Mario Cristobal discusses his plan for Miami's offense, defense moving forward

Mario Cristobal made the surprise decision to leave his post as Oregon head coach to install his vision in his hometown of Miami, Florida.

During his introductory press conference, Cristobal discussed his vision for an aggressive and multiple team, on both sides of the ball. For starters, he’s excited to build around starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.

“In terms of the offense and defense, multiple on both sides of the ball and very aggressive,” Cristobal said. “You build it around your best players. It’s obvious watching from afar, watching film on the way in, there’s not a better quarterback in the country.

“I see a lot of big bodies and you need a lot of big bodies to make sure the quarterback is upright,” Cristobal continued. “Those big bodies got to be in great shape to be able to protect and knock people back off the ball to make sure we’re living in good third-down situations, to make sure the sticks are moving and were scoring lots of points. We got to surround him with explosive football players. I see a lot of guys with good length, I see some speed.”

Before expanding on his vision, the new Hurricanes coach has to get familiar with his pieces and their strengths.

“I want to make sure the specs and criteria we’re trying to hit are truly evaluated and make decisions from there as to where everyone fits,” Cristobal said. “Make an organizational chart, who fits into what position. Just keep bringing in talent. Keep increasing the level of competition. That’s the best way that we can enhance the roster.”

Miami ranked 25th in scoring offense (34.1 ppg) and 86th in scoring defense (28.4 ppg) in 2021.

Cristobal discusses redefining Miami swag

During his appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday morning, Mario Cristobal discussed Miami’s swag revival.

“I think when people think about the flamboyant style, they think about the toughness, the physicality, the success they had on the field,” Cristobal told Kirk Herbstreit. “It was year after year of going to different places where teams were ranked No. 1 and walking out of there with a W. I’m not in any way, shape, or form trying to Miami back to the ’80s or ’90s. I’m trying to bring everything to the modern day and time. And it all starts with how you play the game. It has to look, sound and feel a certain way. And there’s no substitute for that.

“Swag is a byproduct of flat out kicking butt in everything you do. It starts in the trenches, and it filters out to the guys on the perimeter. It’s a mentality, it’s a way of life, it’s a DNA. It’s not a t-shirt you put on and off, a proclamation, a tweet, a slogan, it’s getting to work and taking care of business so it looks a certain way on the field on Saturdays.”

On3’s James Fletcher contributed to this report.