Four Takeaways From Miami’s 5-7 2022 Season
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After a 42-16 walloping by the Pittsburgh Panthers and falling to 5-7 on the year, all but eliminating bowl eligibility, was Mario Cristobal’s first season as Miami’s head coach a failure? On the field, yes. Off the field, no. Like his predecessor Manny Diaz, Cristobal seemingly made mistakes with some staff hires in his first year.
Some hires have yet to truly have the chance to show what they’re made of, like offensive line coach Alex Mirabal. Does that mean he should go? Absolutely not as it’s largely impossible to develop an entire offensive line over one offseason. However, better results will be expected next year and if there is no development, then his time at Miami should come into question. For other coaches on the staff, their lack of development and results have put them on the immediate hot-seat.
Even though the UM athletic department broke the bank for an all-star staff, the results did not translate in year one. Is it all on the staff? Some may say yes, but others may look at it in hindsight: the team Cristobal inherited was simply not as talented as many may have been led to believe on paper.
There’s no question, the scheme held back a lot of the success for Miami both on offense and defense, but it was clear when the coaches felt uncomfortable with certain personnel on the field and that there was a lack of trust to create success. Here are four main takeaways from an extremely underwhelming season in Coral Gables.
Josh Gattis is not the answer at OC, nor did he live up to the “top assistant” at Miami he was once named as
In 2019, Miami fans witnessed one of the worst offensive years in over 10 years.. The play caller that year? Dan Enos, who was coming off of a year in Alabama’s football program as the associate head coach and quarterbacks coach. Before the season, Enos was a home run hire. Going into the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech, hours before the game it was announced he would be fired from Miami.
Enos coached Miami’s offense to 25.7 points per game, the lowest offensive scoring margin for Miami since 2006. Gattis’ offense put up 23.6 points per game, which is now the worst since 2006. Looking at quick passing and rushing statistics, the Canes in 2019 were more efficient and scored more than in 2022.
Despite the lack of results, Miami has talent offensively, and that’s largely the biggest question mark about the entire year. How did Miami regress so badly offensively after seemingly getting into a rhythm last year? Considering how different the scheme looked, and how the players played in the said scheme, many fingers point to Gattis.
Mario Cristobal learned it’s never an easy first year at Miami
Lucky for Cristobal, every coach that’s coached Miami since 2007 has had better results in their second year. While many expected immediate success this year, that clearly did not happen and it just means that Cristobal was next in a long line of coaches to struggle in their first year at Coral Gables.
Many thought the immediate success would stem from strong recruiting classes built by Mark Richt and Manny Diaz, even Cristobal’s stellar eleventh-hour heroics in the 2022 cycle. However, what transpired over Richt’s final year to Cristobal’s first was a severe lack of development. Many Hurricanes’ had their best season during their freshman and sophomore campaigns and simply have not matched that since in two to three years, meaning they’ve peaked.
As seen over the last few years and even this year, there’s not been much development at numerous positions, most notably linebacker, cornerback and offensive line. Those are all positions that will take time to develop and take time to build with players that the current staff has recruited, not the past staff.
There is of course, getting the right staff together, which Cristobal seemingly failed at doing this season. But, as aforementioned, it did happen to his predecessor in his first year. While Cristobal is far more experienced than Manny Diaz, it still goes to show that bad hires can be made no matter who’s running a program, Cristobal likely has learned his lesson in that facet.
The Transfer Portal block will be HOT this offseason
So far, Miami has already seen seven entries into the portal with plenty more unconfirmed players on their way out. There will be many names that fans will be sad to see go, but based on what transpired last offseason in the portal, there needn’t be worries with Cristobal and transfer portal director Andrew Rodgers at the helm.
Largely every portal signee Miami received played this season and played in a large role. That fact alone is going to be appealing to transfer portal candidates in this cycle. If people thought Cristobal did work in the portal last year, after going through a full season and seeing what he has and doesn’t have, one can anticipate a massive flip of the roster.
The Canes very well could be one of those teams this offseason that’s talked about because of a potential mass exodus occurring, much like what Virginia Tech faced in 2019 and what Texas A&M is going through currently. However, the belief is that Cristobal will equally attack the portal and bring in the talent and depth to make up for the attrition.
Miami’s defense still has plenty of work to do to become a consistent unit
Jahmile Addae, Charlie Strong, Joe Salave’a and Kevin Steele are only four of many defensive hires that Cristobal made over the offseason. Many of the hires were deemed to be major upgrades in terms of recruiting and development. In many ways, the Canes did improve on defense but often times were inconsistent, resulting in lackluster performances.
The Canes brought down the points per game from 28.4 to 26.8. Improvement, certainly, but not when the offense can’t score. It might be unfair to say the defense was underwhelming this year, but let’s look at both sides. The offense put the defense in bad situations time and time again with turnovers and bad field position (not to the fault of punter Lou Hedley). To the same token, allowing multiple 50+ yard touchdowns against MTSU isn’t winning football either.
Miami had more sacks than the year before, but the front seven still struggled to make plays behind the line of scrimmage as they totalled 11 less tackles for loss than the year before. One missing part of the defense was the turnover chain, but the Hurricanes didn’t seem to miss it too much as they actually generated more turnovers this year than they did last year, gaining a staggering 11 more turnovers.
The future development of the defense is contigent upon staff moves, which are expected to happen. There will absolutely be moves made offensively, but based on what transpired this season, it would be fair to say the defensive staff are on a longer leash than the offensive staff. The results were stagnant and inconsistent, but flashy play from Akheem Mesidor, Kamren Kinchens among others are plenty reasons to be optimistic about the future of the defense.
