The Miami Hurricanes are back, and that’s fair to say. Head coach Mario Cristobal may not like the phraseology, but after years lying dormant, the sleeping giant has awakened.
“‘The U is back.’ I cringe at that all the time,” Cristobal told On3’s JD PicKell. “It just like, drives me bananas.”
The reason Cristobal doesn’t like saying that Miami is “back” is that he thinks the Hurricanes never left. More accurately, he likes to say Miami is “here”, as in the Hurricanes have again arrived on the scene.
It’s really all semantics, of course, but the fact of the matter is that Miami’s run to the College Football Playoff national championship game has lit the fuse once again for this program.
“I like to think in terms of Miami — I like to say UM, because back when I played, it was UM — is here. We have activated the most rabid, insane fanbase you can imagine, and also one that really galvanizes. That’s what kind of attracted me to Miami as a player. I watched them just bring this entire community together.
“And I think it really hit hard when we came out of the tunnel at the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State. That place was just going bananas and was filled up with orange and green all over the place. That was like, ‘Okay, where this is now different, like, it’s on. It’s been activated.”
Miami Hurricanes combining hype and on-field results to form a “lethal combination”
The Hurricanes have always been a draw on the recruiting trail. That was true even in the “down” time between their last national championship, in 2001, and this latest run.
That’s simply the draw of South Beach and the championship history of the program.
That’s why Miami has remained competitive, albiet dissapointing, through the Randy Shannon, Al Golden, Mark Richt and Manny Diaz years.
Under Cristobal, though, the Hurricanes want to be more than just competitive. They want to win more championships.
They came up short against the Indiana Hoosiers, of all schools, last month, but Cristobal believes the run through the CFP will only serve to energize an already enthusiastic fanbase.
That will pay dividends on both the recruiting trail and the transfer portal.
“It’s just a lethal combination,” Cristobal said, discussing the enthusiasm for Miami combined with these results. “And one that we’re excited to just generate more enthusiasm and momentum behind it.”
