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transcript: mario cristobal presesr Monday jan 12
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by University of Miamicoach, Mario Cristobal.MARIO CRISTOBAL: I’m proud of our football team forbattling hard against an excellent Ole Miss squad. Andcertainly a lot of credit to them. But credit to our guys forfinding a way to be 1-0 and earning ourselves anotheropportunity this coming — a week from today, Monday.Q. Curious, you’ve gotten into this routine the last fewweeks knowing you’re going to take a flight on theroad and play a do-or-die game. How does it changewhat that game is at home, the routine of it, thepattern, the structure as you prepare for this game?MARIO CRISTOBAL: The routine doesn’t change at all. It’s almost identical because you do have to check into ahotel, a specific hotel on a specific date.The only thing that changes is that classes have started,and we have, I believe, 28 new members — 28 of the 29,29 of the 30 — new members of our team here practicingwith us, which is great for us. As the year goes on we’velost some guys to injury. And they’ve been able to get aglimpse of what preparation is like.But aside from that and preparing for a game, nothingchanges.Q. Can you sort of update us on where you guys arefrom an injury standpoint? And, two, along the lines ofthe last question, how do you ensure that your teamdoesn’t have an exhale. Like, okay, you’re in the final,you’re back at Hard Rock, how do you keep that edge?MARIO CRISTOBAL: Well, from an injury standpoint, Ibelieve we’re coming out a lot like we went into the lastgame. I know a couple of guys skimped out of the game. Mesidor is in great condition. He hurt his elbow for asecond and he’s already full throttle. Ahmad Moten wasfull throttle today. And O.J. came out. Lofton will be theone that’s in question. That would be the one that’s inquestion. Aside from that, I actually feel really good aboutthe rest.Q. I think you guys mentioned O.J. and potentiallyDamari Brown. I know he’s been working his way backthroughout playoffs.MARIO CRISTOBAL: I would say O.J. is good to go, andDamari Brown will still be day-by-day.Q. We’ve talked so much about the alumni on thesideline and the support you get from there, but theuniversity standpoint, Joe Echevarria being on thesideline, and him and Dan Radakovich being in lockstep, how important is it in this day and age for theuniversity side and athletic side to sort of being handin hand with things? And what have you seen fromthat and how much has that helped the programdevelop?MARIO CRISTOBAL: That’s everything as it relates toputting together a program. Whether it’s rebuilding one orsustaining one, vertical alignment is at the forefront ofmaking a decision to go to a place or staying out of place.Without that, it doesn’t work because the investment from apeople standpoint, a time standpoint, a money standpoint,is immense. Unless everybody is going in the samedirection, it doesn’t work no matter how much time andeffort you put into it.We’re extremely blessed to have someone like Joeheading up the university, and of course Dan Radakovichhas done a great job. And we grind. And, again, veryappreciative of them and all they do.Q. You guys coming home to play in this game,two-part question, there’s a lot of family connectionshere, whether kids played at Central or Chaminade orwhatever local high school, so maybe a lot of thatfamily stuff around here. How special is it for the localkids on your team? And then, of course, for you aswell, a lot of Columbus representation on both sidescoming into this?MARIO CRISTOBAL: It’s always special when you get toplay with or against guys that you know or knew growingup, competed against, played on the same teams with.At the end of the day, your preparation doesn’t change,your intensity is always driven up the closer and closer youget to game time and as you go deeper into the season.We all know the brand of football played down here inSouth Florida is special. It shows up year in, year out atevery level, college and pro, certainly at the high schoollevel. Certainly an exciting time at South Florida.Q. Overall, playing a home game for a nationalchampionship is a good thing. But with that can comepotential distractions, et cetera. I’m curious, how doyou preach to your team about not allowing thosedistractions to creep in?MARIO CRISTOBAL: Sure. I mean, they aren’t reallydistractions. You either create them or you don’t. It’s onpeople. So we get out ahead of that. That’s one of the stronger, Iwould say, points of emphasis as you begin the week. Distractions and things and people have never been a partof the journey; you can’t let them become a part of it now.From the simplicity of getting an email to parents, take careof tickets by tomorrow because we don’t want your sonsrunning around and trying to figure other things out. Theyalready have school. We have to prepare for an awesomeopportunity.We preach it. We teach it, and then we go and we getaway from everybody, just like we did a couple weeks ago,the last couple of weeks when we went on the road.That’s where I know the process was asked about earlier,it’s no different. You’ve just got to shut