Mario Cristobal addresses state of Miami program, why he believes Hurricanes can win national title

Mario Cristobal has been tasked with turning around the history-rich Miami Hurricanes football program, something he believes could happen sooner rather than later through hard work alone.

“The biggest thing is making sure that all focus is on the work and that it’s not about making a proclamation or tweeting about it or or just slogans or whatnot, we have to get to work,” Cristobal told Paul Finebaum.

Cristobal said that Miami football has shown that over the years that, when they’re on, the caliber and level of football played is unmatched. The Miami area attracts a high-caliber level of football players and coaches. He noted that Miami is the only place he’s seen four different coaches win national titles here over a couple of decades.

He’s referring to Howard Schnellenberger (1983), Jimmy Johnson (1987), Dennis Erickson (1989, 1991) and Larry Coker (2001). Those Hurricane legends got there by shutting up, putting their head down and dominating the opponent in front of them.

Cristobal knows all about Miami’s winning heritage, as he spent his collegiate playing career as a Hurricane. He won two national championships while at Miami, one in 1989 and another in 1991. Cristobal was an offensive lineman at Miami from 1989 to 1992. If Cristobal wants to bring Miami back to where the program once was, he knows that he will need the support of each and every fan.

“So there’s a lot that goes into this, this particular place regarding a special DNA, a special kind of work ethic, a special type of high-achieving mentality,” Cristobal said. “There’s a huge amount of momentum that’s swirling around this [program] right now to get to that level because people have seen it.”

It’s not like Miami has completely lost their winning mentality. In fact, it’s quite the opposite — the Hurricanes have had a winning record in all but four seasons since joining the ACC in 2004. They’ve also earned bowl game berths in 17 of the last 18 seasons.

The only difference — they haven’t won a title in over two decades. Cristobal believes that’ll change under his direction, but it won’t come easy.

“They’re addicted to that type of football, that brand down here, Cristobal said. “So, we feel it and it’s strong and we just we have to get to work. It’s that simple. There’s no time to play around, goof around and come up with slogans. We’ve got to get to work”