Mario Cristobal spent his first few years at Miami with the perception that he could recruit and he could build talent at the line of scrimmage. But the question was always whether the Saturdays would ever match the offseason hype.
CBS Sports' latest Power Four coach rankings show how much that perception has changed.
Cristobal landed at No. 7 among Power Four coaches entering the 2026 season, climbing 13 spots from last year after Miami reached the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. The highest voter placement for Cristobal was at No. 4 and his lowest at No. 11, putting him ahead of Alabama's Kalen DeBoer and behind Texas' Steve Sarkisian.
2026 Power Four Coach Rankings 🚨
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) May 27, 2026
Who do you think should be higher?
1-25 🔗 https://t.co/kIPhcTADyw
26-68 🔗 https://t.co/TAK4W5uOmF pic.twitter.com/svMQ9LZGFy
"Mario Cristobal is genuinely one of my favorite kinds of coaches. He had plenty of successful seasons at Oregon before the Miami job, but as good as he was at so many aspects of the gig, he had shortcomings. However, unlike many people who choose to "block out the haters," Cristobal acknowledged his shortcomings and then took a crazy approach: he went to work on fixing them."Tom Fornelli
Miami's 2025-26 season has shown how much the program has changed
Cristobal was the highest-ranked ACC coach on the CBS list.
Dabo Swinney checked in at No. 11 after falling eight spots from last year. James Franklin, now at Virginia Tech, landed at No. 13 after sliding from No. 7. SMU's Rhett Lashlee was No. 15, Louisville's Jeff Brohm was No. 24 and Duke's Manny Diaz came in at No. 30 after winning the ACC. Florida State's Mike Norvell was all the way down at No. 42.
The 2026 schedule will test Miami. The Hurricanes welcome in Florida State, Pittsburgh, Duke and Virginia Tech, and have road games at North Carolina, Clemson, Stanford and Notre Dame.
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