Podcast: Experience is what stands out most about Mario Cristobal’s Miami coaching staff
For very different reasons, there are few assistant coaches more accomplished than the Miami Hurricanes’ new coordinators.
Although only 38, Josh Gattis, who officially took over as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Wednesday, won the Broyles Award last year as the nation’s top assistant coach and has already been an OC for two College Football Playoff teams, including the Michigan Wolverines last season.
At 63, Kevin Steele, who officially took over as defensive coordinator Wednesday, has coached in college in five different decades, spent four seasons as the coach of the Baylor Bears and was a Broyles finalist back in 2017 when he was the Auburn Tigers’ DC.
Coach Mario Cristobal came to Miami with a promise the school would spend big on football and it’s manifesting with his coaching staff. On a new episode of the Eye on the U podcast, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, break down a series of new hires, headlined by the additions of Gattis and Steele.
Cristobal said he only wants “home-run hires” and, on paper, these two qualify with the experience they bring to Coral Gables and he poached both from Big Ten Conference schools to flex a little bit of muscle.
His smaller hires are intriguing, too. Although the Hurricanes haven’t yet officially announced the additions of quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce and defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae, the two new position coaches add a little bit of local flavor to the staff. Ponce is from Miami and spent years coaching at local high schools, and Addae is from Tampa and has extensive experience recruiting South Florida.
Ponce, 50, qualifies in the experience category, too, and is leaving his post as the Appalachian State Mountaineers’ offensive coordinator to become a position coach — and maybe line himself up to become his hometown team’s offensive coordinator in the future.
As always, thanks for listening and we’ll be back next week as Cristobal continues to fill out his staff. Until then, please continue to rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
