dont hire mario

[JustAFanHTX]

At least this thread was pretty much shut down in 2023, e.g. pre-Ward.

@McGahee2TheHouse is at least consistent. There is something to be said about consistency.
@JustAFanHTX I’m surprised you went to strong in that anti-Mario direction. You aren’t a mope so you must have believed it.
@cway313 come on I’m surprised you could not see the future despite the weak results through 2023.

I wasn’t ever convinced of his ability to change. Most don’t. I underestimated the heck out of him and I’m glad I was wrong

 

[Trafficante]

I hope he realizes more and more it's not important to establish the runing game but... #EstablishPoints

This video also discusses why having a commitment to the running game is conducive to winning, even when it seems counterintuitive based on advanced analytics. The reason for this has to do with game theory, & how modern defenses are structured; it was also one of the main reasons why the Seahawks won the SB this past season..

 

[MovingZen]

People seem to want to ignore how lucky we got a couple years in a row and then at the end of last year. Cam Ward, we got lucky as **** to get him. Pulled him back from the NFL.. otherwise we had NOTHING at qb. Without him that season was over before it even got started. Then Beck.. got lucky last minute to pull him also, while hoping his arm recovered. Then we got lucky the playoff selection committee took us over notre lame. I know we all know that Miami deserved it over nd but it was really a surprise that they took us. Then we went on the playoff run and still had trouble getting another qb. Mario/Dawson had to pay an arm and a leg to steal Mensah from duke or we were going into this season with no qb.
So, we had terrible losses, multiple coordinator hiring and firings and some of the luckiest bounces this program has ever seen. To his credit, Mario kept moving forward and seems to be getting it right now. But, lets not act like we didn't get lucky with the qb's and the playoff invite. Those don't bounce our way and this conversation is entirely different.

 

[cway313]

I wasn’t ever convinced of his ability to change Most don’t. I underestimated the heck out of him and I’m glad I was wrong

Every other coach we had in 20 years doubled down on their stupidity. I'm in the the same boat as you.

 

[VustyVoles]

i said the same about Richt. Mario wont work here. Of all the successful coaches we have had, they all share the same characteristic. ALPHA. Each one was without question an unbending, dominant personality. Mario will be a step up from what we have had. But it will end in disappointment. He's no ALPHA. We need a guy who is gonna hurt feelings and spit zero bull****. Hardcore discipline. Our next Coach needs to be an assassin and a tyrant. Mario will fall short

My pick is Kiffin.
He would run the Coastal division almost every year. Mix in some acc championships. I also think some playoff appearances.


Dont hire Mario.

Have at me!

 

[ben]

What youre describing as "knowing" was blind hope. Dogmatic faith. You ended up being right, which I will never deny, but at the time (first few years), you were wrong. Mario had to have some serious "Come to Jesus" moments in order for things to work.

Now going back to the 2018/2019 timeframe, I cant speak to that. I wasn't paying attention to Mario then.

Either way, the last year and a half have been the best time to be a fan.

It wasn’t blind hope. It was a justified true belief — which does not constitute knowledge.

 

[k9cane]

This video also discusses why having a commitment to the running game is conducive to winning, even when it seems counterintuitive based on advanced analytics. The reason for this has to do with game theory, & how modern defenses are structured; it was also one of the main reasons why the Seahawks won the SB this past season..

I never said abandon the run. But having the ball for almost 40 minutes and scoring 20 points as they did vs SMU is just bad, inefficient offense

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

I never said abandon the run. But having the ball for almost 40 minutes and scoring 20 points as they did vs SMU is just bad, inefficient offense

They played so **** scared in that game it was nauseating. Plus, this was the quintessential Miami/Mario/November calamity of shooting yourself in the foot, poor decision making, turnovers, etc that we all are scared ****less of every year.

Remember how that game went. We get a stop on 4th down and then go right down the field on our 2nd possession for the Trader TD on a perfect Beck ball. Force a quick three and out, and start moving to take their soul early in the game. But what happens? First play of the drive, the Brockermeyer snap infraction pops up. Toney offensive PI kills a drive.

