Miami Hurricanes had an eventful season in 2024 where they failed to qualify for the playoffs but still took more positives than negatives from the experience. Cut short to the 2025 season, their schedule looks like one of the easiest in the nation. They have only two seemingly tough games at home against Notre Dame and Florida. The rest of the games may not be an ideal cakewalk; still, they have Carson Beck with them now and a solid returning team from their previous season. Sure, they must be able to weather the storm, right?

Well yes, the future does look bright for them. They have gathered a class that is ranked 1st in the ACC. And does have some very good additions to it. For instance, 4-star Edge Hayden Lowe is ranked 34th nationally, and wide receiver Joshua Moore is ranked 13th in his position. Their transfers in James Brockermeyer (IOL) and Ethan O’Connor (CB) also have the potential to provide the added firepower. But, despite all of this, Mario Cristobal still has a reckoning to face. And here’s why.

According to Alex Donno of Locked on Canes, Miami is facing a potential exit from one of their coaches. “Over the past couple of days now, the rumor, and I think that this is real, at least from Syracuse’s side, that Syracuse Orange has got an opening now at receivers coach, and they really like Kevin Beard, and they’re targeting Kevin Beard now.” He also added that Miami hadn’t renewed the WR coach, whose contract is set to expire around March this year. Now the question is, how will his potential departure affect the Canes?

Well, Kevin Beard, apart from his exploits as a wide receiver coach, has also been central to recruitment at Miami since he joined them in 2023. He also had been pivotal in producing the AP 1st team All American Xavier Restrepo. Furthermore, his guidance in the WR room had produced 4 WRs who had achieved more than 500 receiving yards at Miami. So, it seems his coaching prowess surely will be missed if he decides to leave. Be that as it may, Miami might have the requisite room to cope with his departure.

Granted that Beard’s departure will cause some headaches on the offensive side of things! However, Mario Cristobal’s real concern was the defense throughout the 2024 regular season. Where on the one hand, their lack of homegrown defensive talents plagued their squad depth. On the other hand, their man-to-man coverage wasn’t great either, as they allowed 12 TDs doing the same. Their zone coverage didn’t also compensate for their shortcomings. Overall, Lance Guidry failed to make defensive inroads at Miami. Thus came Mario Cristobal’s major decision.

Mario Cristobal’s hiring masterstroke

They have now hired Corey Hetherman as their new defensive coordinator. His staff addition came on the back of a complete makeover of the defensive staff that also included the hiring of Damione Lewis as defensive line coach alongside Jason Taylor, who returned again for 2025. However, Heatherman is someone who looks kind of a steal for Miami. That is because, in his previous job at Minnesota, the team was ranked 5th in the country and allowed close to 286 yards per game. Clearly, he is cut out for the Miami job. Add to that, there’s another coach whom Mario Cristobal has recently hired. And he, too, might be a steal as well.

He has also hired Will Harris as the team’s new secondary coach from the Gators. At Florida, he was instrumental in helping revive their defense and improved to 11 interceptions in 2024 as opposed to 3 in 2023. He also helped cut the yardage gained by the opponents from 8.3 to 7 and moved the Gators to 52nd in the country. Surely, Mario Cristobal is leaving no stone unturned in his hiring. But Will Harris has brought more good news for Canes than expected. Here’s why.

There are rumors in various major media outlets that the relationship between Will Harris and 4-star Florida CB commit Jaelen Waters may help Miami in landing him. Harris was the one who was instrumental in the player’s recruitment after the player had received offers from 30 programs. Now that Harris is with Miami, surely that may tempt Jaelen Waters to decommit and come eventually to Miami.