Miami’s Cristobal talks publicly for first time in months on new coaches, Van Dyke, roster

A week and a day before the March 4 start of spring football, University of Miami coach Mario Cristobal spoke publicly Friday for the first time since early signing day in December, addressing everything from his new offensive and defensive coordinators to quarterback Tyler Van Dyke — and the transfer portal.

In an interview with WQAM sports radio host Joe Rose, Cristobal also discussed UM’s recent history in the NFL Draft, the recruiting aspect of assistant coaches and his 2023 team.

When asked what it was like “going through the growing pains” in his first season with the Canes, who finished 5-7 in 2022, Cristobal said he “knew it was going to be a very difficult challenge.’’

“We knew it,” the coach told Rose. “Now, is it difficult in terms of just the results? Of course... We’d been 10, 11 straight years of in December you’re either playing for a conference title, a national title, a Rose Bowl. You become very, not only used to it, but you’re addicted to that. But you’re also realistic. There’s a reason we were brought here and it wasn’t because things were going well. There had to be a complete upheaval of especially culture wise, the capacity to work, the ability to press and push and just be a team that can face adversity, overcome it and then close a huge talent gap.

“It’s clearly defined in the fact that the University of Miami has always dominated the draft, and then the last five years, really the worst five years of Miami history as it relates to the draft. That falls on recruiting and an organization is responsible for doing that. So we knew we had to fix that.’’

More from Cristobal in the interview:

▪ On new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, known for his prolific passing offenses: “It’s an offense that does a really good job getting the ball in the hands of playmakers... He’s an elite play-caller and quarterback coach and you know part of his history is being in the Air Raid system. But you’ve seen over the course of the last several years those guys have transformed [and] evolved into guys that get downhill in the run game with power, counter...and all that good stuff.”

Cristobal said as Dawson has “delved more and more” into offenses, “whatever he’s had, he’s made work.”

“If he’s had good running backs, they’ve run the heck out of the ball. If he’s had good receivers and quarterbacks, they’ve thrown it around pretty well. So what we expect is a very explosive enhancement to our offense and a guy that really knows how to get the ball in the hands of the playmakers — especially with a really fortified enhance offensive line.”

▪ On new defensive coordinator Lance Guidry: “Schematically, he’s just really hard to play against. I’ve played against him before. You’re not sure where that pressure is coming from. The coverages are disguised. You’re not getting the same picture every snap and that makes it really hard for an offense, for linemen, for quarterbacks. And that’s one thing we had to take a drastic step in. Last year, we were implementing a system that was, we just stayed vanilla throughout the course of the year. This gives us a chance to be really dynamic and very hard to figure out but the part that I love about him, he gets his guys to play really, really, really damn hard.

“I mean, they are flying all over the place and knocking people around. They get to the ball in a hurry. They get there with bad intentions and they finish...’’

▪ On quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who missed most of the second half last season with a shoulder injury to his throwing arm, returning to the team instead of transferring: “The thing I was concerned about most was surrounding him with the caliber of talent that a guy like that needs to have to be successful. You got to be able to block them up. You got to be able to open and you got to be able to scheme it open too. Systematically. It just didn’t fit man...

“When you’re in a roster transition and it doesn’t quite fit, you have to keep finding tweaks and gotta keep finding ways to make things work. We didn’t do a good enough job when the injuries piled up. We just didn’t. It’s difficult but we didn’t. Tyler to me is a guy that, besides the fact he’s a really good football player, he doesn’t get enough credit. A lot of guys would have ran to the hills — ‘Oh, I’m not getting this, it’s not happening.’ Instead... he was instrumental in getting a lot of these guys on board and signing them.”

“...The guy is really motivated and focused on having a great season and having a great football team, so a lot of credit to him.’’

▪ On the UM receivers, who still don’t have an assistant coach, as dismissed offensive coordinator Josh Gattis served that role: “We definitely feel better about wide receiver, not only because of the two guys that have joined us, but the tremendous uptick in the levels of commitment and performance so far, by some of the guys that have been here.

“Jacolby George and Brashard Smith have taken a tremendous step up. ...All of a sudden, these guys have gained eight, 10 12 pounds and they’re grinding and they’re working and it’s really good to see. Guys like Isaiah Horton haven’t had a chance yet and he is looking great. Xavier Restrepo has always busted his butt and done really well. Then, you got guys like [newcomers] Ray Ray [Joseph] and Bobby Washington. Those guys are impressive dudes.”

▪ On the transfer portal window that reopens May 1 and closes May 15, and if the coach expects to add more transfers: “Absolutely. This will be the first go-around with the springtime transfer portal. You gotta determine what you want coming in and then you got to be ready for a couple more [players] to go out. ...Either way we’re prepared.”

▪ On the dual aspect of recruiting and coaching for UM’s assistant coaches: “Every coach has got to be able to [do] both. You can’t hire a bad coach that can recruit. There’s no room for that anymore.’’

Cristobal said the enthusiasm in his program “is through the roof.” He’s pumped about kicking off spring practice, when the newcomers should get “a ton of reps” because of several players “on the mend.” He didn’t name those players specifically, but like last year, there will likely be many who are limited or miss the entire spring. He said his signing class, rated by the major recruiting sites among the top seven nationally, is “committed to doing it in a certain way” that makes him realize “this is like deja vu ‘97, ‘98, ‘99” — the classes that preceded UM’s last national title in 2001.

“Our players know we’re surrounded by some really good players and coaches,’’ Cristobal told WQAM. “And the best part is the other players we’re recruiting. They want to play with elite players and they’re seeing the type of players that are coming here. So this thing now starts building upon itself.’’