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Word on the Street: Tampa Coaching Clinic

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Ive said it a few times..I think Mario knew things werent the best but I dont think he realized how bad things were until he finally had a chance to really look at everything. Hes trying to repair so many broken relationships in recruiting, trying to regain the trust of the current players and at the same time trying to get the community to buy in again that this isnt just another coaching regime like the last 15 years. This time will be different. Lets hope he is right.
 
bradtejeda said:
Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal is hitting on all cylinders this off-season. The staff is almost complete but that doesn't mean CMC is taking any time off. Coach Cristobal attended a Florida Coaches Clinic in Tampa over the weekend to discuss his objectives as Miami's new man in charge. I had the pleasure of talking with Coach Derrick “Smitty” Smith, Ocala Vanguard High School Asst. Head Coach, who was present at the clinic and also coached former UM Quarterback N'Kosi Perry. Coach Smitty and I talked about some things that stood out when meeting Cristobal, as well as where the direction of the Miami program could be heading.

Coach Smitty’s first impression when meeting Cristobal was that he was a very "down to earth" guy who is very hands on and LOVES what he does, saying Cristobal is a great communicator who takes instant control of a room. One message that Coach Smitty felt Cristobal delivered was his objective of "Bringing together the program as one voice to drive the changes we feel need to take place", whether that's keeping South Florida guys home or bringing Miami back to the national stage. Coach Cristobal emphasized that a key to getting Miami back is by "getting back to the basics - everyone has to be accountable and work hard.”

On the technical side of things, Coach Smitty also left impressed with Coach Cristobal’s teaching techniques of the gallop step and hand placement pointers when it came to the trench drills.

Overall, Coach Smitty told me that Cristobal feels the direction of the program is heading back to the days of Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson.

“He's putting together one of the best staffs ever assembled in my opinion,” Smitty said of Cristobal. “He's recruiting and landing some of the best talent in the country. I'm excited to see Coach Cristobal get the best out of his coaches and players. He just seems like someone that you would have a hard time not working hard for. I see no excuses or issues with players like the prior staff.”

Word on the Street: The word is Mario is taking back South Florida and just by his session this weekend in Tampa, everyone thought he was the best speaker of the day. Coaches and players will follow this guy because of who he is and the people he is surrounding himself with.
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Thanks, Brad! Love ya/miss ya, hope to see you on calls in the future.
 
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Life sure is strange the way that it can throw you a curve ball when you expect a fastball and vice versa. Just a few months ago this program was dead. It was mired in mediocrity with absolutely no direction and no identity. The program was just existing literally subsisting on the barely detectable traces of brand goodwill that had long since evaporated. The once fleshy carcass of a once proud program picked clean by apathy, greed, corruption, mediocrity, incompetence and negligence.

How is it possible that in a few short weeks this program could go from the above to a program that is fully committed to winning and returning to the pinnacle of the sport? Somehow in a matter of weeks, this program and it's leadership had the type of "Come to Jesus" moment that the hardest of the hardcore had been fantasizing about for close to 15 years. In a matter of weeks the administration went from being content with 7-5/8-4 type seasons by doing the bare minimum, having a mediocre staff and just cashing the ACC checks to wanting to compete with Clemson, Georgia and Alabama.

In a few short weeks we go from being tightwad cheapskates to having a multi billionaire booster and an administration who is now committed to a football budget only rivaled by the Alabama's and the Georgia's of the world. We go from an out of his league Manny Diaz with his mediocre staff to Mario Cristobal ripping out the old stale foundation and replacing it with the Alabama blueprint and putting together one of the best staffs ever assembled. Is this real life? Everything about this program has changed and will continue to change until not one of us will be able to recognize it anymore. We just got an IPF built a few years ago in addition to some great facility upgrades which were quite good. Is the new regime happy with that? Heck no! Now we are expanding the IPF and building newer and better facilities. We have tripled the amount of coaches on the support staff and I would guess the recruiting budget had grown by just as much. We have totally revamped our nutrition and our Strength and Conditioning is now on the cutting edge. Alabama has a sports science department. Now we do too and the man who will be running it is one of the most respected and accomplished professionals in that field who was previously in charge of the same department for the St. Louis Blues of the NHL. There is no more tolerance for half measures. This program is going 1st class all the way! The locker room and weight rooms we have are quite nice and nothing to sneeze at but are they the best? No and all of a sudden that isn't good enough so now we are going to upgrade both so that they are state of the art.

