Mario Cristobal identifies changes he has seen in Miami

When head coach Mario Cristobal returned to Miami following the 2021 season, there was a ton of excitement around the program. However, Cristobal knew he needed to rebuild the foundation of the program when he got there and that it wouldn’t be a one-year rebuild.

The 2022 season was frustrating for Miami on the field, but as the Hurricanes get ready to start the 2023 season, Cristobal shared that the biggest thing is continuing to work to improve.

“I think every year, you always hit the restart button,” Mario Cristobal said. “For us, coming back and the whole back question is, we’re always building. We’re always building. Whether we have a seasoned team or whether we have a new team, we’re just focused on getting better.”

At just 5-7, Miami fell short of expectations in 2022. Cristobal knows the team needs to be better than that, both on and off the field.

“By that, I mean in everything we do. Today we have class. We just had our highest GPA that we had, really in football program history. We’ve got to do better there. Our practices, our tempo was much higher. Our ability to sustain longer drives, extended play drives has improved,” Cristobal said.

“We want to play winning football. To play winning football, you’ve got to practice winning football.”

This offseason, Mario Cristobal feels the Miami players are being pushed. That’s where the real progress is being seen.

“So, the level of competition has been pushed, has been recruited, it has been organized in a manner where we’re gonna get the best out of people or people are going to show exactly where they stand and whether we can count on them or not and whether they can earn the trust of their teammates and their coaches. So, the best way I can define it is there’s been a lot of progress in camp, and it’s got to transfer over to game day, and our job between now and then is to make sure we get them to the best point physically and mentally to make that transition, that transfer, a reality.”

Mario Cristobal on Miami’s work ethic

Following a scrimmage in Fall Camp, Mario Cristobal emphasized the need to get dirty and physical in practice for Miami.

“Football’s not a fashion show. 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,” Cristobal said.

“So, with that being said, we saw some of that happen today. Then, we saw some other moments where there were lapses, and this game’s very unforgiving. We have to be more consistent.”