The 2025 season has started exceptionally well for the Miami football program. They are undefeated with a 4-0 record and have a lot of talent across the board, from this loaded offense with Carson Beck as a Heisman Trophy candidate to how much this defense has improved so far this year. Mario Cristobal's goal is to maintain success at Miami, but he does not want to return Miami to its glory days.
Mario Cristobal played on the offensive line at Miami from 1989 to 1992, so he knows what it was like when Miami was the king of the college football world and dominated the sport. He was on a mission when he returned home to try to revive his alma mater to have consistent success. However, after talking to ESPN football reporter and analyst Kevin Clark on “This Is Football,” Crostobal said he wants Miami to establish something new.
“It's nostalgia theater in this country right now. Everyone wants to go back, back, back. Well, we don't want to go back. We want to go forward.
“Now, we want to take the principles and values of that brand of football, but we want to take it forward. I think the guys that play here want that too.”
Cristobal did say that the program's old greats are often around Miami and have been great leaders and mentors for the current team.
“Our guys want to make those guys proud. They want to play like them. But we don't want to go in a time capsule and go backwards, brother; we want to go straight ahead and make it happen now.”
The glory days of Miami football were in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. Mario Cristobal seems to have the Hurricanes on the right path, especially since they are ranked second in the AP poll, after a massive blowout win against Florida.
Mario Cristobal wants the environment and energy at the Florida game, which was the site of College GameDay this past Saturday, to be the norm in Coral Gables.
“Hopefully everybody got to see what we feel we have is the best university on the planet,” Crisotbal said. “The setting for GameDay is hard to find a better one. Everybody brought the energy, and we got to highlight our president and chair of the board. I didn't get to see the high dive. My goal was to get there, do it, and then return and shut out all the noise. It was an honor, and thank God for our opportunity to showcase.”