Talk of a new football stadium was once considered a pipe dream. Not anymore! That one may take a bit more time but it just goes to show that nothing is considered impossible or too farfetched anymore. With Dan Radakovich, Mario Cristobal and John Ruiz on our side it will be only the best for Miami. The way it should have been a long time ago. Better late than never! It's great to be!
 
momocharles78 said:
We do this every time there’s a new regime
Idc…can we just win on Saturdays and sometimes on Thursdays
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No, some people TRY to do this with every coaching change, but this is different. No one ooohed and aaaahed over Al Golden and his staff. Until Manny hired Lashlee, he was dead man walking. It's just not the same feel at all. This is the first time in 20 years, over 20 years, that we've had a complete staff. I can't remember ever going into the first year of a head coach with the assistant coaches having so much experience. Charlie Strong as LB coach... I mean let that one sink in a bit. LB coach in the NFL, sure. At UM? That's just different.
 
FrancisSawyer said:
Life sure is strange the way that it can throw you a curve ball when you expect a fastball and vice versa. Just a few months ago this program was dead. It was mired in mediocrity with absolutely no direction and no identity. The program was just existing literally subsisting on the barely detectable traces of brand goodwill that had long since evaporated. The once fleshy carcass of a once proud program picked clean by apathy, greed, corruption, mediocrity, incompetence and negligence.

How is it possible that in a few short weeks this program could go from the above to a program that is fully committed to winning and returning to the pinnacle of the sport? Somehow in a matter of weeks, this program and it's leadership had the type of "Come to Jesus" moment that the hardest of the hardcore had been fantasizing about for close to 15 years. In a matter of weeks the administration went from being content with 7-5/8-4 type seasons by doing the bare minimum, having a mediocre staff and just cashing the ACC checks to wanting to compete with Clemson, Georgia and Alabama.

In a few short weeks we go from being tightwad cheapskates to having a multi billionaire booster and an administration who is now committed to a football budget only rivaled by the Alabama's and the Georgia's of the world. We go from an out of his league Manny Diaz with his mediocre staff to Mario Cristobal ripping out the old stale foundation and replacing it with the Alabama blueprint and putting together one of the best staffs ever assembled. Is this real life? Everything about this program has changed and will continue to change until not one of us will be able to recognize it anymore. We just got an IPF built a few years ago in addition to some great facility upgrades which were quite good. Is the new regime happy with that? Heck no! Now we are expanding the IPF and building newer and better facilities. We have tripled the amount of coaches on the support staff and I would guess the recruiting budget had grown by just as much. We have totally revamped our nutrition and our Strength and Conditioning is now on the cutting edge. Alabama has a sports science department. Now we do too and the man who will be running it is one of the most respected and accomplished professionals in that field who was previously in charge of the same department for the St. Louis Blues of the NHL. There is no more tolerance for half measures. This program is going 1st class all the way! The locker room and weight rooms we have are quite nice and nothing to sneeze at but are they the best? No and all of a sudden that isn't good enough so now we are going to upgrade both so that they are state of the art.

Talk of a new football stadium was once considered a pipe dream. Not anymore! That one may take a bit more time but it just goes to show that nothing is considered impossible or too farfetched anymore. With Dan Radakovich, Mario Cristobal and John Ruiz on our side it will be only the best for Miami. The way it should have been a long time ago. Better late than never! It's great to be!
Click to expand...
They didn't have a "Come to Jesus" moment.

