In two years at the University of Miami, coach Mario Cristobal has shown he can recruit talent – even before deep-pocketed boosters became the primary recruiters for every school. And he certainly proved he has a terrific agent.
What the Miami native has not given one indication he can develop talent or put it in the best position to win with in-game decisions.
In fact, that has been the rub, not only since signing an $80 million, 10-year deal to return to his alma mater but for the 53-year-old's entire coaching career.
It's been 46 years – dating back to the Lou Saban era of the late 1970s – since a UM coach had a worse two-year start than Cristobal, whose 12-13 record is matched by Randy Shannon's in 2007 and 2008. Both coaches stumbled to a 6-10 start in the ACC.
And here we go again. The expectations are high for 2024, as they are most years for the Hurricanes. Yet, this is a program that has underachieved and disappointed more than any not named Nebraska in the country during the past two decades.
Recruiting:Jones 2026 QB Dereon Coleman commits to Miami
Mario Cristobal record at Miami
Cristobal said last week his "starting point" at Miami was enhancing the caliber of talent, increasing the capabilities of the coaching staff and developing an unbreakable culture.
First, we all know the word culture is another word for wins. And so far, Cristobal's two years have resulted in more losses than wins.
And most will agree Cristobal has increased the talent on the roster, individually. But together, those results have not shown. Neither Cristobal, nor most of the coaches who have come and gone since he arrived, have shown an ability to develop that talent.
Bill Parcells once said: "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries."
Cristobal has proven he can buy the groceries. But he's no Gordon Ramsay.
Cristobal, like most coaches, hopes money can buy success. Will it work? Of course, it could. We've seen plenty of turnarounds, including one of the best examples nationally coming from our state – Florida State.
Cam Ward: Miami's QB savior?
This is – stop me if you've heard this before – a talented roster. Quarterback Cam Ward, the biggest beneficiary at Miami of the new "pay for play" era, has the potential to be an elite playmaker. But he was just 12-13 in his two seasons at Washington State, and last season, after the Cougars cracked the top 15, they lost seven of their final eight games, all in the Pac-12.
Miami has surrounded Ward with a solid offensive line and a talented skill group led by RB Damien Martinez, the Oregon State transfer and a defensive line and linebacker group among the best in the country.
And if it's going to finally happen, this is the year with a forgiving schedule that starts Aug. 31 at Florida, a team with very low expectations.
"He's an alpha leader," Cristobal said of Ward, in his fifth year after spending two at Incarnate Word and two at Washington State.
"He gets right to it. There's no dancing around it. There's no fluff. He's a leader by his actions. To him, standards equal actions. And he backs it up with performance. Any free time, he's in the building."
Cristobal even tossed around the word "accountability" when talking about his quarterback. Yet, this is a coach who has done little of that in his first two seasons at Miami.
Cristobal has played revisionist history, blaming his first-year failure on his predecessor Manny Diaz, and needed two days before being forced to take responsibility for the inexplicable decision to not take a knee and run out the clock last season against Georgia Tech.
And we all know how that decision, which will follow Cristobal for the rest of his career, ended.
"When we started here, there weren't a ton of rising juniors and seniors that were the caliber of player you need to compete for championships," Cristobal once again said at ACC Kickoff.
Mario Cristobal contract at Miami
Cristobal is secure, at least when it comes to money. He has a large contingent of boosters and high rollers on his side. More importantly, he has about $64 million remaining in base pay on that $80 million deal, which usually supersedes not living up to expectations.
And the university already is in deep. According to USA Today, Miami paid Cristobal $22.7 million in 2022, the largest-ever, single-year amount for an athletics department employee on a tax form by a private university.
That number included $7.7 million in base pay and $14.9 million in other reportable compensation, part of which was to satisfy Cristobal's $9 million buyout he owed Oregon.
So he has a lot of time to get this right. To this point, this hire has been a bust. But we all know how one 11- or 12-win season and playoff appearance can change that narrative.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
