Miami’s Cristobal flat-out tackles ‘swag’ talk with ESPN’s Herbstreit. Everything he said
New University of Miami football coach Mario Cristobal won national championships in 1989 and 1991 as a Hurricane offensive lineman.
But he will not in any way attempt to play the nostalgia card in getting his Hurricanes to start winning again.
“Swag,’’ Cristobal told ESPN College GameDay commentator Kirk Herbstreit on Saturday, “is a byproduct of flat-out kicking butt in everything you do...’’
“I’m not in any way, shape or form trying to tell you Miami is back to the 80s and 90s. I’m trying to bring everything to modern day and time,’’ Cristobal told Herbstreit, when asked how he goes back to his roots and yet gets the Hurricanes to understand “that there’s more to this than the flamboyant style that some of those great teams had, getting more the culture to be what it really needs to be to win.’’
Cristobal told Herbsteit that “when people think about the flamboyant style they think about the toughness, the physicality, the success they had on the field. I mean it was team and year after year of going to different places where teams were ranked No. 1 and walking out of there with a W.
“...It all starts with how you play the game, right? It has to look a certain way, it has to sound a certain way, it has to feel a certain way. And there’s no substitute for that.
“Swag,’’ he said, “starts in the trenches, it filters out to the guys on the perimeter. It’s a mentality, it’s a way of life, it’s a DNA, it’s not a T-shirt you put on and off. And it’s not a proclamation. It’s not a tweet, it’s not a slogan. It’s getting to work and taking care of business so it looks a certain way on Saturdays.”
GameDay host Rece Davis asked Cristobal what the program has to do first and foremost to get back to elite contention for championships.
“Well, I think we all know that when Miami is on, it’s different,’’ Cristobal said. “It’s like no other place in the country. And the combination of all the things that make programs great is what has to transpire here as well.
“It’s up to us to get to know our roster so we can dive in and pour into player development. Then, really ramp up talent acquisitions so that as we develop our players both as people and as players, making sure that we also put them in a position to be successful with the use of our personnel while at the same time making sure this is a holistic approach to not only football and academics but to their future long after they’re done playing.
“All in all it’s just a full-throttle approach to attacking every facet of their development.”
Finally, Davis asked Cristobal about the “coaching carousel” and what he thinks might need to be changed and if there needs to be “guidelines or guardrails” implemented “to change the timing of this so it doesn’t impact the end of the regular season.”
Said Cristobal: “It would be helpful because right now there isn’t a good time. It comes at you in different ways at different times.
“It doesn’t make it comfortable for anybody. Certainly, like anything else, with college football and collegiate athletics, if there are certain windows where things can transpire, it gives everybody a chance to plan and prepare. And if there is a move to be made, there is some order, because it’s different. It’s difficult, but right now it is what it is. I’d be in favor of something of that nature to try to help everybody’s processes out.’’
He ended his interview with the old, familiar “Go Canes!”
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 12:37 PM.
