Slowly but surely Mario Cristobal is assembling a formidable coaching staff in Miami.
His latest hire is Charlie Strong, who joins staff as a full-fledged defenders coach Chris Lowe of ESPN.
The former head coach of Louisville, Texas and South Florida will coach student football for the first time since he coached the Notre Dame line of defense in 1995-98. This work led to the role of defense coordinator in South Carolina in 1999, and ever since he was the coordinator (which, of course, also coached the position) or head coach last season at the USF in 2019.
Strong spent 2020 as an analyst in Alabama, and in 2021 as assistant head coach Urban Meyer and interior coach in Jacksonville.
Strong joins the staff, which includes offensive coordinator Josh Gatis, defense coordinator Kevin Steele and offensive line coach Alex Mirabal.
Including Cristobal, all five Miami coaches have ties to Nick Saban and / or to the recruiting scene in South Florida.
The Strong Louisville team at one point had 38 Floridians and 28 from the Miami area. In relevant history Strong got 21-3 in 2012-13 before leaving for Texas.
As always, stay tuned Scoop for the latter.