As many coaches continue to try to use the portal to compensate for their inability to recruit, Mario Cristobal goes in the opposite direction with the Miami Hurricanes.
Dennis Smith, the Executive Director/General Manager for the Hurricanes, sat down with CBS Sports' Adam Breneman from the "Next Up with Adam Breneman" program for a long interview where he offers a full explanation of the Miami football operation, his relationship with Cristobal and why he chose to return to Hurricanes football and help in the rebuilding process.
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I sat down with Miami Football Executive Director Dennis Smith to talk about what it takes to build and sustain a modern college football powerhouse.
We discussed his day-to-day role, navigating NIL and revenue sharing, and what it has meant to help build Miami into… pic.twitter.com/Ezb9H6KOnM
Dennis Smith says the Miami Hurricanes value player retention and high school recruiting above all
A lot of programs say that they value high school recruiting and then will take 30 kids out of the transfer portal year after year. It's a quick fix that sometimes can work for a short gain, but the lack of foundational talent and focus on developing those young players eventually catches up with programs and leaves them in a lurch that forces them to stay in the portal. It's a vicious cycle and one that has crippled a few programs (like Florida State). But Smith told Breneman that the focus for the Hurricanes' is always on player retention and high school recruiting.
"When we started this thing five years ago, it was high school recruiting and the portal, because I don't know that there was a ton of talent that we wanted to retain," Smith said. "We're at a place now where it's player retention first, high school recruiting is right there neck and neck, and then the portal is third."
We've talked at length about Miami's recruiting. The 2027 class is currently No. 2 in the nation with a few spots remaining, which Cristobal hopes to fill before the season gets started. The Hurricanes have four five-star prospects in this class, and it's following up a 2026 class that was ranked eighth overall and featured five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell.Â
READ MORE: Miami's 2027 class reaches rare territory in latest 247Sports rankings
The player retention side gets a little overlooked, in my opinion, because we don't hear a lot about top Miami players transferring or jumping into the portal as a negotiation tactic. Every school is going to lose some guys each year. The Hurricanes lost Emory Williams, who was a veteran backup quarterback, to East Carolina and that backup quarterback position is going to be a concern if Darian Mensah goes down to injury, but for the most part, Cristobal and Smith do a good job of keeping the guys. Depth pieces like running back Girard Pringle Jr. and young talent like wide receiver Joshua Moore, could've probably gotten better deals and definitely more playing time in other situations, but they believe in what Miami is doing.Â
The problem with the portal is that once a coach begins to rely on the portal, they don't stop and then  top high school recruits aren't as interested in the program because they can trust that they will be valued or developed properly. Cristobal and Smith have stuck with their guns in roster building. They had some growing pains in 2022 and 2023, but now it's rolling. Miami is in a championship window that should be open for years. The program is churning out NFL draft picks and building a roster that will be more reliant on home-grown talent. This gives Smith and Cristobal the flexibility to swing big in the portal when they need to.Â
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