Mario Cristobal reveals when the dream, decision to return to Miami became reality

The newly hired head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, had his introductory press conference on Tuesday in Miami. He took a few minutes to talk about how special it was for him that the opportunity to be the head coach of the Hurricanes finally presented itself.

“I really don’t dream much. I just don’t have time to dream. I just don’t have time to dream. I mean, my days are very, very, very long, coffee-laden….When you play here you dream of it and when you start working, you can’t focus on that because, you’ll drive yourself crazy,” Cristobal said.

You wouldn’t be doing justice to those around you. And I can honestly say when I worked at Rutgers I was working there for the next 100 years and when I was at Oregon, that was where I was gonna work and stay forever. And I loved every minute of all those places,” the newly anointed Miami head coach said.

“Because it’s not fair to say now, ‘Oh, I was dreaming of this.’ It wouldn’t be the case. It was something that when you were here, man, could it actually happen one day? Because it just doesn’t happen, right? It’s as difficult as it gets in college football. And then when it finally came and this was just over a day now or hours, [long pause] it’s something else man,” Cristobal said.

Mario Cristobal’s history with Miami

Cristobal was absolutely elated that the Miami job opened up and you can tell by a number of his different comments in his introductory press conference. He’s got an extensive history with the Hurricanes. He played on Miami’s national championship teams in 1989 and 1991.

The 1991 team that Cristobal played on had the legendary Gino Torretta at quarterback–the winner of the 1992 Heisman Trophy. Torretta finished his storied career with the ‘Canes with 11 school records once he hung his cleats up. While at Miami, Cristobal played for Hall-of-Fame head coach, Jimmy Johnson, and Dennis Erickson. In 1992, the Miami native earned first team All Big East honors as an offensive tackle for the ‘Canes.

His coaching career began with the Hurricanes. He was a grad assistant under Butch Davis from 1998 to 2000. He also came back to Miami to coach under Larry Coker for three seasons as the offensive line coach from 2004 to 2006. And now, after his recent very successful stint as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks from 2018-2021, the homegrown Miami product has returned to a place that he knows better than any other on the college football landscape. He grew up in the city of Miami, played his high school and college football there, coached as an assistant at the school (University of Miami Hurricanes) for several years, and now he’s handed the keys to a program that is hungry for a return to glory.

Not only does the football program need direction but the Miami athletic department, in general, could use some direction, after the way they handled the transfer of power from Manny Diaz to Mario Cristobal.

Miami certainly had to open up their pocketbook for Cristobal to return home. Now Miami fans and the rest of the college football world will wait to see what he does with the special opportunity.