2 Years in With Mario: An In-Depth Approach

[PSU Cane]

Let’s be real. You get paired with Rutgers in bowl, it’s like be gifted a win to kick start the new year.

Mario must not like gifts.

 

[561Cane]

Wario is garbage..don’t have time to read a novel

 

[SinisterCane]

I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this post. If you want to scroll to the bottom and read the TLDR version, be my guest. For the Cristobal Crusaders that will surely have their feathers ruffled by what’s just the flat-out truth (numbers never lie), fly away and seek shelter in the recruiting threads.

Ripping the bandaid right off, a sub .500 record through two seasons is unacceptable at the University of Miami…no matter who the coach is. I’m afraid a lot of you that err on the side of hope (not to be misconstrued with peacocking) continue to point towards the recruiting classes as evidence that if the roster is loaded, there’s no way Mario can ***** it up. But before we get into that by comparing him to a former Miami coach, let’s analyze the actual concrete results we as fans have had to endure these last two years. This includes:

• A blowout loss to Middle Tennessee St.
• One of the most boneheaded losses in college football history to Georgia Tech by refusing to take a knee
• Winless against Florida State and UNC
• First ever defeat to Rutgers
• 12-13 record overall
• 6-10 in conference play
• 7-8 at home
• 5-5 on the road

So that’s…not great. Really there’s no argument against it being utterly bewildering. We’ve seen his numbers compared to other coaches in Year 2, and he’s just ahead of Sunbelt Billy in terms of success from a win-loss perspective. But - let’s keep trudging along.

@Suhrthing made a great thread regarding recruiting not being enough to deem a coach as successful. Roster makeup and talent absolutely matters, but wins and losses matter 10x more. I urge many of you to look back on former Cane-turned rat Randy Shannon and his first two seasons at the University of Miami.

Shannon:

Yr 1: 5-7
Yr 2: 7-6 (6th loss came on 12/27/08 Emerald Bowl by 7 pts)

Cristobal:

Yr 1: 5-7
Yr 2: 7-6 (6th loss came on 12/28/23 Pinstripe Bowl by 7 pts)

Remember, Shannon was (and still is) heralded as an elite recruiter that would build a fence around South Florida and bring in elite talent. I mean he did bring in the number one class in 2008 and a top ten class in 2009. And yet, Shannon didn’t bring any advantage when it came to game days.

Which brings me to my next point. What disconsernible advantage does Mario bring other than in the high school talent acquisition department? On game days, he’s arguably a net negative. Is there anything positive that he brings regarding schematics, prepping, clock management, adjustments, key decision-making, etc?

I can’t even give him flowers for portal recruiting. What is the ratio of unquestioned, game-changing additions compared to flat-out Jags and/or non-impact players in two cycles?

I’ll give you Lee, Cohen, Kiko, Porter. Two are gone now.

I question a whooooole lot more than that. Seriously, who else made you go “wow, that dude is a game-changer. He’s one of our best players.”

The facts are the facts, and a lot of the angst towards people that question where this ship is going is predicated on a fear that this is the program’s last shot at relevancy. Mario is basically Ed Orgeron, except Orgeron sat in the corner on game day, acquired elite talent through recruiting + the portal, and hired an innovative OC (or OC’s if you want to play the two-headed game).

This portal cycle is going to be massive for this program. As much as we want to believe and rationalize our lack of success in 2022 and 2023, the fact is three consecutive underwhelming seasons at Miami got Manny fired and got people to turn on Golden and Shannon. Why would Mario be any different should this occur?

It’s not just me or CIS that realizes this. Mario is getting DRAGGED on social media. Feel free to search yourselves, but here’s a few examples that don’t even include the laughingstock he caused from the GT game.



YIKES.



That’s a pretty big account. Here’s #3



Blue bloods is a joke, but let’s not deny they have 17.5K followers that see this kind of propaganda.



I haven’t even gotten to the glaring holes in the roster that need to be addressed, and this is TWO YEARS into the regime.


TLDR: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. Something has to change on game day, or we will be having the same discussions next season. I don’t care how well you recruit, at some point you have to prove it on the field. These first two seasons were an unmitigated disaster, and Mario has to fix it asap.

CIS BOTs are gonna come for your neck

 

[Rellyrell]

Shannon After 2 years: 12-13
Golden After 2 years: 13-11
Diaz After 2 years: 14-10
Cristobal After 2 years: 12-13

I asked this question before, is Mario better than his predecessors? He’s getting paid a **** ton of $$ for on field results. If this game was about recruiting then Jimbo Fisher would still be at Texas A&M.

