Alex Donno answers a question from a listener to Locked On Canes about how Mario Cristobal can avoid failing at Miami the way Jimbo Fisher did at Texas A&M.
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00:00 Answering this question that says, "Hey, the more I hear about the Jimbo Fisher experience
00:04 at A&M, the more similarities I see with Cristobal."
00:07 No, okay.
00:08 So how, all right.
00:11 First of all, I hope that Jimbo Fisher's fiasco of a tenure at Texas A&M, I hope that's a
00:17 cautionary tale, not only to Mario Cristobal, but to anybody out there who signs a big contract
00:23 to become a head coach somewhere.
00:25 Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
00:28 Okay?
00:29 I guess when you talk, and some of these similarities are kind of low-hanging fruit, because obviously,
00:35 you know, Jimbo Fisher had really successful recruiting classes at A&M.
00:39 Mario's having successful recruiting classes at Miami.
00:42 People talk a lot about Miami's NIL component, the same way people talk about Texas A&M's
00:48 NIL.
00:49 Even there, I think there's a little bit of a difference, because from what I understand,
00:53 obviously A&M was handing out, or at least promising, big-time NIL money.
00:58 It didn't seem like they were that organized, though, with it.
01:01 I think Miami already, I can tell you Miami's very organized with the way the Canes Connection
01:06 Collective does things.
01:07 And, you know, John Ruiz, all the rumors about Ruiz, the guy never missed a payment on anything.
01:12 So Miami, even the NIL, I think it's a little bit different.
01:17 But some other things about Jimbo Fisher, where I hope Mario Cristobal's tenure works
01:21 out differently, okay?
01:23 My understanding about Jimbo in recent years is that he wasn't pleasant for players to
01:29 be around, and that his stubbornness was an off-the-field thing as well.
01:33 Because, yeah, I know Mario has this reputation for being stubborn schematically, right?
01:38 For stubborn with his football mindset.
01:41 But I don't think that translates to the off-the-field stuff.
01:43 I think he relates very well to his players, and all of his players respect him.
01:47 So I think there's a difference.
01:49 Now, you know, Jimbo Fisher, for whatever reason, he allowed Texas A&M's offensive line
01:54 play to deteriorate under his watch.
01:57 That certainly doesn't seem to be the case with what's happening on Mario's offensive
02:01 line.
02:02 Quite the opposite, that one's being built up.
02:04 And here's something where obviously the jury is still out.
02:07 Jimbo Fisher failed to adapt and evolve his offense.
02:11 Obviously the jury is out on Mario doing that.
02:13 He's trying to be, you know, more progressive with Shannon Dawson.
02:17 Hopefully he lets Dawson do his thing.
02:20 And Cam Ward, just the quarterback play can make a huge difference this year.
02:25 And listen, remember, no two coaches are the same.
02:28 And even before Jimbo apparently burned out at Texas A&M, the guy did win a national championship
02:34 at Florida State.
02:35 And so as far as Cristobal, I think Mario Cristobal is, I compare him more to Butch Davis.
02:40 I think he's more in the Butch Davis at Miami phase where he's building up a program.
02:45 I don't think he's anywhere near that Jimbo Fisher phase where he's starting to burn out
02:50 and check out the way Jimbo was over the last few years at Texas A&M.
02:55 So I hope I did an okay job answering that question, but you know, I'm not, that's not
03:01 really something I'm thinking about right now, but I appreciate the question anyway.