Miami football: The 2024 season is make-or-break for Mario Cristobal

Two years into the Mario Cristobal era of Miami football, the Hurricanes feel like they're right back where they started before they hired Manny Diaz.

Diaz went 6-7 in his first year with Miami, securing a .500 mark in conference play. Cristobal went 5-7 in year one with the Hurricanes with just a 3-5 mark in ACC action. Year two was much better for Diaz as he went 8-3 with a 7-2 conference record during a COVID-19-affected season and Cristobal's luck wasn't any better as he went 7-6 with another 3-5 ACC record.

Year three is what broke Diaz. He went just 7-5 before getting fired as Miami knew that it wanted to replace him with Cristobal who is actually an alum of the school and a former player.

So that just means one thing: Miami has to treat this situation the same way.

If Diaz going 21-15 over three years didn't cut it, that means that Cristobal needs to win at least 8-9 games this season in order to keep his job. Going 5-7 and then 7-6 is not much of an improvement and he must prove that those two seasons were just rebuild years in which he was getting his guys into place. He can't afford to win 6-7 games again.

While Cristobal does have a recent history of success at Oregon, he always seemed to choke in the big games and the same has been the case through his first two years with Miami.

Something needs to change quickly if he wants to keep his job in 2025 and continue to coach his alma mater which he left his cushy job at Oregon for. Fortunately for him, he has a manageable schedule with 8-9 likely wins on it.

This season is make-or-break for Cristobal.