Mario Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes are feeling it.
After beating the No. 7-seeded Texas A&M Aggies on their home turf in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Miami defeated the No. 2-seed Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night, 24-14.
On the field after the game with Cristobal, who was an offensive tackle at Miami from 1989-92, was former Hurricanes head coach Jimmy Johnson, who Cristobal is eternally grateful for.
“At the end of the day, he changed our lives, my brother and I,” Cristobal said when talking about Johnson after the game. “We were still kind of a nobody. We pride ourselves on that. He offered my brother and I scholarships. My parents, may they rest in peace, they didn’t even know what a scholarship was. They were Cuban-Americans that came over and found a way and tried to make a living. Fast-forward, almost 40 years later, he’s [Johnson] on the market on the sideline supporting us. He set such a excessive customary …
“Actually proud that this workforce is making him proud, and in addition, once more, the very first thing he says, ‘keep in mind, let’s hold getting higher.'”
Johnson quoted a submit on X of the aforementioned Cristobal quote, saying, “We’ve come a good distance!”
As a participant, Cristobal was a part of two Miami nationwide title groups (1989 and 1991). In the meantime, Cristobal’s brother, Luis, performed guard at Miami from 1987-90. Johnson, who later went on to win two Tremendous Bowls as the pinnacle coach of the Dallas Cowboys (1992 and 1993), was the Hurricanes’ head coach from 1984-88, with Miami going a mixed 52-9 and profitable nationwide title honors in 1987; he was beforehand the pinnacle coach at Oklahoma State from 1979-83.
Previous to taking up at Miami for the 2022 season, Cristobal, who was a graduate assistant for the Hurricanes from 1998-2000 and an offensive assistant from 2004-06, was the full-time head coach at Oregon from 2018-21, with the Geese amassing a mixed 35-13 file. He was additionally the pinnacle coach at Florida Worldwide from 2007-12. Cristobal was then the assistant head coach/offensive line coach at Alabama underneath Nick Saban from 2013-16 earlier than becoming a member of Oregon’s teaching employees in 2017 and later changing into its head coach.
Beneath Cristobal, Miami is a mixed 33-18 since 2022, at the moment within the midst of back-to-back double-digit-winning seasons and is now 12-2 within the present season.
Miami will play the winner of the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Ole Miss within the semifinal spherical of the School Soccer Playoff on Jan. 8.
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