Mario Cristobal secretive with expectations staff completed next week

There has been a lot of projections about who Mario Cristobal will hire to complete his staff. Mario Cristobal announced during his National Signing Day press conference he expects to complete the staff by the end of next week. Miami most recently hired Kevin Steele as the defensive coordinator this week.

Cristobal hired defensive line coach Joe Salave’a and offensive line coach Alex Mirabal from his Oregon staff and former Mississippi running backs coach Kevin Smith. Mirabal and Salave’a were expected hires. Smith was a name that broke late shortly before he was hired. Miami could keep tight ends coach Stephen Field.

Field has done an exceptional recruiting and was on the staff at Oregon in the first season Cristobal was head coach. Most recently Field helped Miami sign TE Jaleel Skinner. Miami has open coaching positions at linebackers, offensive coordinator, special teams wide receiver, and in the secondary.

Last season Miami had Travaris Robinson as the defensive backs coach and Demarcus Van Dyke working with him coaching cornerbacks. Robinson was being considered to remain on the Miami coaching staff but left for Alabama to become the CB coach. Cristobal spoke about the timeline for completing the Miami staff.

"“Next week, we plan on having a lot of our hires,  hopefully most of them, if not all of them — over the course of the next seven days or so.”"

Van Dyke could potentially be considered to remain as the Miami CBs coach or lead the entire secondary. Candidates have emerged for offensive coordination. Cristobal acknowledged the media will always speculate about potential candidates, but that the projections have been in his words “pretty creative.”

Who Cristobal hires as offensive coordinator will depend on what style he wants to play. Oregon relied heavily on the run in 2021. The Ducks averaged 38.2 rushing attempts per game and 29.4 passes. Miami averaged 38.7 pass attempts and 34.3 runs. The up-tempo style helped Miami have the 20th ranked offense in 2021.

Oregon ranked 51st in total offense in 2021. Cristobal preached for his team to have “a tough culture” and that he wants them “being physical.” Those mantras lend to what Cristobal was quoted as saying about his offenses last summer “We want to get off the ball and be a physical, downhill-running football team.”

Smith has had a successful career recruiting and developing high-level RBs. Relying on the run would be a stark departure for Miami over the strength of the offense in 2021. The new offensive coordinator will be critical for Miami’s success next season. The culture Cristobal wants to set starts at the line of scrimmage.