Expectations are high for Miami in 2026. After falling to Indiana in the national championship, the focus for the Hurricanes is on returning to the mountaintop.
While the roster for the 2026 Miami Hurricanes is mostly set, Mario Cristobal is still rounding out his coaching staff. He has hired a former Kansas coach to help with the defense, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
“Miami is expected to hire Kansas nickels coach/assistant defensive backs coach Matt Birkett as a member of its defensive staff,” Zenitz posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Birkett spent last season as a coach for Kansas after spending the 2024 season with Tulsa and 2023 with South Florida. He began his coaching career in the high school ranks in 2007 before landing his first college job at UCLA in 2010. He would return to the high school ranks for one more season before moving to Maine in 2012.
At Maine, he began as a tight ends coach, and then running backs coach, before moving to defensive backs. In 2018, Maine won the CAA championship and made it to the FCS semi-final, led by a strong secondary that led the conference in multiple categories, including a CAA-leading 18 interceptions. Birikett then moved to JMU, coaching under Curt Cignetti.
At James Madison, he helped the transition from FCS to FBS for the Dukes and led the team to one of the best defensive teams in the nation in their first year at the FBS level. When Cignetti left for Indiana, Birkett did not follow; instead went to USF before his stops at Tulsa and Kansas.
Expectations are high for Miami in 2026. After falling to Indiana in the national championship, the focus for the Hurricanes is on returning to the mountaintop. While the roster for the 2026 Miami Hurricanes is mostly set, Mario Cristobal is still rounding out his coaching staff. He has hired a former Kansas coach to help with the defense, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
