cristobal eighth of 14. That’s harsh, obviously heavily weighted on that introductory 5-7 shank off the condo wall. Cristobal was 35-13 in four years at Oregon it must be noted, although it also is true the Ducks did just fine without him last season (10-4) and are now preseason-ranked No. 15.

Cristobal’s calling card seldom has been in-game management or play calling but falls back on recruiting as a strength.

This s the continuing hope that the program is in good hands — but also one that also demands patience, always a tough ask of Canes fans.

Cristobal enjoyed a solid 2023 recruiting class ranked No. 8 nationally by 247Sports, and the ‘24 class is showing promise. Top recruits include two major offensive linemen in Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola (because “football’s not a fashion show”) and defensive end Rueben Bain.

The ACC doing away with divisions makes it that much tougher to reach the conference championship game via a top-two finish when Clemson, FSU and North Carolina with its star QB all are seen as clearly better.

Also, the College Football Playoff expanding from four teams to 12 beginning in 2024 is both blessing a curse for a school like Miami, whose five national title set the standard of expectations. With CFP invitations about to triple, not getting one of them will bring a harsher reaction from fans as demanding (dare say entitled?) as UM’s.

Where the Hurricanes and Cristobal in Year 2 stand is intriguing in both the context of college football nationally and South Florida in general.

The sports is evolving in warp speed.

Conferences are in turmoil with teams jumping leagues. The transfer portal is plump with athletes switching schools. Name, Image and Likeness rules are in place. One of UM’s top NIL benefactors, businessman John Ruiz, faces mounting problems and allegations.

But all of it is ancillary noise to Canes fans, who only care about, “When will The U be back? For good and for real?” When will the run at that elusive sixth national crown finally happen? And is Cristobal the man to deliver it?

The South Florida sports landscape surrounding Canes football adds to that onus and the pressure on the second-year coach.

The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers just reach the NBA and NHL finals. On their own campus UM men’s basketball reached the Final Four. The Dolphins look to be as exciting and good as they have been in many years. Even the Marlins are in the playoff chase. And — you might have heard — Inter Miami signed Lionel Messi.

All of that, seemingly all at once, renders Canes football the big team in Miami sports most burdened to catch up and become a part of the winning.

What would be a successful season for Miami? I would say a least eight wins, perhaps nine, and a bowl invite big enough to accept with the chin up. A major rebound from last year, in other words.

And that pressure do do that is looking at one man.

No mulligan left, Mario Cristobal.

The ball is on the tee again. You’re up.