out the outsideworld and go to work.Q. Practices will still be here?MARIO CRISTOBAL: They will. That’s awesome for usagain with the start of school, but we’ll be practicing righthere.Q. Can you put in words why you think this team hasbeen able to make a run to get to this point? Why doyou think they’ve been able to accomplish what they’veaccomplished thus far?MARIO CRISTOBAL: I think it’s a process and a recipethat has stood the test of time. I think hard work and greatpeople, getting after it relentlessly, I think that’s anundefeated combination, as it relates to progress andadvancement and eventually success. So, I think it’s atribute to that, the people.Again, I have the fortune, the privilege of being up here infront of you guys and addressing questions. But it’s notme, just me, there’s so many people that are involved.I think the collaboration of like-minded people, highachievers that are really driven to push forward a programto help these young men develop at the highest level onand off the field. A care factor that’s through the roof and adie-hard belief in the University of Miami, bleeding orangeand green through all of us, I think that’s what has reallyforged our progress forward as we continue to try to getbetter. And we certainly have a long ways to go.Q. What was tough about building culture for everyorganization? Obviously you built a culture here, but itseems like a lot of players are always grasping(indiscernible) characteristic of very cool, calm andcollected. Just talk about that a little bit, how yourplayers are kind of embracing your mindset of beingvery cool and calm.MARIO CRISTOBAL: I think we’re all very similar. We alllove football. Absolutely love it. We also understand theimportance of being a good person and really embrace theconcept of gratitude.In a day and age where things move fast, people movefast, then we found out early on, exactly it was a year tothis day where this team first got together. And then aweek from now we get to play one last time together.I think early on in that process, a year ago, in January, thisteam started figuring out, you know, this is — everyone hashope in January, right, when you start the initial process ofa new season.But it was more than hope. I think we recognized early onthis is a unique group of individuals and that the work ethicwas through the roof. The appetite for the grind was legitand real.So, I think because we’re like that, because we don’t mindgetting pushed, because we don’t — we’re not easilyoffended — correction, and confrontation in a positive way– truth telling is a staple of our program and we appreciatethat. We appreciate feedback and growth anddevelopment. I think that’s what drives us, whether we completely agreeon something, whether it’s a perfect day or whether it’s achallenging day, we all know that we’re in it for the rightreasons.Q. Seems like Mark Fletcher is playing his bestfootball since he’s been here. What have you seenclick for him or really work for him over the last monthor so since the playoffs started?MARIO CRISTOBAL: I think a couple things. Goodquestion. I think the fact that he’s healthy. I thinkdevelopment. I think everybody wants to see a freshmanknock it out of the park right away. It’s not always the wayit’s supposed to be or the way it ends up happening.A guy that has been in the system in his third year that hasseen similar schemes that has run behind certain guys,that has seen certain calls against certain fronts, certainpressures, a guy that has protected against every blitzknown to man, like, day after day, year after year, there’snothing more valuable than the mother of all teaching andlearning. That’s the repetition.And Mark Fletcher has had hundreds and thousands ofrepetitions. And when you do that, and when you’ve beenthrough what he’s been through, it just means that muchmore. And it shows in the way he approaches everythingthat he does. So I think it’s a combination of all thosethings is what’s showing up.Q. All over social media I’ve been seeing a lot of theclips of the friendship that Malichi Toney and MarkFletcher have. Can you talk about that friendship andhow it influences the rest of the team?MARIO CRISTOBAL: It’s a strong friendship and one thatalso brings out the best in each other. I think that you’relooking at two individuals that are highly motivated, supertalented, that were — they were Hurricanes forever.And they’ve brought their mentality, their level of play, theirdrive, their motivation, and a lot of that has permeated therooms. And their teammates, they look up to theirteammates and their teammates look up to them.They are just great ambassadors for the program, for theirfamilies. I mean, they’re awesome, and their impact ismassive.Q. What did you learn from your time as the headcoach at FIU in terms of just being a head coach andwhat that entails and how it all played out there?MARIO CRISTOBAL: It’s the ultimate experience in cuttingyour teeth. You have to do everything when you take overa situation like that.I don’t know how much of it is documented, but when youtake over a program that I think hadn’t won a game inalmost two years, was going to make the jump from alower division to Division I, and then