No. 2 Miami has a 'Special One' at Defensive Coordinator
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The second was his first press conference finished everything about the Miami Hurricanes program shifted.
Defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman held the arua around him that was not to be tampered with. He is probably the nicest person in the world, but when it's time for football, his intensity is felt from the sideline, and it can be seen in how the Canes are playing defense.
The team is free, flying around to the ball, and playing a violent brand of football. A stark difference from last season with Lance Guirdy at the helm, something head coach Mario Cristobal had to deal with after wasting a generational offense in the 2024 season.
"You probably never, ever get to tell the full story till way down the line. Right? Years go by. I think continuity, the right type of continuity, you could have the wrong type of continuity that could sink you, you know," Cristobal said during Monday's press conference. And sometimes your best allies and your best advocates are in the building, and sometimes the worst ones are right."
The decision was made to let Guidry go, and a culture shift needed to happen. Hetherman came along and brought something different to the table, allowing him to buy in and shape the culture almost overnight.
"So I think we've done a really good job selecting, streamlining, making the right additions to our staff, all those things combined to get to a place where I think these guys, the people in the building, the men and women, from academics to development, recruiting, they're really in and they add to the culture," Cristobal said."
"They're all about the culture. They understand that we're not perfect, and we have our warts like anybody else, but that, like, deep down at the core of what we do, what we want to do, it's real, it's demanding, it's gonna make and get the best out of everybody. And so they bring it, and we're getting better. We're getting better as a staff, just like we are as a team and a program, so just like we talked about how we still have a ways to go as a staff."
Moreover, Hetherman has added a new element to the culture that Cristobal has built in year four at the helm. There is something special about Hetherman that even he didn't realize until he was in the building.
"Corey [Hetherman] has brought a lot to the table," Cristobal said. "He really has. He's a special dude. He really is. He's a special one. He's only going to keep doing better and better."
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.