Mario Cristobal: "If you can't identify and recruit, your value to a program is very little."

[GrozDozer]

Lot of people in every aspect of life get a job and get happy/lazy/complacent. It’s not unheard of in any industry. The manager at McDonalds was grinding when he was the shift leader. Now all of a sudden he’s the manager and he doesn’t leave the back office.

I have 8 people who work for me. It’s maddening how much a guy will grind for a better position or more pay and the second he gets it hits the cruise control button.

 

[DC3]

Just like in recruiting, no one gets hires 100%. In my experience, the best get 30% of their hires as top quality, 40% as acceptable level and still miss on 30%. There may be more transparency in football vs other industries because you can see part of the job description expectations on the field. But there are so many intangibles it's really really hard to get it right. Also, remember that if you have a lemon like Gattass, the previous organization is willing to lie to you to get him out of their group. That happens a lot.

My point is, when rebuilding an entire operation like Mario is doing, even the greatest organizational leaders ever have to fail forward sometimes.

I'm hoping that there won't be alot of turnover this year as we are going into year 4 and hes had to replace both Coordinators plus every position group outside of Big Joe and Mirabel. He needs stability this year more than ever without a generational offense next year

 

[hurricaneman]

Those are shots fired at people within the program

I didn't read it that way. I read it as a general statement and to emphasize what it takes these days, based on the question asked about the recruiting calendar.

 

[Golsen82]

Soooo…let the Day hype ramp up to the next level

The next Ed Reed

 

[MizCane]

Is Guidry considered a good recruiter? I gotta think his job is on the line the week.

 

[hoops156]

At spots on offense yes. That smu defense lmao.

hows our defense doing with supposedly better players?

 

[hoops156]

Talk about being oversimplistic. There's a little more to it than "they average or they great".

ok sure, but thats the point to people saying you need great players to win double digits. with average players you dont. SMU doesnt have elite players by any means and the kids they took from us were considered average to below average. theyve won 10 games in their first season in the ACC (took us 20 years or so to do it now twice (our schedule is easy too so dont bring up schedule) and they won 11 last year

 

[mirvin88]

The next Ed Reed

There it is!

 

[TaylorWalls]

ok sure, but thats the point to people saying you need great players to win double digits. with average players you dont. SMU doesnt have elite players by any means and the kids they took from us were considered average to below average. theyve won 10 games in their first season in the ACC (took us 20 years or so to do it now twice (our schedule is easy too so dont bring up schedule) and they won 11 last year

1. You people have to stop acting as though SMU’s entire two-deep came from our roster. They have a handful of former Miami players and a hundred guys who weren’t.
2. They have put together a very good roster that has been able to have success against…..
3. A very favorable schedule.

The narrative being forced is “why couldn’t Mario win win those same guys??” when it’s not the “same guys”.

 

[CDWright40]

What if you coach like an old man’s broken ****

If there is anything consistent in this world it’s you talking and thinking about ****.

 

[bobbydigius]

20+ years of nothing and people still don't get this. It was always about upgrading the roster, not about "outscheming" people.

Ehhhhh, our rosters were usually more loaded than our competition and we didn’t win ****. Sure we were never on a top 5 or top 10 level but relative to our schedule we were more talented than most of the teams we played and lost to. This was evident by our recruiting rankings and the players drafted in comparison to our opponents.

People always want to make things reductive and easy. It’s one of the other. Nah, to win you need good coaching and the jimmies and joes. We can go back and forth on what is more important, sure but both are needed.

 

[OptimusCreampie]

hows our defense doing with supposedly better players?

Statically our defenses are the same. As far as defensive players that left only one I’d keep for is Robert’s for versatility.

Barrow blows jhh out. Pass rushes and is great against the run. Jhh was a pass rushing 3 tech that stat padded in a manny defense.

I’m still taking Alston/baron over harvey. Harvey looks like the same player he was 5 years here. His best year 2022 Miami 5.5 sacks 2024 smu 5.5 sacks.

 

[Bender]

I have 8 people who work for me. It’s maddening how much a guy will grind for a better position or more pay and the second he gets it hits the cruise control button.

Humans seek the four As, attention, affection, approval and acceptance, usually from an external source. When they don't have it, they'll do everything they can to achieve it, once they got it, they'll shut down until they don't have it anymore.

 

[grover]

The point was they were cast-off and now some of them have been coached up

Feels like a stretch to me. Even if I add in Harvey to the impact player group, that's a 50% hit rate. CISers think it's Armageddon if Mario hits on only 50% of our guys. And who would you bench over any of these guys? Are Roberts and Harvey better than Bain or Mesidor? JHH better than Barrow?

