Nobody seemed crazier than Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal when he returned home in 2021 with a plan and with hope, determined to build a champion. The program hadn’t won anything of real significance in nearly two decades, and skepticism followed him from day one. Fast forward to 2026, and Cristobal now stands just one win away from delivering Miami its first national championship since 2001. The journey, however, was anything but sunshine and rainbows.

Looking back, Cristobal now sees it all as a blessing in disguise. One that might would not have happened without being fired from his very first head coaching job at FIU.

On January 13, Cristobal took to X and gave all the glory to God for pushing him through adversity and forcing him to hit rock bottom along the way: “I’m pretty stubborn. Always have been stubborn. And in my mind, we’re going to win a national championship there,” Cristobal said on Monday.

“People would look at me like I was crazy. Sometimes, if you don’t move and God wants you to move, he’ll kick you so you can move. And for whatever reason, that’s the way it worked out. It was a blessing, because I had the opportunity to go learn under Coach Saban, and then eventually end up at the University of Oregon, blessed to be there. And it all led back to here, to the University of Miami.”

Mario Cristobal was surprisingly fired from Florida International University (FIU) back in December 2012. He had actually done a pretty good job there, leading them to their first conference title and two bowl games. But after one tough season where the team went 3-9, the athletic director let him go. It was a tough break at the time, and many people thought the decision was a mistake.

Instead of getting down about it, Cristobal used the firing as a major learning opportunity. He landed a job as an assistant under the legendary coach Nick Saban at the University of Alabama. The best decision if his coaching career.

He spent four years there as the assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator, learning the ins and outs of running an elite program. He even won a national championship with them in 2015 and was named one of the best recruiters in the country.

After his time with Saban, Cristobal got another head coaching chance at the University of Oregon. He took everything he learned and immediately started building a powerhouse. He was a recruiting machine, bringing in top talent year after year. During his four seasons there, Oregon won two Pac-12 championships and a Rose Bowl. He totally rebuilt his reputation brick by brick, win by win and more importantly proved that he can run big-time college football program successfully.

All that success at Oregon made his alma mater, Miami wanted one of their own to bring back the glory days, and they hired Cristobal with a massive 10-year, $80 million contract. He came back with a big plan to make Miami a national champion again.

It wasn’t an immediate fix, as the first couple of seasons had some rough patches, but his process and hard work eventually paid off for the rock bottom. He didn’t even shy away from admitting it: “You can’t see straight when something like that happens. Especially when you invest every waking moment of your life into it, but I thank God that it did.”

After 15 years of setbacks and second chances, Cristobal wouldn’t trade this journey for anything in the world. Every detour and every lesson eventually led him back to where it all started. His alma mater.

And mind you, the entire university is backing him.

The Miami Hurricanes student tickets sold out within minutes.

The University of Miami students quickly sold out their tickets for the National Championship in just five minutes. On Jan. 12, students received an email with a link to buy tickets for $488 after the Hurricanes won the Fiesta Bowl. Each student was allowed to buy only one ticket, and the tickets were non-transferable. Many students rushed to the site as soon as sales opened at noon.

Some students were surprised by the price since student tickets are usually covered through athletic fees. The university explained that a sponsor provided only 500 free tickets, which went to students based on football game attendance during the season. The school then sold another 500 tickets to students at face value. With more than 4,000 students requesting tickets, the university placed everyone in a virtual waiting room and selected students at random.

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Only 1,000 students were able to get tickets, leaving many disappointed. While some students said the price was high. They noted it was much cheaper than non-student tickets, which were selling for thousands of dollars online.

As Miami and Mario Cristobal stands on the brink of a national title, the demand from their students made one thing clear: the Hurricanes are officially back.