‘It’s magical’: UM president Joe Echevarria was key to getting Cristobal to Miami
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
GLENDALE, Arizona — A little more than four years ago, Joe Echevarria — then a senior adviser to the University of Miami President Julio Frenk — was one of the people tasked with hiring the university’s new football coach.
They settled on one candidate: then-Oregon coach Mario Cristobal.
“We said, ‘Who should we get to coach?’ Echevarria said. “And (we) said, ‘Mario (is the) right person for us. Mario is one of us. He understands community, he understands the university, and he understands this team and what it means to the broader (community).’ ”
Four years later, Echevarria is the university president, and the coach he helped bring back to Coral Gables has led Miami to its first national championship game since the 2002 season.
“It’s magical,” Echevarria said after UM’s Fiesta Bowl win. “They restored the University of Miami to its rightful place and tradition in college football. College football is better when we win.”
Echevarria, the former CEO of the University of Miami’s Health System and former CEO of Deloitte, and Cristobal’s tenure came after UM was called out on ESPN’s “College GameDay” by analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who is one of the most influential voices in sports media. Herbstreit’s 2021 criticism was that the university did not fully support its football program, and the university administration was not aligned with the athletics department. Those issues were costing the Hurricanes on the field.
During Echevarria’s tenure, the Hurricanes have invested in their coaching staff, facilities and in the player payment system that teams need to be competitive.
“Investment and alignment,” Ecvhevarria said. “And those group of kids and the coaching staff. Right kids doing it the right way for steady progression.”
Cristobal said when Echevarria was appointed president in 2024 that he was an “elite human being” and that he “would not have hopped on a plane and come to Miami without” Echevarria.
Now the Hurricanes will play for their first national title under Cristobal and Echevarria. It will be at Hard Rock Stadium, UM’s home field, and the university president is not calling for calm. He said expects “bedlam.”
“That’s our stadium,” Echevarria said. “… There was a great showing of fans, the fans that followed us everywhere. But we’re going to come home. No matter what locker room we use, it’s our field, it’s our stadium. More importantly, it’s our city. We are the University of Miami.”
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos