Greg Schiano on Mario Cristobal: 'I knew immediately this was a future star'

Greg Schiano and Mario Cristobal have a long history together and they’ll square off in the Pinstripe Bowl later this month at Yankee Stadium.

The Rutgers–Miami connection dates back to their assistant days with the Hurricanes as well as when Cristobal had a spot on Schiano’s original Rutgers staff in the early 2000s. But when Schiano first met Cristobal, he knew there’d be something special.

That’s how he described it during the joint press conference to preview the Pinstripe Bowl ahead of the December 28th kickoff.

“I owe a ton to Butch Davis who hired me at the University of Miami. Mario reminds me he picked me up. I forgot that,” Schiano said. “I knew immediately when I met Mario that this was a future star. I learned a ton about being a head football coach from Butch.

“He involved me in so many things that oftentimes you don’t get involved in as a defensive coordinator or as an assistant coach. It prepared me for the opportunity that when it came, I thought I was much better prepared than I would have been otherwise.”

Cristobal was a grad assistant at Miami from 1998-2000 and eventually joined Schiano in 2001 as an offensive assistant, coaching tight ends and the offensive line for the next three seasons.

“But I do look back at the time, meeting Mario in south Florida, and knowing that I wanted to bring him with me,” Schiano said. “It wasn’t easy prying him out of there. You would think it’s a full-time job. He was so close. He had and has one of the greatest families. I never got to meet his dad, but I heard so much about him from his brother Lou and him. Meeting his mother, just a tremendous woman.

“We’ve kind of grown together, right? We’ve been through some tough times, some good times. He’s always a guy that I looked at. I knew when I got him, he was the best coach on my coaching staff. Whatever he was, 25 years old, 26 years old. I trust him blind. There’s not a lot of people I trust in this world. That to me is the biggest thing.”

Now at Miami as the head coach, following a 35-13 stint at Oregon, Cristobal is 12-12 while rebuilding the hurricanes. He’s had his ups and downs like Schiano.

Schiano is 86-95 overall and 18-28 in his second stint, but has his team playing in their second bowl game in four years.

“Again, we’re going to have to compete,” Schiano said of Cristobal. “We compete in recruiting. We compete in many ways. I love him. He knows that. I can’t wait to see his brother Lou. He’s like family to me. I know my dad, who passed away this spring, he’s looking down, he’s excited for Mario, Rutgers, me. In life you meet people, you can probably count on one hand people that you truly trust, truly admire. Mario Cristobal is one of those guys.

“Truth be told, he laid a huge part of this foundation. You look back at what he did in the three years he was here, my goodness. He was relentless. He was my partner. He was a guy that, again, I trusted with anything.”