literally the schedulewith games against Miami, Florida, Arkansas, you name it– and also before even having a single practice, started with a five-year probation, 17 ineligible players and a contemporaneous penalty regarding the APR, whichmeans any player that’s not eligible per semester, you losea scholarship. So, I probably got more into this than you were hoping for. But it’s the ultimate challenge. And you find out truly whatyou’re made of and who has your back.You start finding out everything that goes with collegefootball. How the bursar’s office works, how registrationand academics and the department and supervision andRAs and recruiting budgets and travel.And you have to do everything, every single part of it. Youhave to be a coach, you have to be a CFO, CEO, aprovost. You have to do it all.So, a tremendous blessing. And really the biggest blessingwas the players and the people that we had there becausethey were able to take what was historically the worstprogram in the country in a short period of time andactually win their first conference championship. And itwas super rewarding, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. It waspretty cool.Q. When you got let go a lot of people disagreed withthat. I’m sure you did as well. How did that kind ofshape you as a coach as well?MARIO CRISTOBAL: You know, I’m pretty stubborn. Always have been stubborn. In my mind, we were going towin a national championship there. And people would lookat me like I was crazy.Sometimes if you don’t move and God wants you to move,he’ll kick you so you can move. For whatever reason,that’s the way it worked out. And it was a blessingbecause I had the opportunity to go learn under CoachSaban, and then eventually end up at the University ofOregon. Blessed to be there. And it all led back here tothe University of Miami.At the time, you can’t see that. You can’t see straight whensomething like that happens, especially when you investevery waking moment of your life into it. But I thank Godthat it did.Q. Doing a story on the fact that you played withFernando’s dad. Any recollections of playing withhim? What was that like when you guys playedtogether?MARIO CRISTOBAL: We went 6-4. We won the districtchampionship in a three-way tiebreaker. They used tohave a Kansas City tiebreaker down here in Dade Countywhere you put the ball on the 10-yard line and flip a coin.It was us, Miami Beach, Coral Gables. Carlos Huerta,great Miami kicker, kicked the winning kick. We won thedistrict title. We played number one Southridge in the statechampionship. They had a couple Hurricanes on there,Robert Bailey and Herbert James.We punted. Robert Bailey fumbled the punt. He’ll deny it,but he did. We recovered. Huerta kicked the field goaland we beat the number one team in the state.And then we lost the next week in sectionals to Carol City,who was coached by Walt Frazier, one of the best of alltime ever to do it. Players like Rudy Barber, who was ateammate here. Couple guys — Cedric (indiscernible), mayhe rest in peace; Tim Paulk, Godfrey Myles — just anawesome time for Dade County football. Just awesomememories.Q. Did you guys stay in touch?MARIO CRISTOBAL: I mean not really. I think when yougo to Columbus, that brotherhood is extremely strong. Youknow, I mean, everywhere you go, especially in town yourun in — but we have crossed paths before. Certainly hewas an excellent football player and has become such aprominent member of the community down here in themedical field. And certainly all the respect in the world forhim and his family.Q. Coach Cignetti has talked a lot about the influencehis father has had on him from a football perspective. I’m curious about the influence your father had on you,not from a football perspective, but just from a lifeperspective.MARIO CRISTOBAL: Well, mom and dad, that’s prettywell — they worked two jobs, went to night school, learnedthe language. They came from Cuba. Couldn’t ask foranything better in terms of parents. They were hard-nosed. They were tough. They made sure we understood the meaning of true work and to makeabsolutely zero excuses.They were absolutely relentless in their pursuit of just doingeverything they could to provide for us. I just couldn’t askfor better parents. Then they handed us over to DennisLavelle, the head coach at Columbus, and Fred Foyo, whowas the offensive line coach at Columbus. And they werethe ones that helped to raise us and groom us into thepeople that we are today.Forever grateful for them. I thought they were the bestcoaches and mentors ever.That’s why I coach today because of my high schoolcoaches. Coach Lavelle, he’s everything to me.But my dad, Luis Sr., hard-nosed, tough-ass son of a gun. That’s what I know. And I’m forever grateful for him beinghard on us and never gifted us anything, made us work foreverything. I thank God for that.Q. Earlier you talked about having played withFernando’s dad. I want to talk about the irony ofhaving his son not only win the Heisman but be thequarterback that you’re going to face in a nationalchampionship, having not only him and Alberto beingfrom Miami and the same high school that you and hisfather played at. The irony of playing againstFernando, the son of a guy you