Next drive a perfect pass to Trader gets picked off.

Next drive, two first downs, immediately 2 more penalties to kill the drive.

Next drive, another penalty.

Next drive, we start at the goddamned 9 yard line, and can't score a TD.

Get the ball back at the end with 6 minutes and a lead, and we can't end the game.

Get the ball back with 25 seconds and a timeout, and we don't even try for a FG, we just play for overtime.

One of those "everything that can go wrong, will" games we can't seem to avoid at least once/twice a year that we need to try to eradicate. 12 penalties and losing a game where the opponent rushes for 0.9 yards per carry is gross.

 

[k9cane]

They played so **** scared in that game it was nauseating. Plus, this was the quintessential Miami/Mario/November calamity of shooting yourself in the foot, poor decision making, turnovers, etc that we all are scared ****less of every year.

Remember how that game went. We get a stop on 4th down and then go right down the field on our 2nd possession for the Trader TD on a perfect Beck ball. Force a quick three and out, and start moving to take their soul early in the game. But what happens? First play of the drive, the Brockermeyer snap infraction pops up. Toney offensive PI kills a drive.

Next drive a perfect pass to Trader gets picked off.

Next drive, two first downs, immediately 2 more penalties to kill the drive.

Next drive, another penalty.

Next drive, we start at the goddamned 9 yard line, and can't score a TD.

Get the ball back at the end with 6 minutes and a lead, and we can't end the game.

Get the ball back with 25 seconds and a timeout, and we don't even try for a FG, we just play for overtime.

One of those "everything that can go wrong, will" games we can't seem to avoid at least once/twice a year that we need to try to eradicate. 12 penalties and losing a game where the opponent rushes for 0.9 yards per carry is gross.

The last part of the game reminded me of what Teddy Atlas told Michael Moorer, IIRC, during the first bout with Evander Holyfield. He basically said ''you're just putting your hands up, throwing out an occasional job and hope he leaves you alone."

With about 10 minutes to go, you could sense Miami was playing with fire, and being at the game, you could feel the uneasiness in our section. Beyond that, we were all kinda bored. The attitude seemed to be, "Alright, lets just squeak this out and get outta here."

My view is this, with the roster Mario has recruited, you never want to really shorten the game. You want to enforce your depth and come in waves, and play from, ahead as quickly as possible. That lessens that chances of getting upset

Bill Walsh's general game plan for each game was very simple -- score early, get ahead to a point where you can unleash your pass rush -- and THEN, you run the ball late in games

 

[JamesQuall]

He’s now on the 247 site falling for clear AI scams…

View attachment 366758

The funniest yet least surprising thing ever. You really can tell who a person is based on their poRsts.

 

[grover]

The last part of the game reminded me of what Teddy Atlas told Michael Moorer, IIRC, during the first bout with Evander Holyfield. He basically said ''you're just putting your hands up, throwing out an occasional job and hope he leaves you alone."

With about 10 minutes to go, you could sense Miami was playing with fire, and being at the game, you could feel the uneasiness in our section. Beyond that, we were all kinda bored. The attitude seemed to be, "Alright, lets just squeak this out and get outta here."

My view is this, with the roster Mario has recruited, you never want to really shorten the game. You want to enforce your depth and come in waves, and play from, ahead as quickly as possible. That lessens that chances of getting upset

Bill Walsh's general game plan for each game was very simple -- score early, get ahead to a point where you can unleash your pass rush -- and THEN, you run the ball late in games

@k9cane I agree with the bolded part completely. Do you think Mario has learned his lesson?

On your last comment about Wash's philosophy, I never want to slow the game down. Maybe that's the right call in the pros where you don't put your starters at risk for garbage points. But we have twice the roster size of an NFL team and are 3-to-4-deep in talent at Miami. I'd hope we let our backups play with abandon, too, so they learn. Maybe if they ***** up and turn the ball over to tighten the score we need to get conservative. But I'd default to maintaining pressure for the entire game otherwise.

