Mario Cristobal's path back to Miami was forged by family. He has Miami on the cusp of a CFP title

“Grades had to be a certain way and there was no straying from doing the right thing," Cristobal said. "And we weren’t perfect, but we had unbelievable, hard-nosed, tough and demanding parents that we maybe didn’t understand at the time but today we're extremely grateful for.”

He is the coach at the University of Miami and he runs his team the way his parents ran their family. Hard-nosed. Tough. Demanding. Luis and Clara had plans and hope, trying to build a life. They got there. Mario Cristobal came back to Miami four years ago with a plan and with hope, looking to build a champion. He could get there Monday night when his Hurricanes play Indiana in the College Football Playoff championship game at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami's home field.

“I remember me and Coach Cristobal talking on the phone for the first time,” Miami quarterback Carson Beck said, recalling how he committed to the Hurricanes 12 months ago for his final college season and with playing in this game the sole goal. “I was sitting in Jacksonville in my house in my room, and I just had a big smile on my face and he had a big smile on his face. He said, ‘Let’s get to work.’ I believed in his vision.”

Miami (13-2, No. 10 AP, CFP) is seeking its sixth national championship. It would be Cristobal's third with the Hurricanes, to go along with two won as a player. Indiana (15-0, No. 1 AP, CFP) is seeking its first. Cristobal's path is a logical, obvious storyline: Local kid comes home, to his alma mater, and returns it to glory after about a quarter-century of sputtering.

It is also a storyline that Cristobal wants absolutely no part of.

“I spend more time appreciating the people around me and the opportunity that comes with it and pouring out any feelings that might arise in that manner," Cristobal said. "That kind of thought process. ... it is not about me. I can assure you that every ounce in me is dedicated to those around me.”

That is basically what he said when he took over at FIU before the 2007 season, what at the time quite possibly was the worst major college program in America a few miles away from Miami's campus. And that's also what he said when he took over at Oregon eight years ago, and what he said again when he came home to Miami. He preaches family, he preaches hard work, he preaches togetherness. He does not deviate.

“He's a dawg, man,” Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. said. “It’s a guy that will get the job done no matter what. He loves adversity. That’s what a dawg is. He will push through it.”

Fletcher knows all about Cristobal's famous intensity, but he also has seen the softer side. Fletcher's father died last season, the same week that Miami was getting ready to play rival Florida State. Every Miami player went to the funeral; Cristobal arranged a fleet of buses and adjusted the game-week schedule to make it happen.

“That's who he is,” Fletcher said. “He'll do anything for us.”

Cristobal's first season at Miami was 2022, when the Hurricanes lost at home to Middle Tennessee State and then got absolutely humbled at home by the Seminoles, 45-3. It showed how far Miami had to go.

They went 5-7 that season, 7-6 the next. Then their fortunes began to change. The Hurricanes reached No. 4 in the AP Top 25 last season led by No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward, before a late fade.

“We're getting closer,” Cristobal said when the season was over. “Keep working.”

That's what they did. The Hurricanes landed Beck and other key contributors in the transfer portal. They made a statement by beating then-No. 6 Notre Dame to start the season; that three-point win was ultimately the margin that got Miami into the CFP field and left the Fighting Irish out.

They got to No. 2 in the AP poll before a midseason sputter saw them fall to 6-2 and on the brink of losing all chance of getting to the playoff. A team meeting was held. Resolve suddenly became steeled. Cristobal's primary mantra — go 1-0 this week — took hold. Everything started to click for the Hurricanes. They haven't lost since, going a perfect 7-0.

When his playing days at Miami were done, Cristobal considered a pro career and then pivoted toward joining the U.S. Secret Service. He had an opportunity to do that before deciding that his best path was coaching.

Miami brought him home in 2021. Cristobal agonized for days about what to do. Oregon was a job he loved. He had the program, he felt, in perfect position. But Miami was home. His mother was ailing. It all made sense for a Hurricane to become a Hurricane again.

“It was time for all of us to join together and give back to Miami,” Cristobal said.

Clara Cristobal died in the spring of 2022 after being ill for several months, unable to really communicate at times in her final weeks. Her funeral was the day of the very first spring practice of the Cristobal era at Miami. He led the practice, then went to say good-bye. He believes that is what she would have wanted.

“If she could speak when I saw her, she’d say, ‘Get your butt back to work. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be working and doing your job because people depend on you,'" Cristobal said. “And therefore, that’s always my understanding of how it’s supposed to be.”

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