The University of Miami football teams of the early 2000s were among the most talented in the college football history.
Turns out, the coaching staffs weren’t bad, either.
On Friday, former UM assistant Rob Chudzinski was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns, marking the fourth member of the Hurricanes’ 2000 staff to become an NFL head coach. Chudzinski joins Butch Davis (Cleveland), Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis) and Greg Schiano (Tampa Bay) in that quartet.
Three other UM assistants in 2000 — Larry Coker (UM, Texas-San Antonio), Mario Cristobal (FIU) and Curtis Johnson (Tulane) — became head coaches in the college game.
“That was quite a group,” said Coker, who was UM’s offensive coordinator from 1995-2000 and head coach from 2001-2006. “When I was at Oklahoma State, Jimmy Johnson was the head coach and we had Butch Davis, Dave Wannstedt and some other guys. But that 2000 staff at Miami, man, that was off the charts.”
Chudzinski, a Toledo, Ohio, native who grew up rooting for the Browns, is returning to Cleveland where he began his NFL coaching career after leaving his post in 2003 as UM’s offensive coordinator. Chudzinski, 44, was a tight end on Miami’s 1989 national championship team and served as a graduate assistant at UM before Davis hired him as UM’s tight ends coach in 1996. He was promoted to offensive coordinator by Coker in 2001.
At Miami, Chudzinski built a potent offensive attack. The Hurricanes’ 2001 national championship set a school record by scoring 475 points, a mark that was surpassed in 2002 when UM rung up 527 points. Coincidentally or not, 2003 — Chudzinski’s final year at UM — was also the last season the Hurricanes won at least 10 games and played in a BCS bowl.
“He knew how to put guys in position to make them shine,” said Joaquin Gonzalez, a starting offensive tackle on the ‘01 national champions who also played for Chudzinski as a member of the Cleveland Browns. “Sometimes when you have great talent like we did on offense, you really can’t appreciate the coaching. When you combine great players and coaching, when you get it right, you get the 2001 team.”
Coker said Chudzinski, who holds a master’s degree in business administration from UM, ran an offense “that was cutting edge” at Miami while Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said on Thursday that his new coach “is regarded as one of the brightest, if not the brightest, minds in the business. He is tremendously innovative.”
While Chudzinski was being introduced at a news conference in Berea, Ohio, Mario Cristobal was making his first appearance Thursday as UM’s new associate head coach and tight ends coach.
Cristobal, a former UM player and assistant coach, was fired by FIU on Dec. 5 following a 3-9 campaign in 2012. Cristobal, 42, led the Panthers to a Sun Belt Conference championship in 2010 and bowl games in 2010 and 2011.
“It’s surprising,” said Cristobal in reference to his dismissal at FIU. “Like I said `It is what it is and the focus is on the now.’…That’s really about it in terms of what I have to say about it.”
Cristobal also wouldn’t give many details on his new job description. He will coach tight ends as he did at UM in 2004-05, but when asked what his responsibilities as associate head coach would be, Cristobal answered: “To me, what it means is I’m part of a great staff. That’s how I want to be viewed. That’s how I want to approach it.”
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