 

[skyman]

I agree with your 1st sentence, but imo the bigger problem has been HOW the offense has chosen to establish the running game. The lack of diversity in the running game exhibited by Dawson's offense has been one of the biggest problems plaguing this team, & why it has failed to get established against quality defenses. Introducing a new wrinkle like running out of the pistol which he adopted this past CFB playoffs, is something he could've done a lot earlier.

The run game is directly from what Mario/Mirabal want and believe in. I dont know why our fans still put this on Dawson when Mirabal is doing interviews saying duo is gods run play and its what he is calling if he has one call and Mario is fist pumping every chance he gets.. You think if Mario wanted something done in run game it would not happen?

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

The run game is directly from what Mario/Mirabal want and believe in. I dont know why our fans still put this on Dawson when Mirabal is doing interviews saying duo is gods run play and its what he is calling if he has one call and Mario is fist pumping every chance he gets.. You think if Mario wanted something done in run game it would not happen?

He has the authority to get more creative than he is on 3rd/4th and short. I agree completely it's Mario's philosophy. And I wrote about this ad nauseum during last year, so I'm too tired to go all the way through it again, but it's on Dawson AND Mario to understand your team. In 2024, we didn't get stopped all year on 3rd/4th and short. I think that's literal. We were 100% running it on short yardage. But the same thing didn't happen in 2025, and we kept doing the same **** thinking it would. Even going back to the first game. ****, THE FIRST DRIVE of the first game, we ran Lyle on 3rd and 2, and he got stuffed. And we punted. And then we had a stretch through the middle of the season where we ran A-gap something like 23 consecutive times on 3rd/4th and 2 or less. I stopped counting after that because it made me sick to my stomach.

So I love Dawson, and Mario is the best thing that happened to this program in 20+ years. I'm a pig in **** right now, every **** day. But we can still think critically about the operation.

 

[k9cane]

@k9cane I agree with the bolded part completely. Do you think Mario has learned his lesson?

On your last comment about Wash's philosophy, I never want to slow the game down. Maybe that's the right call in the pros where you don't put your starters at risk for garbage points. But we have twice the roster size of an NFL team and are 3-to-4-deep in talent at Miami. I'd hope we let our backups play with abandon, too, so they learn. Maybe if they ***** up and turn the ball over to tighten the score we need to get conservative. But I'd default to maintaining pressure for the entire game otherwise.

Grover, I really do think -- hope and pray -- that when 'the U: Part 3' is produced and the next wave of Hurricane history books and Cristobal biographies are written that Nov. 1, 2025 will go down as the date that Mario turned the corner as a coach and began his evolution as a coach that not only loved physical play, but turned the page into being a more wide open tactician who understood that being explosive and scoring points is part of his philosophy. (By the way I mentioned this on a recent CIS podcast, Coach Cristobal actually brought up needing to improve yards-per-play in an interview during the spring. It was great to hear)

There is a time and place for ball-control and all that stuff -- and that's when you're up big in the 4th quarter

And you want to have an unhappy roster in the modern day transfer portal/NIL era, don't have the opportunity to play your backups at least once every few weeks as every game is an unneccessary slog.

Lastly, in terms of recruiting, trench players will always be attracted to the Mario Hurricanes. That's clear. Now, you want to get the next Jeremiah Smith (like Wright in 2028) -- play an exciting style that is both producitve and entertaining.

Ive never heard a blue-chip playmaker says, 'Well, I committed to this program because I love who methodical their offense is."

 

[Hurricane23]

i said the same about Richt. Mario wont work here. Of all the successful coaches we have had, they all share the same characteristic. ALPHA. Each one was without question an unbending, dominant personality. Mario will be a step up from what we have had. But it will end in disappointment. He's no ALPHA. We need a guy who is gonna hurt feelings and spit zero bull****. Hardcore discipline. Our next Coach needs to be an assassin and a tyrant. Mario will fall short

My pick is Kiffin.
He would run the Coastal division almost every year. Mix in some acc championships. I also think some playoff appearances.


Dont hire Mario.

Have at me!

