Mario Cristobal Says Miami Ridicule 'Pissed Me Off,' 'Couldn't Stand the S--t' at a 'F--king Point'

Head coach Mario Cristobal has returned the Miami football program to prominence, and ahead of Monday's College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Indiana, he provided some insight into his decision to make the move from Oregon to Miami in 2022.

Speaking to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, Cristobal recalled getting fed up with the Hurricanes becoming a laughingstock in college football due to their fall from perennial national title contenders to afterthought.

"I've had 20 years of sitting from afar watching Miami get ridiculed and stomped on," Cristobal said. "It pissed me off. I got to the f--king point where I couldn't stand the s--t going on here and the amount of s--t being thrown at it. My brother told me, 'If you don't f--king do it, who the f--k is going to do it?!'"

Cristobal, who is from Miami and won two national titles as an offensive tackle at the University of Miami, decided to take matters into his own hands by accepting the school's head coaching job in 2022.

Now, just three years later, Cristobal has the Hurricanes one victory away from their first national title since 2001.

In addition to playing at Miami, Cristobal served as a graduate assistant at the school from 1998 to 2000 before being the Hurricanes' tight ends coach from 2004 to 2005 and their offensive line coach in 2006.

He parlayed that into his first head coaching job at FIU, going 27-47 with two bowl game appearances over six seasons.

Cristobal then became an assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Alabama from 2013 to 2016, and after a year as Oregon's co-offensive coordinator in 2017, he was elevated to head coach in 2018.

He seemed to find the ideal landing spot, as the Ducks are one of the best programs in college football and perennial national title contenders.

However, even after going 35-13 in parts of five seasons on the job, the allure of becoming the head coach at his alma mater was too much for Cristobal to ignore.

At first, it was fair to question if he had made a mistake by leaving a much safer job at Oregon in favor of Miami.

Before Cristobal's arrival, Miami had won eight or fewer games in each of the previous four seasons, and they had won 10 or more games only once in the 18 seasons before he became head coach.

There were some growing pains early in Cristobal's tenure, as the Canes went 5-7 in 2022 and 7-6 in 2023 before breaking out with a 10-3 mark last season.

Miami narrowly missed the College Football Playoff last season, but it made the field as the last at-large team this season, and proceeded to go on a shocking run to the national title game.

Full Miami (FL) Hurricanes - Ole Miss Rebels Highlights

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With wins over No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Ole Miss, the No. 10 Hurricanes are on the precipice of returning to the top of the college football world.

A massive challenge stands in their way, though, as they must take down the No. 1-ranked team in Indiana, which is a perfect 15-0 behind head coach Curt Cignetti and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

If Cristobal and the Hurricanes pull off the upset on Monday, they will have earned it, and there will be no denying that Miami football is back and as good as ever.