Mario Cristobal Returns To Coach Miami Hurricanes After Manny Diaz Firing

MIAMI, FL — Hours after announcing Monday morning the firing of the Hurricanes head football coach Manny Diaz, who won’t return for the 2022 season, the University of Miami said former UM player and coach Mario Cristobal would take on the role.

During Diaz’s three seasons with the Hurricanes, the team had a 21-15 record, including going 7-5 during the 2021 season’s regular play. In its most recent game, the team lost 47-10 to Duke University in North Carolina.

Diaz tweeted that he was “disappointed in the university’s decision and the manner in which this played out over the last few weeks. The uncertainty impacted our team, our staff and their families — these are real people that gave everything to this program. For that, for them, I am hurt.”

Cristobal played at Miami, was part of the 1989 and 1991 title-winning teams and returned to the Hurricanes to start his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Butch Davis in 1998, the Associated Press reported.

He left to spend three seasons at Rutgers, then returned to Miami from 2004 through 2006. He wanted to be a candidate for the top job when the Hurricanes fired Larry Coker but instead was hired as coach at Florida International University and spent six seasons there.

Following his time at FIU, he spent four seasons at Alabama as an assistant and the last four years at the University of Oregon as head coach.

During his time in Oregon, Cristobal led the team to three straight Pac-12 conference championship game appearances and two Pac-12 titles. He’s the only coach in the nation whose team has played in a Power Five conference championship game in each of the past three seasons, UM said in a news release. The team had a 35-13 record during his four years with the Ducks.

“My family and I are excited to return home to the University of Miami, which has been so instrumental in shaping me as a person, player and coach,” Cristobal said. “This program as an unparalleled tradition and an exciting future ahead of it. I can’t wait to compete for championships and help mold our student-athletes into leaders on and off the field who will make our university, our community and our loyal fan vase proud.”

President Julio Frenk said, “Mario’s legacy as a student-athlete at (UM) is well established. And the standard for competitive excellence that he and his teammates helped establish is one to which we continue to aspire. Our selection, however, was not one based in nostalgia for a proud past, but rather in a bold vision for a promising future.”

He added, “The characteristics that helped Mario excel as a national championship-winning player — drive, determination and discipline — continue to propel his success as a coach. In Mario we have found a head coach who shares our belief in providing student-athletes with the very best opportunities to succeed on and off the field, and our commitment to winning at the highest level.”