Them boys finna murk you

 

[AUcane]

This video also discusses why having a commitment to the running game is conducive to winning, even when it seems counterintuitive based on advanced analytics. The reason for this has to do with game theory, & how modern defenses are structured; it was also one of the main reasons why the Seahawks won the SB this past season..

Interesting video, thanks for posting. Takeaways from the analytics in this video:

- High degree of success when passing out of heavy
- 1st and 10 - high degree of success passing the ball
- 3rd and 9 (or less) - analytics support running the ball.

What I took from this - mixup your packages and force the defense to match your package and run a play accordingly. i.e. run the ball out of spread, pass the ball out of a tight/heavy set, etc

 

[JHallCanes]

He has the authority to get more creative than he is on 3rd/4th and short. I agree completely it's Mario's philosophy. And I wrote about this ad nauseum during last year, so I'm too tired to go all the way through it again, but it's on Dawson AND Mario to understand your team. In 2024, we didn't get stopped all year on 3rd/4th and short. I think that's literal. We were 100% running it on short yardage. But the same thing didn't happen in 2025, and we kept doing the same **** thinking it would. Even going back to the first game. ****, THE FIRST DRIVE of the first game, we ran Lyle on 3rd and 2, and he got stuffed. And we punted. And then we had a stretch through the middle of the season where we ran A-gap something like 23 consecutive times on 3rd/4th and 2 or less. I stopped counting after that because it made me sick to my stomach.

So I love Dawson, and Mario is the best thing that happened to this program in 20+ years. I'm a pig in **** right now, every **** day. But we can still think critically about the operation.

Yeah I mean I understood why they were stubborn about it. The team was built to dominate on short yardage in the trenches.

Just didn’t work like 2024, then again that was probably a historic offense in that metric. Not sure we were fully stopped the entire season.

OSU we knifed them on some quick passes which was a bit of a blessing because I think their defense was so good, it forced us to get creative a bit and play clean

Too many times inferior teams were selling out because it was their only shot, and we just played into it anyway. Felt like trying to prove an unnecessary point

This year will be interesting with some unknown personnel up front for the first time in a while

 

[919cane]

Bill Walsh's general game plan for each game was very simple -- score early, get ahead to a point where you can unleash your pass rush -- and THEN, you run the ball late in games

Shanahan did this in Denver as well. Ride Elway to an early lead and then unleash Terrell Davis in the 2nd half to wear teams out and put them away.

 

[JHallCanes]

The last part of the game reminded me of what Teddy Atlas told Michael Moorer, IIRC, during the first bout with Evander Holyfield. He basically said ''you're just putting your hands up, throwing out an occasional job and hope he leaves you alone."

With about 10 minutes to go, you could sense Miami was playing with fire, and being at the game, you could feel the uneasiness in our section. Beyond that, we were all kinda bored. The attitude seemed to be, "Alright, lets just squeak this out and get outta here."

My view is this, with the roster Mario has recruited, you never want to really shorten the game. You want to enforce your depth and come in waves, and play from, ahead as quickly as possible. That lessens that chances of getting upset

Bill Walsh's general game plan for each game was very simple -- score early, get ahead to a point where you can unleash your pass rush -- and THEN, you run the ball late in games

Something I wanted to look back on here with Dawson and the critical 2nd quarters when it comes to establishing leads etc

In 2024 with our historic offense we were outscored 90-50 by ACC opponents in the 2nd quarter (we outscored UF and USF 25-13 in the other two games that matters so still handily outscored)

In 2025 we cleaned that up bigtime

It’s hard to bash the 2024 offense but the 2nd quarters were baffling pretty much the entire season

With Mensah and co this year and a defense like 2025 that was dominant in that quarter, I hope to see us out some more distance on the opponent before half, then dagger them in the 3rd quarter so we can relax during the 4th a bit more

 

[k9cane]

Shanahan did this in Denver as well. Ride Elway to an early lead and then unleash Terrell Davis in the 2nd half to wear teams out and put them away.

Randy Cross, who played for the Niners and won 3 Super Bowls with Walsh says that if you ever asked who generally wanted to play a 5th quarter, them or the opponent, he said most of the time it was them. He bristles at the notion that the Niners were a finesse team...