The big one is Brashard. I loved that kid's talent as did 99% on the board. He certainly wasn't coached up, we all saw how disruptive he was last year. But he was inconsistent, too. Would you put him in over X at slot? Now that he's made the move to RB successfully, which BTW is where I wanted to play him, I can see the argument vs Martinez and Fletcher. But do we really want him in blocking for Cam Ward? Would still have loved to have found a way to keep him. But he was not going to be a full-time starter here. He compliments SMU's offense much better than he does Miami's. So that's a win/win, IMO.

 

[Dwinstitles]

The Miami Hurricanes are one win away from Charlotte. Below is everything Mario Cristobal said as the team gets ready for Syracuse:

On Syracuse’s offense: The running back [LeQuint Allen] is a really good player. He's a lot like who we faced last week. He's bigger, he's strong. Just one cut, make-you-miss-and-go guys. He does not go down easily. He's complemented by a very big offensive line. Really physical. We were just studying their interior right before coming in. They get some good knock-back, some good push at the line of scrimmage.

They lead the country in contested catches. In fact, three of their four wide receivers are the top three contested catch receivers in the country. It's not just a play design, it's really good players going up and high-pointing the ball and making tough catches with great body control.

But they'll get in loaded sets as well. They can get big in a hurry, get 12 personnel in there and get downhill in the running game behind some of their big offensive linemen. They play complementary football really well. They've shown the ability to to really flip the field with their punter, but also change the complexion of the game with their return game. They've got some really good returners. They use their better athletes on all the special teams units.

They get the ball out in space in the screen game really well. Obviously, they use Number 19 [Oronde Gadsen II]. Local guy that's a got a great history of playing high school football down here, family history as well (father was a starting WR for the Dolphins).

But they use cats in so many different ways, 11 personnel and 12 personnel. He's got great players beside him. Two [Trebor Pena] is a great player. 82's a great player, seven, five, I could go on and on and on. Their success isn't by accident. They're very efficient. They are a team that plays really hard. In the Dome, I believe they're 5-1, so they defend home turf really well. Really good football team.

On Miami’s experience playing indoors: We split time inside and outside. There's nothing like playing and practicing on the grass. It's always better on the body, but we'll use the IPF. [The Carrier Dome] will be loud and we’re expecting a great college football atmosphere. All the amenities we use to prepare for those away trips, we'll use in the IPF, but we also have ways to do that outside.

On the impact of the new recruiting calendar: There's always last second flips tied into every signing day. I just don't know if they're really last second. It’s like cramming for a test. If you haven't been doing what you're supposed to do all along, it's probably not going to look exactly right.

Recruiting is a marathon. It is relentless, every single day, every second that you're not game-planning and working with your players. Earlier today, I said on the radio that if you can't identify and recruit, your value to a college football program is very little. I'm talking about everybody in the building, from your people in development, your people in recruiting, your people in academics, it's always going to be about the people. The identification process is even more important than the recruiting process. Because if you recruit your butt off and bring in all the wrong ones, you're going to be in worse shape than ever. So in other words, it never stops.

On his memories of the 1992 game against Syracuse (Cristobal started at RT): Loud, loud, loud. I remember getting to the team hotel and there was a contingent of fans that made it uncomfortable for us upon arrival. And I remember they had really good players. They had a really good defensive end. I remember not being able to hear and trying to look at the ball and trying to get off at the same time and block that absolute monster of a defensive end they had. And I remember Chris Gedney getting tackled at the three-yard line and time expiring. That's what I remember. Great game, great football team, physical.

On D’yoni Hill: He's good. Rotation-wise, I don't think there's anything to it. He's a really good player. He's going to play for us. You'll see him this week.

On injuries: We have complete clarity on Ryan Rodriguez. He's playing. And then we're right there with both Damari [Brown] and Elijah [Alston], and I think we'll have more clarity [later this week].

On the decision to squib kick: We didn't have success on one of our earlier kickoffs. We weren't quite sure that we were ready to kick it deep again and that we were airtight in how we were going to do that.

But then when we looked at it on the iPad, we felt like we could get there, and we did on the next kickoff. It was the exact same scheme. It was just about ball placement, with more physicality and more discipline by the safeties. We really crowded, almost overlapped the front line. If you do that, your safeties have to be on point. They have to be perfect. If not, the distribution of your tacklers and the leverages are off. All of a sudden, there's a giant hole and we didn't leverage the ball. In fact, we let it split and the contain guy wasn't physical enough and didn't set the edge well enough. All of a sudden, they went [six]. But we've done it before, not a ton. We have a couple different ways to get to it. We feel better about it now.

