Here’s what Cristobal is bringing to UM from Alabama, via Oregon. And Radakovich’s plans
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:
▪ Mario Cristobal angered some high-level officials at UM when he left the Canes coaching staff early in 2013, six weeks after accepting a job as Al Golden’s associate head coach and tight ends coach.
But his decision to bolt UM and become Alabama’s assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator assuredly ranks among the best decisions he has ever made.
Instead of working with a coach who would be fired two years later in Golden, Cristobal instead had a chance to learn under Nick Saban, who has said that nobody outworks Cristobal.
“Four years at Alabama was like getting a PhD in coaching,” he said.
Cristobal was an elite recruiter at Alabama and was named the National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports in the 2015 recruiting cycle. In the 2016 cycle, he was ranked as the nation’s No. 2 recruiter in the country by 247Sports.
In a chat with WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr., Cristobal also referenced “that fourth quarter program that I learned so much about in my time [at Alabama]. It’s a game changer. It will be a game changer on our team.”
Alabama’s fourth quarter program is a conditioning regimen run by Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran.
It runs four days a week in the offseason and includes grueling workouts, long-distance running, short-distance running, agility drills, mat drills and speed development drills. There’s a major mental component to it as well.
UM will implement something akin to that here, with Oregon’s Aaron Feld replacing Duke-bound David Feeley as UM’s strength and conditioning coach.
“You have to preach physicality in everything you do,” Cristobal said.
“The trademark of your team is people don’t want to play you because you bring that physical brand. Not eveyone comes out of the womb as a tough guy. You’ve got to be able to weave that into your practice sessions.
“We want to walk a certain way, talk a certain way, train a certain way, kick [butt] a certain way.”
UM’s lines didn’t control the line of scrimmage nearly enough in recent years. Changing that will be one of Cristobal’s top priorities.
▪ Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles has been linked to the UM offensive coordinator job, and departing UM quarterback D’Eriq King tweeted “@KendalBriles to U?” on Wednesday before deleting it.
Briles, 39, was King’s offensive coordinator at Houston in 2018. He was FSU’s offensive coordinator in 2019, and served in that same role at Arkansas the past two seasons.
Arkansas was 31st in the country in yards per game at 440.9 this past season.
Cristobal also has been searching for a defensive coordinator.
▪ This is unusual: A UM basketball recruiting class being ranked ahead of a football class.
247 Sports has UM’s football class 49th and the Canes’ basketball class 19th.
UM’s football class jumped from 61 to 49 after Miami flipped tight end Jaleel Skinner from Alabama.
The Canes’ four basketball commitments for 2022 are four-star Chicago based power forward AJ Casey (ranked the 67th best player in the class), Maryland-based four-star center Favour Aire, Washington D.C.-based three-star small forward Christian Watson and Milwaukee-based three-star small forward Danilo Jovanovich.
▪ New UM athletic director Dan Radakovich told WQAM’s Zagacki and Bailey that after he arrives in a few weeks, he will sit down with Cristobal.
“I need to understand what are the most important things to Mario,” he said. “We can say yes to this part of the list and maybe not yet [to others] and then [determine] timetables for some of those.”
On the baseball program, Radakovich said: “Miami for so many years was the flag bearer. Baseball is very important. It’s something we still have great youth and high school baseball in this area. I’m looking forward to working with Gino [DiMare] and make sure we still have that great legacy.”
The Canes baseball team is rated 23rd in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll.
DiMare is 86-45 in three seasons at UM, with the second year of his tenure short-circuited by COVID-19 forcing cancellation of the college baseball season.
Radakovich - who said “you can’t market your way into a full stadium” in football - has a plan for his first 30 days.
“Come early January when I get here, I want to just listen. If you are going to move the paradigm, you have to understand the culture.”
▪ Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, in his first public comments since his firing by UM, told Nittany Lions reporters of his departure: “I’d rather remember my time at Miami for the positives. I think we did things the right way. I think we left the place in good shape.”
▪ Quick stuff: Former UM receiver Mark Pope transferred to Jackson State, center Corey Gaynor transferred to North Carolina and former receiver Jeremiah Payton moved to Alabama A&M… UM basketball coach Jim Larranaga said the school is considering redshirting freshman guard Jakai Robinson because of the Canes’ veteran depth at that position. …
The Orange Bowl - preparing for its Georgia-Michigan national playoff semifinal on New Year’s Eve - informed members that they must be masked at all times, can have zero physical contact with anyone on grounds and cannot even remove their masks while eating or drinking around either team or coaches or players, even in hospitality areas.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 2:34 PM.
