Mario Cristobal triples down on his hate for 'The U is back' from Miami fans

Don't tell Mario Cristobal that 'The U' is back because it'll just serve to annoy the coach. Instead, he wants fans and people to say that 'The U' is here and there are many people working hard to make sure it stays here.

Cristobal was a guest on the Triple Option podcast with FOX college football personalities Rob Stone, Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram II. When Stone said the phrase 'The U is back', Cristobal quickly cringed. 

After the cringe, Cristobal quickly explained what he's trying to accomplish by eliminating the phrase from fan vernacular. 

"I'm an old-school Miami Hurricane, so I'm used to saying 'UM', like 'The U' is kind of new for me. There's a lot of enthusiasm and the energy and momentum, but we're working, man. We avoid all that other stuff like the plague."

Mario Cristobal is ready to move on from 'The U is Back'

Cristobal isn't just an old-school Hurricane. He's old school.by nature, and he adopted a lot of the mindset that he learned during his time coaching at Alabama under Nick Saban. He watched Saban have to deal with astronomical expectations each year and how he handled an extremely talented roster that had to hear about how great they were all the time. Cristobal is aware of how close Miami came last season. The Hurricanes took a major step forward in their quest to return to championship form. They won three playoff games and took home Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl trophies, but the story didn't finish how Miami fans hoped it would. The Hurricanes were close, but fell short to Indiana.

That was last year. Cristobal has turned the page and wants everyone else to do the same. Yes, the ending of the story wasn't what people wanted, but that book is closed. The 2026 Miami Hurricanes are a different team. They have different players. Many of last year's top players were selected in the NFL Draft and new faces have entered from the transfer portal and the high school ranks. And many players are new to these expectations. Quarterback Darian Mensah is a great talent and the expectations are rightfully high for him, but the pressure to win at Tulane and Duke is nothing like what he'll experience at Miami. It's the equivalent of going from being a big fish in a small pond to jumping in an ocean and being expected to swim with sharks. 

Cristobal was part of two national championship teams with the Hurricanes back in 1989 and 1991. He knows that even in those days of college football both teams were markedly different and sandwiched in between was a team in 1990 that fell short despite probably being better than the two teams that won it all. You can't recapture the past. Just because Miami was good last year and is expected to be good this year doesn't mean it's going to happen. That's why Cristobal focuses on the work and the process and the commitment to winning. Those are the consistent traits that last from year to year that will keep 'The U' where it needs to be. 

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