What to know about Hurricanes’ new tight ends coach, with one hire left to make
The Miami Hurricanes on Tuesday morning formally announced Favian Upshaw as the team’s new running backs coach.
Later that day, a second hire for Mario Cristobal’s staff has surfaced.
The Hurricanes are expected to hire Army’s Mike Viti as their tight ends coach, a source confirmed to the Miami Herald. ESPN was first to report. Viti will replace Cody Woodiel, who held that role for three seasons but left this offseason to be the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at Ole Miss.
Viti, who played football at Army from 2004-07 and served a deployment as a platoon leader in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, spent the past decade on Army’s coaching staff. He has spent the past four seasons as the Black Knights’ offensive line coach. Prior to that, he was Army’s fullbacks coach from 2016-2021. He was the school’s director of high school and alumni relations in 2015.
He was the American Football Coaches Association’s Assistant Coach of the Year in 2019. He was also awarded the Football Writers Association of America’s Armed Forces Merit Award, which is presented annually to honor an individual and/or group with a military background that has an impact within the realm of college football, during that 2019 season.
With Upshaw’s hiring announced and Viti’s hiring expected, Cristobal’s staff has just one hole left to fill in a cornerbacks coach to replace Zac Etheridge, who is leaving to be the cornerbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals.
The Hurricanes have seven scholarship players at tight end on their roster: Elija Lofton, Luka Gilbert, Cole McConathy (who is moving to the position after starting his UM tenure as a defensive lineman), freshmen Gavin Mueller and Israel Briggs and seldom-used Jackson Carver (coming off last spring’s season ending injury) and Jack Nickel.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 5:06 PM.
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