Mario Cristobal: Corey Hetherman 'hasn't disappointed' in quest to fix Miami's issues on defense

In December, Miami fired defensive coordinator Lance Guidry and subsequently hired Corey Hetherman to fill the opening. At the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff on Tuesday, Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal discussed the decision and evaluated Hetherman’s performance thus far.

“Certainly, after Week 4 last year, we took a downturn,” Cristobal said. “We slipped defensively. And I don’t want to blame anybody. I always look at myself and say, ‘What could I have done better?’ We had some injuries that led to some schematic changes that weren’t the best for our football program, so a change had to be made. And we found a guy in Corey Hetherman.

“It’s not the fact that he was a highly-coveted guy, it’s the fact that he is an elite teacher and human being, and a guy who really does really well what we need our defense to do and to be. His use of personnel, his ability to adapt, his track record and his productivity, particularly last year at Minnesota, was enough evidence for us to feel comfortable in bringing him in, and he hasn’t disappointed.”

Hetherman was Minnesota‘s defensive coordinator last season. Under Hetherman’s guidance, the Golden Gophers only allowed 285.7 yards per game, the fifth-least in the nation.

In comparison, Miami’s defense gave up 327.2 yards per game in the 2024 campaign. Miami started the season strong, only giving up 10.3 points per game through its first four contests.

However, as Cristobal mentioned, things took a turn for the worse as Miami entered ACC play. In their final nine games of the season, the Hurricanes allowed 31.9 points per game.

Miami had to rely on its offense scoring over 40 points per outing to win games — a trend that Cristobal won’t allow to become the norm. Along with Corey Hetherman, Cristobal hired defensive line coach Damione Lewis, defensive backs coach Zach Etheridge and safeties coach Will Harris this offseason. Cristobal is confident the hires will help improve Miami’s defense this fall.

“He brings an elite level of commitment, of work ethic, of teaching capabilities,” Cristobal said. “All in all, we felt we needed to make some changes in that department, and we made them, and we feel that not only are they the right coaches, they’re the right people, and they’re going to grant us better success.”

Miami’s new-and-improved defense will immediately be put to the test in the 2025 campaign. On Aug. 31, Miami will square off against Notre Dame in its season-opener at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ABC.