I came to them.

Signed,
Jesus
 
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Burricane said:
At the time I loved the swagger that Diaz came in with. He was just too green as a HC. Glad we have Cristobal now
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Yeah me as well... It was a totally different "swagger" than Shannon, Golden, and Richt presented. Diaz was just in over his head, doing all these things without the experience of ever being a HC.
 
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ThomasM said:
No, some people TRY to do this with every coaching change, but this is different. No one ooohed and aaaahed over Al Golden and his staff. Until Manny hired Lashlee, he was dead man walking. It's just not the same feel at all. This is the first time in 20 years, over 20 years, that we've had a complete staff. I can't remember ever going into the first year of a head coach with the assistant coaches having so much experience. Charlie Strong as LB coach... I mean let that one sink in a bit. LB coach in the NFL, sure. At UM? That's just different.
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Well said. How anybody in their right mind can say that we do this with every new regime without realizing how radically different this situation is from anything else we have seen is quite frankly well beyond me.

We have never seen anything quite like this and to sit there and pretend that the same thing happens with every new coach we have brought in is moronic. No check that. It's not moronic, it's sub moronic!
 
FrancisSawyer said:
Life sure is strange the way that it can throw you a curve ball when you expect a fastball and vice versa. Just a few months ago this program was dead. It was mired in mediocrity with absolutely no direction and no identity. The program was just existing literally subsisting on the barely detectable traces of brand goodwill that had long since evaporated. The once fleshy carcass of a once proud program picked clean by apathy, greed, corruption, mediocrity, incompetence and negligence.

How is it possible that in a few short weeks this program could go from the above to a program that is fully committed to winning and returning to the pinnacle of the sport? Somehow in a matter of weeks, this program and it's leadership had the type of "Come to Jesus" moment that the hardest of the hardcore had been fantasizing about for close to 15 years. In a matter of weeks the administration went from being content with 7-5/8-4 type seasons by doing the bare minimum, having a mediocre staff and just cashing the ACC checks to wanting to compete with Clemson, Georgia and Alabama.

In a few short weeks we go from being tightwad cheapskates to having a multi billionaire booster and an administration who is now committed to a football budget only rivaled by the Alabama's and the Georgia's of the world. We go from an out of his league Manny Diaz with his mediocre staff to Mario Cristobal ripping out the old stale foundation and replacing it with the Alabama blueprint and putting together one of the best staffs ever assembled. Is this real life? Everything about this program has changed and will continue to change until not one of us will be able to recognize it anymore. We just got an IPF built a few years ago in addition to some great facility upgrades which were quite good. Is the new regime happy with that? Heck no! Now we are expanding the IPF and building newer and better facilities. We have tripled the amount of coaches on the support staff and I would guess the recruiting budget had grown by just as much. We have totally revamped our nutrition and our Strength and Conditioning is now on the cutting edge. Alabama has a sports science department. Now we do too and the man who will be running it is one of the most respected and accomplished professionals in that field who was previously in charge of the same department for the St. Louis Blues of the NHL. There is no more tolerance for half measures. This program is going 1st class all the way! The locker room and weight rooms we have are quite nice and nothing to sneeze at but are they the best? No and all of a sudden that isn't good enough so now we are going to upgrade both so that they are state of the art.

Talk of a new football stadium was once considered a pipe dream. Not anymore! That one may take a bit more time but it just goes to show that nothing is considered impossible or too farfetched anymore. With Dan Radakovich, Mario Cristobal and John Ruiz on our side it will be only the best for Miami. The way it should have been a long time ago. Better late than never! It's great to be!
Click to expand...
I'm typically very pro-freedom and against fascism, but if I had the power to force every person on the planet to read this post, I wouldn't hesitate.

Again, those of us who spent the last decade demanding more and better were called "mopes", "delusional", "not real fans". We're not going to forget. You're welcome, and yes apologies are necessary.
 
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