I got a couple stories for you all. I've posted this a couple times over the years . . .
The afternoon before the UM-FIU brawl in '06, I was at Shula's Gym in Miami Lakes. At that time, the Canes would stay in the Don Shula hotel (either overnight or day of) before OB games. Mario was lifting in the gym. I approached him to say hi. The guy was an absolute pleasure. Anyways, he was so geeked up talking UM football, that he was coming up to me between sets to chat. (To this day, I remember him rattling off off the top of his head, how many yards each carry Javarris had the week before. It was impressive.) I still remember him saying then that "if you cut me open, I bleed orange and green." I get coach-speak, but this wasn't a rah-rah speech in front of the media or for boosters. This was a private conversation. I will always believe he was being candid and meant that.
Years later, when he was HC at FIU, he did a "Columbus Connects" session at Miami Columbus High, our alma mater. It was basically a series of speeches by former alumni open to students, alumni, etc. Networking type thing. I went to Mario's. I don't remember specifically what I asked him, but I remember I [jerk-ily] put him on the spot about UM vs. FIU and he was a little testy about the suggestion that he was partial to UM and not his current gig. He said something to the effect of "I'm the coach of FIU now."
I do think if this job ever came open, he'd strongly consider it. If you're not a Miami Cuban, you don't understand that there is some gravitational pull that Miami enjoys with that base. I think he and his family would relish the opportunity to return. We already saw how quickly Taggart returned under similar circumstances. Oregon is a great gig and objectively speaking, maybe a better gig. I don't know. But it's a culture shock to what Mario knows and grew up with and I suspect he may long to be home.
*I say this w/o any opinion as to Mario the coach. I'm not sold, but he's likely an upgrade from Manny--which is easy to say based on what we've seen the last 2 weeks.