I am extremely anti-hiring a Miami guy just for the sake of hiring a Miami guy. This seems to be a problem the program and fans have had for a while now. Vacancy opens up? "Pagano!" "Trestman!" "Chud! Shannon AGAIN!?"
We should be looking for quality football coaches with a record of success and production, and then going from there. If they happen to have some previous ties to Miami, so be it. BUT, the prerequisite for the position shouldn't just be "hey y'all he coached here once!"
We have to stop loading our list of candidates every time we have a vacancy with dudes just because they coached or played here. That's lazy and closes off an entire country of talented potential coaches.
Now, any time Mario Cirstobal's name has came up I vomited out of my car window and googled how to make a noose. I was always against Cristobal because his top 2 attributes you'd hear from his supporters were "from Miami bro" and "knows how to recruit." I hated the guy and regarded him as a Cuban Golden. Now, I find myself suffering under the real Cuban Al Golden as Manure proudly tells me how fast his team ran at practice after he lost to FI-*******-U.
Anyway...back to Mario.
I have always hated Mario as a candidate for us. HOWEVA, digging in on one position and not being able to adapt, or refusing to accept new information and re-evaluate in light of that information, is the act of a fool. Putting aside my initial stance on Mario and my hatred of our lazy fanbase and AD for throwing darts at a board of "Miami guys" any time a new coach is discussed, I must admit: I am impressed with Mario and he warrants monitoring and further investigation as Manure's impending termination looms.
A few things to consider as I dive deeper into Mario's career:
• The two seasons prior to Cristobal becoming theit HC, Oregon went 4-8 and 7-5.
• He's since won 9 and 11 games.
* He just won a Power 5 Conference Title.
* He also won another Conference Title at FIU.
* We have ZERO Conference Titles in 15 years of ACC play
• Mario seems to know how to spot talented coaches on the rise and build a quality staff.
* At FIU, he employed Todd Orlando, Scott Scatterfield, and Geoff Collins as coordinators.
• Orlando went on to became DC for Texas (just got fired, but still)
• Scatterfield had huge success at App State as their HC, and just won ACC Coach of the Year for Louisville.
• Collins became a DC for two SEC programs, then a HC at Temple and now the HC at GT.
* That's a **** of a coaching tree for a short stint at a Sun Belt program as a young head coach.
* Mario does seem to be a strong recruiter.
* Mario's first full class last year was ranked #7
* His current class is ranked #11
* Oregon's classes the 5 years before him: 19, 27, 16, 21, 19
I know Mario was the pick in December by many people inside of Miami's power circle, but they were overruled by more powerful individuals inside the Manny faction.
As a long-time Mario detractor, once Manure is fired next year, I think Mario has (barring a big-time pants-pooping in 2020) earned himself an interview and spot on the candidate list for reasons other than "he coached here and is from here, bro!" He's actually proving he can win games now at a high level, instead of being hyped up just for being a former Cane that recruited for Nick Saban.
And that is somewhat reassuring.