played high school ballwith.MARIO CRISTOBAL: Yeah, football is awesome. It’salmost that part of it coming full circle — his son is a greatfootball player. He’s obviously the — the Heisman wasearned and well-deserved.The type of season that Fernando has had, really theydominated just about every game. And anytime a gamewas close, he was a big reason why the outcome is or waswhat it was because of his level of play.His younger brother is going to be as good or even better. And I think if you talk to the people over there at theiruniversity and at Columbus High School, they’ll tell youthat. Just really tough, smart, hardworking, awesomeyoung men that represent their families and their universityreally well.Q. I was talking about the irony as well of having toplay against him.MARIO CRISTOBAL: Right. Yes, sir.Q. If there wasn’t such close ties and you didn’t knowhim as well as you do, if you just flipped on the film forthe first time, what would you think about Fernando? Like why is he special as a player?MARIO CRISTOBAL: I think he combines everything thatyou would want in an elite quarterback. He’s ahead of thedefense all the time. He’s two steps ahead. Heunderstands the back end, the front. He’s extremelyaccurate, poised. He can make you pay with his feet. Hecan make you pay with his arm.He understands protections really well. He anticipates likeno other. He really has distinguished himself as the bestfootball player in the country this year, and it’s not byaccident. A lot of reps, a lot of hard work, a guy that’s beena complete difference-maker for their program.Q. I was hoping to ask you a bigger-picture questionabout the ACC, because a lot of people are throwingdirt on the conference earlier when they thought therewas the potential to not get a team in, and with thepostseason performance and your performance, I’mwondering if you think this might start changingnarratives or perceptions about the ACC as a whole.MARIO CRISTOBAL: Yes, thank you. I believe the ACCis like 9-4 in postseason play this year, and I think a lot ofthe reasons why we have progressed is some of the teamsthat we have faced throughout the course of the season inour conference.The level of play from a quarterback standpoint, line ofscrimmage standpoint, I think, has proven itself in thepostseason. And for us, it proved itself against us andmade us a better team in terms of making adjustments,increasing our level of physicality. And it’s been a really,really good year for the conference.If you look at the coaches that have been hired, the waythe rosters are shaping up, both from a transfer portal anda high school recruiting standpoint, the conference is onlygoing to get better and better, and we’re certainlyappreciative of all of the support that we’ve gotten from theACC and looking forward to more great years to come.Q. In this new college football world, how valuable isthe experience you have on this roster with 14 or 15 ofyour starters have four years or more? And then doyou see this as the right blend of portal and recruits,particularly in-state recruits?MARIO CRISTOBAL: Yes, sir, appreciate the question. And I know we talked about irony earlier. Ironically, we’replaying against a team that is very much a veteran group,right? You’re looking at a lot of similarities in the sense ofplayers that have experience — experience is irreplaceable.And for us, I think it’s been a great blend because theportal pick-ups combined with the players that have beenhere for three and four years, it again, it comes down to thefact that they’re like-minded individuals and the youngtalent we recruited they are, from a DNA standpoint, they’rehard-working guys. They’re high achievers.And the way that we work here, the blueprint here, theregimen here, it’s very demanding. If that’s not your thing,it’s not going to work.The fact that we had all these like-minded individuals fromall over the place, I mean, we’re as national as Miami hasever been from a roster standpoint, all positions. But,again, it doesn’t matter if you’re from one mile away or1,000 miles away, if you’re made of the right stuff, you’vegot the right heart and the right mindset, it works.And the team is very evenly made up of all three of thosedifferent buckets of talent. And the older guys have done agreat job just doing, I would say, just bringing along,showing our younger guys what it’s supposed to look likenow, not later, but right now. And in terms of expeditingtheir experience and their ability to contribute, they’ve beena huge part of that.Q. You faced Fernando last year back at Cal, and I’mcurious just what you remember about hisperformance in that game, and what you would sayabout maybe his growth since that time, to what he’sdoing now?MARIO CRISTOBAL: Well, you saw all the things that yousee now, except the supporting cast right now is verydifferent.Certainly, the system is completely different. But you’relooking at a massive, physical, tough, offensive line that ison point. They don’t make mistakes. Their IDs are exactlywhat they need to be when they need to be that way.Their receivers are big-time playmakers, and they do it withback shoulder, underthrown fades. They do it by runningby you, underneath, finding soft spots