Listen, I’m a very patient person, & I still have hope for Mario to turn this around, but we’re seeing habits & trends that gave him the rep at his previous spot. I will hope in yr 3, with his players, we will see much better on field results.

 

[Brains]

**** Cardale Jones. Dude has the brain of discarded pink printer ink.

 

[mcnaire2004]

I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this post. If you want to scroll to the bottom and read the TLDR version, be my guest. For the Cristobal Crusaders that will surely have their feathers ruffled by what’s just the flat-out truth (numbers never lie), fly away and seek shelter in the recruiting threads.

Ripping the bandaid right off, a sub .500 record through two seasons is unacceptable at the University of Miami…no matter who the coach is. I’m afraid a lot of you that err on the side of hope (not to be misconstrued with peacocking) continue to point towards the recruiting classes as evidence that if the roster is loaded, there’s no way Mario can ***** it up. But before we get into that by comparing him to a former Miami coach, let’s analyze the actual concrete results we as fans have had to endure these last two years. This includes:

• A blowout loss to Middle Tennessee St.
• One of the most boneheaded losses in college football history to Georgia Tech by refusing to take a knee
• Winless against Florida State and UNC
• First ever defeat to Rutgers
• 12-13 record overall
• 6-10 in conference play
• 7-8 at home
• 5-5 on the road

So that’s…not great. Really there’s no argument against it being utterly bewildering. We’ve seen his numbers compared to other coaches in Year 2, and he’s just ahead of Sunbelt Billy in terms of success from a win-loss perspective. But - let’s keep trudging along.

@Suhrthing made a great thread regarding recruiting not being enough to deem a coach as successful. Roster makeup and talent absolutely matters, but wins and losses matter 10x more. I urge many of you to look back on former Cane-turned rat Randy Shannon and his first two seasons at the University of Miami.

Shannon:

Yr 1: 5-7
Yr 2: 7-6 (6th loss came on 12/27/08 Emerald Bowl by 7 pts)

Cristobal:

Yr 1: 5-7
Yr 2: 7-6 (6th loss came on 12/28/23 Pinstripe Bowl by 7 pts)

Remember, Shannon was (and still is) heralded as an elite recruiter that would build a fence around South Florida and bring in elite talent. I mean he did bring in the number one class in 2008 and a top ten class in 2009. And yet, Shannon didn’t bring any advantage when it came to game days.

Which brings me to my next point. What disconsernible advantage does Mario bring other than in the high school talent acquisition department? On game days, he’s arguably a net negative. Is there anything positive that he brings regarding schematics, prepping, clock management, adjustments, key decision-making, etc?

I can’t even give him flowers for portal recruiting. What is the ratio of unquestioned, game-changing additions compared to flat-out Jags and/or non-impact players in two cycles?

I’ll give you Lee, Cohen, Kiko, Porter. Two are gone now.

I question a whooooole lot more than that. Seriously, who else made you go “wow, that dude is a game-changer. He’s one of our best players.”

The facts are the facts, and a lot of the angst towards people that question where this ship is going is predicated on a fear that this is the program’s last shot at relevancy. Mario is basically Ed Orgeron, except Orgeron sat in the corner on game day, acquired elite talent through recruiting + the portal, and hired an innovative OC (or OC’s if you want to play the two-headed game).

This portal cycle is going to be massive for this program. As much as we want to believe and rationalize our lack of success in 2022 and 2023, the fact is three consecutive underwhelming seasons at Miami got Manny fired and got people to turn on Golden and Shannon. Why would Mario be any different should this occur?

It’s not just me or CIS that realizes this. Mario is getting DRAGGED on social media. Feel free to search yourselves, but here’s a few examples that don’t even include the laughingstock he caused from the GT game.



YIKES.



That’s a pretty big account. Here’s #3



Blue bloods is a joke, but let’s not deny they have 17.5K followers that see this kind of propaganda.



I haven’t even gotten to the glaring holes in the roster that need to be addressed, and this is TWO YEARS into the regime.


TLDR: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. Something has to change on game day, or we will be having the same discussions next season. I don’t care how well you recruit, at some point you have to prove it on the field. These first two seasons were an unmitigated disaster, and Mario has to fix it asap.

 

[PIPO]

Shannon After 2 years: 12-13
Golden After 2 years: 13-11
Diaz After 2 years: 14-10
Cristobal After 2 years: 12-13

I asked this question before, is Mario better than his predecessors? He’s getting paid a **** ton of $$ for on field results. If this game was about recruiting then Jimbo Fisher would still be at Texas A&M.

Listen, I’m a very patient person, & I still have hope for Mario to turn this around, but we’re seeing habits & trends that gave him the rep at his previous spot. I will hope in yr 3, with his players, we will see much better on field results.

