Bruce Feldman calls for patience with Miami, Mario Cristobal
College football insider Bruce Feldman called for patience with Mario Cristobal at Miami.
After the head coach struggled in his first season with the Hurricanes, the fan base could be restless. However, Feldman said to give Cristobal time.
With that, Cristobal could build a contender at Miami in no time.
“I don’t think we’re talking about a buyout for Mario Cristobal after one year,” Feldman said on The Audible Podcast. “If it doesn’t work out for Mario Cristobal, you gotta let him have his recruits in there right? I think anybody who’s being honest knows they do not have top 10 caliber talent on the offense. The o-line was underwhelming, they don’t have receivers like they need. Now the one area he’s really upgraded dramatically, it seems, is offensive line. He has two five-star offensive linemen.”
However, Feldman cautioned that this is how Cristobal operates and Miami is not an instant fix.
“Now we talked a lot in the last couple of weeks about that’s a tough position to project,” Feldman said. “He has a former starting offensive lineman from Alabama who’s already in there, that’ll help. He’s got one of the best centers who was in the portal, has also transferred and those should make a big difference. But the skill talent needs to be upgraded dramatically. And we’ll see what happens there and you’re talking about guys who would be coming in, you know, you got to find a new quarterback coach. You got to find a new OC. And I don’t know how fast that’s gonna happen. Looking at Mario’s track record this may take awhile. They start spring ball in the first week of March.”
Mario Cristobal sees the transfer portal as an opportunity
The transfer portal is a great way for schools to flip a roster quickly. At the same time, it means a school can lose tons of players in an offseason. So, there is good and bad that comes out of it for coaches. However, Cristobal sees this as an opportunity.
“Well, the first thing is the most important thing, the game,” Cristobal said. “I think that sometimes you always try to get ahead of ourselves as a society. What we’re doing, we’re making sure that every ounce of focus is on this game. The challenge of a transfer portal I think it’s the opposite. I think it’s more of the opportunity of a transfer portal. Every single coach in America has an obligation to load up their roster.”
Cristobal expanded on the statement. Perhaps that’s the patience need for Miami.
“I know we have the responsibility to make sure our roster is filled with hardworking, tough-minded, resilient, do the right things on and off the field, high-caliber, athletic, and high-character individuals that want to be elite,” Cristobal said. “That want to make the commitment and sacrifice to do that. So, when that time comes, obviously, there is a plan in place and one that’s executed full-throttle. As well as our high school recruiting plan and our junior college recruiting plan: nowadays you find players overseas. There’s different ways to fill your roster now.”