in zone coverage. And they’re complemented by a very physical downhill rungame, one that could circle you as well.A guy like that in that system, with that level of coaching,where, I mean, he has been coached to continue toprogress at such a high level.You see the player, you saw the talent last year. Thesupporting cast wasn’t there yet and they were a reallygood team, we thought. But this year, obviously, it’s awhole different level with where he’s at.Q. All season long, whether it be to the media, to yourplayers, that 1-0 mentality has just been your theme. When the 1-0 now means a national championship,what does that message mean to you? How does thatresonate to the players, like how does it change thisweek, the 1-0 mentality?MARIO CRISTOBAL: Yes, sir. Well, you know, I don’tthink that you make the game any heavier than what it is. Ithink it’s really important that that 1-0, earning 1-0 andearning the opportunity to cut it loose on game day is still aprocess, right, and it started last January. And it carriesover all the way through the course of the week. And youdon’t stray from that.The only thing you change of that is you just make it betterand better each and every week. Like, you really dig deepas a coach, hey, how can I make this process better?But you don’t go about-faced on a theme and a philosophythat has brought you to this point and you know, to comethis far, you don’t stray from it to go farther. So we stayalong the lines of what we’ve been doing.Q. You spoke a lot about Fernando, but their offensiveguys, Indiana on defense, just your impressions ofthem, what you’ve seen from them defensively.MARIO CRISTOBAL: They’re the best overall team andbest defense we have faced. I know that their rankingsand anything statistically important are between 1 and 5. Itstarts with this. They’re really fast, physical, explosive,talented and smart. They play with a lot of physicality, a lotof violence. They understand their scheme top to bottom.They make it very challenging, and I’ll tell you why. They’remultiple up front and they’re multiple on the back end. Sothe way that they understand what you’re doing so well,they set up and line up in a manner where they challengeyour IDs.You know, they’ve done a great job confusing opponentoffensive lines with how they line up and how they bluff anddisguise what they’re doing, not only in the front seven, buton the back end. That’s the challenge with them.You’ve got to understand, these guys, they’ve played a lotof game together. A lot of these guys came over fromJMU. They went deep into the playoffs, right, a year ago. They’ve been in this system and have played a lot of balltogether. And therefore that’s why you see theinstantaneous reactions. The physicality, the closingspeed that they have on a-down-after down basis.And on top of that, I think it’s really important to point outfrom a technique and fundamental standpoint, that’s whatreally stands out to me, because they play with their feet inthe ground, with great pad level and with elite use of theirhands. They understand how to leverage the ball and whatto do when they get there.From a turnover-margin standpoint, they’re number one inthe country, and they play great complementary football. You witnessed some of it in their last game. But if youlooked throughout the course of the season, from the firstseries at Iowa, to this last weekend with the pick-6 and theforced fumble and whatnot, they do a great job playingcomplementary football.Q. To continue with the experience theme. Carsonstarted 40-something games in his career. Obviously,as we talk about the poise and the leadership heshows. Poise is one thing, poise when you have threeminutes for your season is a very different animal. When you look back at the drive, where does thatcalmness, that inner resolve, whatever you want to callit, come from that he made every smart play he had tomake to win the game with everything riding on it?MARIO CRISTOBAL: Tribute to him, testament to him andhis teammates. So many different things on that drive thatwere executed at a high level. Handful of third downs thatwere not the easiest in the world. But elite protection. Eliteroute running. Contested catches. Being hard to tackle. Turning a third and 12 into a third and seven instead. Allthose things. Right, the margins, we always talk all yearlong, right, the margins get smaller and smaller and smalleras the year goes on. And the margins were three minutesto go and ball in hand were like this, and obviously we wantto play a cleaner game.There were some things that we know that we took a stepback in pre-snap penalties, post-snap IQ decisions, somealignment decisions, which we feel great about correcting.But when it comes down to it, the resilience, thetoughness, the fact that we just felt that that game, it justmeant more to our guys, and they were going to find a wayto get it done.But you have to execute, and they did. And I think allthose Wednesdays, when we come out there and dotwo-minute, which we’ve done now for the year, I believe,37 scenarios like that. And we go back and forth. Offensewins sometimes. Sometimes it’s the defense. For them, itwas routine.
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