The Miami Hurricanes had a tough defensive season last season, after which they said goodbye to coordinator Lance Guidry.
The ‘U’ then signed Corey Hetherman in January to replace Guidry as defensive coordinator, hoping to fix the unit. With HC Mario Cristobal’s position getting increasingly scrutinized, one analyst thinks this defensive hire could make or break the ‘Canes’ 2025 season.
Why Mario Cristobal, Miami’s Defense Can’t Afford Another Collapse
Following this hire, Mario Cristobal, the head coach of the Hurricanes, faces a $600K ultimatum as they cannot afford to have another defensive disaster.
Hetherman previously coached Minnesota as their defensive coordinator and helped the side with a strong defense. However, if his signing doesn’t have any impact on the Hurricanes and their defense doesn’t improve, that will be a huge collapse in Cristobal’s future.
On the “Locked on ‘Canes” podcast, Analyst Alex Donno expressed why this is such a big hire for the coach.
“I’m not going to mince words here: if Miami’s defense doesn’t drastically improve, I will consider that a massive failure for Mario Cristobal and a massive failure for the Miami football program.”
The team has significantly upgraded its depth and talent, signing eight players in the spring transfer portal: CharMar Brown from North Dakota State, Keelan Marion from BYU, Tony Johnson from Cincinnati, Mohamed Toure of Rutgers, Kamal Bonner from NC State, and Nickel Keionte Scott from the Houston area.
The team also added Tennessee’s Jakobe Thomas and K Bert Auburn from Texas. The program has made huge changes ahead of the 2025 season, and it is to be seen what the new signings bring to the table.
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The Hurricanes will kick off their 2025 season in August against Notre Dame in the season opener. While Miami might have seen great success in 2024, winning the Florida Cup (over Florida and Florida State), breaking 10 wins for the first time since 2017, and sending a Heisman finalist to New York City, Cristobal desperately needs to show more forward progress.
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