COACH… “a shift in the culture”

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal made an appearance this week on The Joe Rose Show on 560-WQAM. With his team almost two-thirds through spring practice, he shared his thoughts on the team and the progress as they prepare for the 2026 season.

On establishing a team identity for 2026…

"We talk as a staff and say this is what we know we can be good at," said Cristobal. "Then these are things we show potential to be good at. And then these are things we don't do well and we got to fix them or eliminate it from the scheme and not put our players in that position.”

On motivation…

"We don't meddle with people who need to be motivated. If you need to be motivated to come into this place and train and get prepared to be the best player you can be for this team, then we made a mistake and we got the wrong coach or the wrong player.”

On the summer program…

Now, from April to August is a lot of time for guys to develop mentally and physically. You don't count anybody out. Everything will be settled at the end of fall camp. How we finish spring is how we start fall camp.”

On expectations and focus…

"The expectations for myself and this program are beyond what anybody out there can have. Miami has slugged around for 25 years and has been irrelevant and now all of a sudden it is like woah Miami is viewed very differently and I think everybody has to appreciate that because it is difficult to come out of that hole.”

“This is a time to focus on momentum and process. It is important to have positive anger and if we don't win every game, we are going to be pissed. It is all focused in a direction where it can be constructive and help us get better—and that is what we are doing.”

BOTTOM LINE:

The atmosphere and culture has changed at Miami. The focus is now on taking that next step to the top.

GO CANES!