The 2025 Miami Hurricanes Will Embrace History
From one perspective, the Miami Hurricanes’ history is a burden. The Canes’ run of dominance from the early 80s to early 20s hits a sweet spot of recent enough for living memory and far enough away to have not been in the current players’ lifetimes.
In a way, the players are responsible for a legacy that was created before their lifetimes. That can appear unfair and serve to put undo pressure on them.
That pressure is enough to crush weaker teams. And we’ve seen it do just that. Do that for damn near 25 years.
But the 2025 Miami Hurricanes are not one of those teams.
Embrace History and Write A New Chapter
Mario Cristobal helped write the legacy that the current Canes are saddled with. It’s one thing to talk about something, it’s a completely different thing to know what you’re talking about.
Cristobal knows the work, the exacting detail, the pursuit of excellence that is needed to sustain greatness. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are football programs.
For 3 years, Cristobal has laid the foundation upon which a perennial contender is built on. This team is deep, tough, and ready to win. The roster is vastly different from the one that was inherited 3 years ago.
But that was largely “expected.” Even Cristobal’s biggest detractors will acknowledge that he is one of the better recruiters and roster builders in college football. So, why is this team going to excel beyond the 10-win mark that the 2024 Canes reached? Well, because the Coach has also improved year on year.
While Cristobal has never been short of critics, it is apparent he is his own harshest critic. An offseason has not gone by without decided moves to upgrade player personnel, coaching, and plug gaps to crescendo to this point. This team is ready, willing, and able to win now.
And enter Carson Beck.
Beck is the perfect QB to team up with Cristobal on the next step. They are largely mirror images. Despite a lot of winning, and a resume that is the envy of most people in their positions, both the Head Coach and his Quarterback are the subject of irrational barbs.
The QB can’t play on this level despite QBing an SEC team to a 24-3 record as a starter and the coach is a QB killer despite coaching NFL All Pro Justin Herbert and the #1 Pick in last year’s draft.
A tradition as old as time. Nothing invites skepticism quite like putting a U on your clothing or helmet. But is it warranted?
In 2025, the answer is absolutely not. You have a coach that has increased his win total every year at Miami, and won 10 last year. You have a QB that is 24-3 as a starter. What is there to be skeptical about? That something always goes wrong?
Not this time. Not for this team. Not now. Something always goes wrong until it goes right. This is the year.
Rather than be burdened by the weight of expectations from past and the legacy of recent failures the 2025 Hurricanes are poised to add a chapter to their illustrious history, not be defeated by it.
Catholics Versus Convicts
The 2025 football season arrives into this historical context with a rivalry of yore. In a way, a Miami-Notre Dame game of this stature should be a revival for college football. A thing to be celebrated.
The issue is that this particular rivalry is also tinged with racism. There was nothing that was ever “convict” about Miami. But acting a certain way will always make a certain segment of our most bigoted populace feel uncomfortable. And at the height of this rivalry, the Canes didn’t do things “the right way,” which meant they embraced the diversity of the background of their players and allowed them to be who they are as people.
What should have been a story of triumph and of hope became one of bigotry. The legacy of that bigotry lives on today in much the same way that the legacy of wins and championships live on. Look at this analysis of the Canes from a Notre Dame show:
source: https://x.com/GrantSpeaks1/status/1961425325495062734
What exactly makes a bunch of college students “unintelligent thugs?” We already know the answer. They’re Canes. And being a Cane means having to endure racism like this. It’s part of the legacy. Look at the alacrity with which they bask in their bigotry.
And they “love it.” So how should we as the offended party respond?
We could point out this person celebrating his co-host’s “unintelligent” comment either does not know the Saffir-Simpson scale goes up to Category 5 or does not think too highly of his own team.
We could point out that you’d have better discourse with a pastelito than with a person making the “brilliant” point that Miami’s greatest strength and weakness is that they are “unintelligent thugs.” Pro-tip: when you’re calling someone else “unintelligent” it is wise to not do so in service of making a point that is completely incoherent.
This could be a teaching moment. A moment where we pause and talk about the hurtful legacy of harmful stereotypes. Of bigotry baked into society.
But it wouldn’t matter anyway. These people are gone. It’s one thing to blurt out some racist comment like this and realize you’ve erred. It’s another to be so conditioned to living in that bigoted world that you casually blurt out “unintelligent thug” to thunderous applause from your co-hosts.
And if this season is about one thing, it’s about embracing our past to build our legacy of the future. So my response to these 4 Horsemen of the Caucapolis is this:
KISS MY BROWN ASS
Don’t come down to Dade County with that attitude.
You are not talking about faceless “thugs.” You are talking about our sons and brothers, our uncles and fathers. You are talking about our people.
MY PEOPLE
No one talks about my people like that.
The Canes are ready to take on you and all comers. Category 5 style. As the real Mayor of Dade County once foretold:
I don’t know what this world’s gonna doBut I know one thing that this is the life for meBaby cause I’m a thug
It’s a Canes Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand
Vishnu Parasuraman is a show host and writer for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes Football for @SixthRingCanes Miami Hurricanes Basketball for @buckets_canes , and Miami Hurricanes Baseball for @CanesOnDeck as part of the @5ReasonsCanes Network. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003
Mario Cristobal helped write the legacy that the current Canes are saddled with. It’s one thing to talk about something, it’s a completely different thing to know what you’re talking about.