Mario Cristobal is being paid a preposterous amount for Miami's mediocrity

Mario Cristobal is getting paid how much?! While he had great success previously leading Oregon, it has gone to hell in a handbasket for him in Coral Gables faster than you can say, "It's all about The U!". In two seasons leading his alma mater, Miami has gone 12-13 under Cristobal. They failed to reach a bowl game in 2022 and refused to take a knee vs. Georgia Tech last year in a complete catastrophe.

According to Brent Schrotenboer of USA TODAY, Cristobal received well over $20 million in compensation for the 2022 college football season. Per Schrotenboer, "The University of Miami (FL) paid football coach Mario Cristobal $22.7 million in 2022, including $7.7 million in base pay and $14.9 million in ‘other reportable compensation'." This means he got paid nearly $5 million per win in his first year back.

To make matters even worse, “This is the largest-ever, single-year amount for an athletics department employee on a tax form by a private university ... The university did not go into further detail about why he was paid that much except that it paid ‘gross-up payments’ to Cristobal and others — payments that cover income taxes so that the recipient receives a set amount of pay.”

Not to say the University of Miami are paupers by any means, but the private institution in South Florida is not exactly dripping with big-pocketed alumni. More importantly, their biggest brand identity is this football team, one that has not been nationally relevant since losing the national championship to Ohio State in 2002, albeit in controversial fashion. What a terrible investment...

Let's discuss what must happen for Cristobal, and Miami football for that matter, to turn the corner.

Mario Cristobal is committing highway robbery from his alma mater

Admittedly, a lot of his $22 million is coming from his Oregon buyout. Still, the going rate for an elite college football coach is upwards of $10 million in annual base salary. If you want to include all the bells and whistles that come from achieving certain bonuses to get to that amount, ask yourself this. What bonuses is he hitting exactly? More importantly, how much money is Miami wasting annually?

The frustrating part to me was Miami was not in that bad of a shape when Cristobal returned. Manny Diaz was basically run out of town for some unbeknownst reason. He reinvented himself in two years. He was James Franklin's brilliant defensive coordinator at Penn State for the last two seasons before parlaying that into the Duke job. I suspect that he will succeed fairly quickly taking over in Durham.

I think what needs to happen is for Miami to finish somewhere in the 9-3 to 8-4 range this fall in a down ACC. The Hurricanes were able to pry Cam Ward away from entering the 2024 NFL Draft after he decided his time was done in Pullman. The Canes have recruited well under Cristobal, but it has been mostly coaching malpractice ever since he arrived. I do have faith in Shannon Dawson, though.

If Dawson can get the most out of Ward's talent, he could be a Heisman Trophy finalist and a first-round pick in 2025. When Miami has clicked in recent years, the Hurricanes have been a top three or four team in the ACC. That is what should be required out of Cristobal this year. Can the Canes be as good as Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina State? Maybe then that $22 million will be worth it.

Wealth is relative, as money is abundant. Where there seems to be scarcity is good college coaching.