Mario Cristobal: From Castro’s prisons to the College Football Playoff title game with Miami
CNN • • sports
Key Points:
- Mario Cristobal, son and grandson of Cuban exiles, will lead the University of Miami football team to the College Football Playoff national championship, fulfilling a family legacy rooted in hard work and perseverance.
- His grandfather, Mario Campos, fled Cuba after imprisonment under Castro’s regime and built a construction business in Miami despite language barriers and discrimination.
- Cristobal’s parents, Luis and Clara, also Cuban exiles, instilled a strong work ethic and cultural pride, emphasizing earning success through effort rather than gifts.
- Mario Cristobal’s coaching career progressed from graduate assistant to head coach at FIU, then Oregon, before returning to Miami to rebuild the program’s reputation and competitiveness.
- Despite initial skepticism and Miami’s troubled past