On Tyler Baron: He’s not banged up. That's just the way the coaches chose to do the rotation.

On Dylan Day: He's going to be a great player. He's really close to being in that rotation. He's right there. And we have confidence to play him now in the rotation, should his number be called. His play on special teams has been nothing short of spectacular. He's been a game changer. And over the years at Miami, we've all seen how great special teams players end up becoming great everydown players. He's on track to do that.

On the ability to hold back talented young players due to depth: Progress. We'd like to develop more depth in the secondary, and at all spots. But I do see a really bright future for our young guys. You saw Jordan Lyle really have a day, and Lofton's had his moments. By the end of this year, if we take care of business, we should have more freshman All-Americans in the last two years than just about anybody. And that would be a testament to recruiting the right guys, developing them the right way, and then granting them the opportunities that they earned. Dylan Day is a great example of that, and I do think that our depth is getting better.

On the defense: I don't think many defenses allowed seven points this past weekend. The first drive was certainly something that was not positive. We blew it..they’ve got to pass that off and the safety takes the post and the corner fluffs of. After that, the Pick Six turned things around.

The offense was sputtering a little bit, and all of a sudden, for nine successive drives, five of them were three and outs, two of them were four and outs, another one was a turnover, and then the last drive ended the game. But nine straight possessions without a score, three of those were on the plus side. That's really, really hard to do, and Wake Forest was averaging well over 20 points a game. Tremendous turnaround and communication, alignment and assignment. We leveraged the ball well, we communicated well, and lined up and played fast and free. Certainly a step towards what we want to be as defense.

So who’s been saying this for years? Forgot his name



It’s so logical that this is how you win

 

[TaylorWalls]

Ehhhhh, our rosters were usually more loaded than our competition and we didn’t win ****. Sure we were never on a top 5 or top 10 level but relative to our schedule we were more talented than most of the teams we played and lost to. This was evident by our recruiting rankings and the players drafted in comparison to our opponents.

People always want to make things reductive and easy. It’s one of the other. Nah, to win you need good coaching and the jimmies and joes. We can go back and forth on what is more important, sure but both are needed.

This is a woefully unproven claim and is the #1 reason for our divided fan base. People thought we had talent simply because of the logo.

I mean, how does this season not open your eyes to that? The same coach who lost to Middle Tennessee is 10-1 and ranked #6. What is the difference?

 

[DTP]

We’ve recruited better than 90% of the teams we’ve played the last 20 years. Why do we only win 55% of the time?

 

[TaylorWalls]

We’ve recruited better than 90% of the teams we’ve played the last 20 years. Why do we only win 55% of the time?

Because being ranked 19th or 27th by a magazine doesn’t prove that players were better or worse than others. But you sure believed it.

 

[grover]

So who’s been saying this for years? Forgot his name



It’s so logical that this is how you win

I'm assuming you're referring to this section:

"Recruiting is a marathon. It is relentless, every single day, every second that you're not game-planning and working with your players. Earlier today, I said on the radio that if you can't identify and recruit, your value to a college football program is very little. I'm talking about everybody in the building, from your people in development, your people in recruiting, your people in academics, it's always going to be about the people. The identification process is even more important than the recruiting process. Because if you recruit your butt off and bring in all the wrong ones, you're going to be in worse shape than ever. So in other words, it never stops."

If so, that would be a poster that goes by Dwinstitles. Very humble guy. Also some pretty good podcasts.

 

[bobbydigius]

This is a woefully unproven claim and is the #1 reason for our divided fan base. People thought we had talent simply because of the logo.

I mean, how does this season not open your eyes to that? The same coach who lost to Middle Tennessee is 10-1 and ranked #6. Wha is the difference?

Miami has been cheeks since basically the Peach Bowl against LSU. Notice I say Miami and not Mario here. Now since you bring up the 2022 season, yeah Cam is much better than TVD and Dawson is much better than Gatt-*** who is utter ****. Like I said it both.

Now in terms of my unproven claim, take a look at the recruiting rankings from 2006 to 2023 and then take a look at the players that were drafted and then lastly compare it to the teams we usually play on our schedule.

Here is an example, look at the players No D had on defense during his time at Miami, some of them still play in the league. Yet our defense sucked. We recently had a real drop off in the draft but for years we would get players drafted, not elite players, but NFL players nonetheless and couldn’t beat **** teams.

Now once again this isn’t a knock against Mario just a statement that you need both players and coaching and using the last 20 years at Miami as an example. That doesn’t dismiss that Mario has elevated the talent on the team just that it’s a mix of both.