 

[cway313]

The board bullies attempting to fear monger everyone against being critical are always missing on gameday. Funny how that works . Get me back to recruiting pronto.

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

CIS BOTs are gonna come for your neck

I mean I’m totally fine having a rational discussion about it.

But with every loss, the sample size grows and the same excuses are made. At some point, the roster excuse or the “he’s only had two years” excuse is done.


If we’re having the same discussions in the middle of the next season or in Year 4, the answer is right in front of you. Those that choose to ignore it just aren’t thinking rationally.

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

Shannon After 2 years: 12-13
Golden After 2 years: 13-11
Diaz After 2 years: 14-10
Cristobal After 2 years: 12-13

I asked this question before, is Mario better than his predecessors? He’s getting paid a **** ton of $$ for on field results. If this game was about recruiting then Jimbo Fisher would still be at Texas A&M.

Listen, I’m a very patient person, & I still have hope for Mario to turn this around, but we’re seeing habits & trends that gave him the rep at his previous spot. I will hope in yr 3, with his players, we will see much better on field results.

 

[canester95]

None of this matters. Mario is our coach for the next several years. We are simply not going to fire him. I have a sinking feeling this is what it is. Remember the good times, like recruiting victories last week. Might really be all we have. I’m sad panda.

 

[919cane]

Since December 2005 when LSU ended us as a major program, Miami is 130-97. So this has literally been a 7-5 program for 18 years now. We, as fans, are like the Japanese soldiers on the island still fighting World War II in terms of thinking Miami is anything more than a decrepit, has been program. We are Nebraska with better recruits.

 

[Hoyacane1620]

Mario is the problem no doubt. The defensive staff is fine. Good hires imo. Taylor has to be wondering wtf Mario is doing and won’t be here long. Which stinks cause he’s doing a great job for not having much experience.

Offensive coaches in ok w too. I don’t k ow what to make of Dawson. I’m not sure if it’s him or Mario or a combination of the two. I’m more inclined to think it’s Mario meddling w the offense and trying to run the a gap all day for some sort of personal high.

Mario needs to step aside and let his offense open it up. You can still run the ball for Christ sake. Why do we always have issues making this game harder than it needs to be

Remember when we used to use our speed to our advantage? Me too. I was in grade school and fell in love w Miami as they smoked teams. Now it’s like watching the big ten from 1995 all over again and again and again

OR what I am starting to think, DAWSON IS A FRAUD.

 

[Lokest]

Shannon After 2 years: 12-13
Golden After 2 years: 13-11
Diaz After 2 years: 14-10
Cristobal After 2 years: 12-13

I asked this question before, is Mario better than his predecessors? He’s getting paid a **** ton of $$ for on field results. If this game was about recruiting then Jimbo Fisher would still be at Texas A&M.

Listen, I’m a very patient person, & I still have hope for Mario to turn this around, but we’re seeing habits & trends that gave him the rep at his previous spot. I will hope in yr 3, with his players, we will see much better on field results.

He doesn't nail a QB in the portal this man is COOKED. Missing on QBs will always catch up to you

 

[S.CarolinaCane]

I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this post. If you want to scroll to the bottom and read the TLDR version, be my guest. For the Cristobal Crusaders that will surely have their feathers ruffled by what’s just the flat-out truth (numbers never lie), fly away and seek shelter in the recruiting threads.

Ripping the bandaid right off, a sub .500 record through two seasons is unacceptable at the University of Miami…no matter who the coach is. I’m afraid a lot of you that err on the side of hope (not to be misconstrued with peacocking) continue to point towards the recruiting classes as evidence that if the roster is loaded, there’s no way Mario can ***** it up. But before we get into that by comparing him to a former Miami coach, let’s analyze the actual concrete results we as fans have had to endure these last two years. This includes:

• A blowout loss to Middle Tennessee St.
• One of the most boneheaded losses in college football history to Georgia Tech by refusing to take a knee
• Winless against Florida State and UNC
• First ever defeat to Rutgers
• 12-13 record overall
• 6-10 in conference play
• 7-8 at home
• 5-5 on the road

So that’s…not great. Really there’s no argument against it being utterly bewildering. We’ve seen his numbers compared to other coaches in Year 2, and he’s just ahead of Sunbelt Billy in terms of success from a win-loss perspective. But - let’s keep trudging along.

@Suhrthing made a great thread regarding recruiting not being enough to deem a coach as successful. Roster makeup and talent absolutely matters, but wins and losses matter 10x more. I urge many of you to look back on former Cane-turned rat Randy Shannon and his first two seasons at the University of Miami.

