‘Prayers are with Mario’: Miami Hurricanes mourn passing of Mario Cristobal’s mom, Clara
Clara Cristobal, the mother of Miami Hurricanes football coach Mario Cristobal, was a fighter, a Cuban immigrant who fled the Castro regime and settled down in South Florida in the 1960s where she and her husband would raise their two sons.
Clara Cristobal died, the University of Miami announced in a message passing condolences to their head football coach and his family. While a cause of death was not announced, Clara, 81, had been battling an unspecified illness and was in the hospital in December when Cristobal returned to Miami after accepting the Hurricanes’ head coaching job.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mario Cristobal’s mother, Clara,” UM director of athletics Dan Radakovich said in a statement. “On behalf of the entire Miami Hurricanes Family our love, thoughts and prayers are with Mario, Jessica and their family during this difficult time.”
Clara’s illness dated back to at least late November, back when Cristobal was still the head coach at the University of Oregon. Cristobal took a flight to South Florida the week before Oregon’s Pac-12 Championship Game against Utah to be with his mother.
“She’s fighting,” Cristobal told reporters then. “That’s the best way to say it, and that’s exactly what I expected to see out of her.”
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