Shannon:

Yr 1: 5-7
Yr 2: 7-6 (6th loss came on 12/27/08 Emerald Bowl by 7 pts)

Cristobal:

Yr 1: 5-7
Yr 2: 7-6 (6th loss came on 12/28/23 Pinstripe Bowl by 7 pts)

Remember, Shannon was (and still is) heralded as an elite recruiter that would build a fence around South Florida and bring in elite talent. I mean he did bring in the number one class in 2008 and a top ten class in 2009. And yet, Shannon didn’t bring any advantage when it came to game days.

Which brings me to my next point. What disconsernible advantage does Mario bring other than in the high school talent acquisition department? On game days, he’s arguably a net negative. Is there anything positive that he brings regarding schematics, prepping, clock management, adjustments, key decision-making, etc?

I can’t even give him flowers for portal recruiting. What is the ratio of unquestioned, game-changing additions compared to flat-out Jags and/or non-impact players in two cycles?

I’ll give you Lee, Cohen, Kiko, Porter. Two are gone now.

I question a whooooole lot more than that. Seriously, who else made you go “wow, that dude is a game-changer. He’s one of our best players.”

The facts are the facts, and a lot of the angst towards people that question where this ship is going is predicated on a fear that this is the program’s last shot at relevancy. Mario is basically Ed Orgeron, except Orgeron sat in the corner on game day, acquired elite talent through recruiting + the portal, and hired an innovative OC (or OC’s if you want to play the two-headed game).

This portal cycle is going to be massive for this program. As much as we want to believe and rationalize our lack of success in 2022 and 2023, the fact is three consecutive underwhelming seasons at Miami got Manny fired and got people to turn on Golden and Shannon. Why would Mario be any different should this occur?

It’s not just me or CIS that realizes this. Mario is getting DRAGGED on social media. Feel free to search yourselves, but here’s a few examples that don’t even include the laughingstock he caused from the GT game.



YIKES.



That’s a pretty big account. Here’s #3



Blue bloods is a joke, but let’s not deny they have 17.5K followers that see this kind of propaganda.



I haven’t even gotten to the glaring holes in the roster that need to be addressed, and this is TWO YEARS into the regime.


TLDR: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. Something has to change on game day, or we will be having the same discussions next season. I don’t care how well you recruit, at some point you have to prove it on the field. These first two seasons were an unmitigated disaster, and Mario has to fix it asap.

All you did was put a lot of time into an opinion and put some records into it.
What do you really have, besides an emotional opinion?

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

OR what I am starting to think, DAWSON IS A FRAUD.

I struggle internally with this.

I can’t say whether you’re right or wrong. We’ve seen the good Dawson against A&M and Louisville, and the bad against NC State, UVA, somewhat FSU (don’t necessarily blame him for the conservative play-calling with Emory), today, etc.

Now, some will say the good was because of Dawson and the bad was because of TVD. I disagree with that sentiment and believe everyone was at fault for the losses, just like everyone should be praised when there’s success.

However, I will say today was a perfect chance to really open it up - I mean we didn’t really have anything to lose. Particularly when we were up 17-14 mid 3Q.

Again I struggle because is it Dawson, or is it a reoccurring pattern of a Mario-approved OC being underwhelming and predictable in key moments? I just don’t know.

 

[TheSwagger1]

Remember when we used to use our speed to our advantage? Me too. I was in grade school and fell in love w Miami as they smoked teams. Now it’s like watching the big ten from 1995 all over again and again and again

A million times, this this this.

The Miami area produces the fastest individuals in the world outside of Jamaica and we want to play like Wisconsin. I don't get it, at all.

 

[GojiraCane]

Let’s be real. You get paired with Rutgers in bowl, it’s like be gifted a win to kick start the new year.

Mario must not like gifts.

We had about as many key players missing as Golden did in his first game when over a dozen players were suspended against Maryland. The Miami team of this September would have crushed Rutgers handily.

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

All you did was put a lot of time into an opinion and put some records into it.
What do you really have, besides an emotional opinion?

That he’s 12-13 in two seasons, under .500 at home, under .500 in conference play, winless against his rivals, an embarrassing loss in each season, his tenure at Miami mirros that of a previous failed coach…should I go on?

But yeah, all of that is emotional and make-believe.

 

[S.CarolinaCane]

That he’s 12-13 in two seasons, under .500 at home, under .500 in conference play, winless against his rivals, an embarrassing loss in each season, his tenure at Miami mirros that of a previous failed coach…should I go on?

But yeah, all of that is emotional and make-believe.

So did you lose some money on this season, or what?