Calais Campbell was one of the last of the former Miami greats to exit the field after the Hurricanes’ celebration at the Fiesta Bowl ended. His beloved alma mater was returning to the national championship game for the first time in 23 years, and Campbell wanted to soak it all in.

The 18-year NFL veteran began his career at UM in 2004 — right when the last of Butch Davis’ incredible talent haul was leaving Coral Gables and the program was beginning to crumble into mediocrity under Larry Coker. During Campbell’s final two seasons, as the Canes slumped to a combined 12-13, all he heard was talk about the glory days.

Well, it might have taken longer than most expected, but those days are back.

“I came to visit Mario when he got the job — he worked for the Hurricanes while I played there a long, long time ago,” Campbell said. “I remember him saying to me, ‘I need more guys like you, man, just your size, your stature,’” the 6-foot-8, 315-pound, gravelly-voiced, six-time Pro Bowler and former NFL Man of the Year said.

“That Markel Bell kid (Miami’s 6-9, 345-pound left tackle), I’m standing there looking up at him. I don’t look up at guys too often. I mean, so much talent all over the place and a lot of guys that just love the game. Being in the locker room at halftime, hearing those guys get loud, talking about bringing the juice, the mindset, physicality, violence, effort, swarming to the ball … I love it. That’s why Mario is the man.”

Cristobal has his critics, but there’s no denying his roster makeover has been the key to getting Miami back into national title contention. There are playmakers all over the field, but a big part has been giants like Campbell mauling the opposition during this run through the College Football Playoff.

One team. One university. One heartbeat.

Thank you for coming out to today’s pep rally on campus, Canes Family! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/d0j8bqFw4m

— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) January 16, 2026

And that is what the program lacked over the last two decades, when the college football world routinely mocked the Hurricanes for failing to live up to expectations. The recruiting rankings might have indicated that personnel was not an issue, but those who bled on Miami’s Greentree practice field recognized the drop in talent over the years.

It’s what former players would talk about when they’d visit campus.

The players weren’t improving. They didn’t work hard enough. They didn’t understand what it meant to play for Miami. 

There were some dark times.

“Two moments stick out: 58-0 against Clemson (in 2015) and 48-0 against Virginia (in the final game in the Orange Bowl in 2007),” said Kelvin Harris, a former center who won three national championships with the program (1987, 1989 and 1991).

“I remember standing in the suite at the Clemson game, and everybody had left. I said, ‘I’m gonna stay here until the end. I want to absorb this because this is as bad as it’s gonna get.’ … The Virginia game? It was like watching your grandma die. It was the last game we played in the Orange Bowl, and we didn’t score a point. The saddest part was the players didn’t put up a fight.”

No matter what happens Monday night, there’s a firm belief that the Canes’ worst days are behind them. There’s alignment from school president Joe Echavarria on down, and a deep financial commitment to keep the program at the top of the sport’s food chain — something Kirk Herbstreit infamously called Miami out for on “College Gameday” in 2021.

“It’s about time,” Campbell said, “I can talk trash, baby!”

As good as it feels to be able to do that now, it still doesn’t make the last 23 years any less painful for Miami fans. The team’s return to prominence remains bittersweet for many who suffered through the lean years.

A quick trip down misery lane:

• 2005 Peach Bowl loss: Most associate the beginning of the end of Coker’s tenure with the 40-3 loss to LSU at the end of the season. Two days after the game, Coker fired longtime Hurricanes assistants Art Kehoe — who coached Cristobal — and Don Soldinger, as well as offensive coordinator Dan Werner and linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves.

• FIU football brawl and Bryan Pata murder: Coker’s final season with the Hurricanes in 2006 included an on-field brawl with crosstown rival FIU in October and the shooting death of one of the team’s most prominent defensive linemen, who was gunned down at his apartment shortly after practice. Pata’s teammate, Rashaun Jones, was arrested for the murder in 2021 and is currently awaiting trial.

• Sean Taylor murder: A year after Pata’s murder, former Hurricanes and NFL star Sean Taylor was killed in his South Florida home during a botched burglary. His shooter was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 57 years in prison. Miami, meanwhile, suffered through a 5-7 season on the field under first-year coach Randy Shannon, which included the embarrassing loss to Virginia in Miami’s final game in the Orange Bowl.

• No. 1 recruiting class flops: The Hurricanes returned to the national rankings under Shannon, who recruited the No. 1 signing class in 2008, but his tenure ended with an overtime loss at home to South Florida. Most of that recruiting class failed to live up to expectations, and only a handful of the players made it to the NFL.

• Nevin Shapiro scandal: Before Al Golden coached his first game for Miami in 2011, 12 players were forced to pay restitution, and eight players were suspended for accepting money and gifts from the former booster and convicted Ponzi schemer. The team went 6-6 and 7-5 in Golden’s first two seasons before a 7-0 start to the 2013 season ended with rival Florida State humbling the Canes 41-14 in Tallahassee. Miami didn’t get back into the top 10 for another three years. Golden was fired following the aforementioned 58-0 loss to Clemson.

• From Turnover Chain to more roster turnover: Mark Richt’s tenure peaked with a 10-0 start to the 2017 season, including a huge win over Notre Dame on prime-time television. But Miami’s first trip to the ACC title game in 2017 ended with a blowout loss to Clemson.

• FIU loss: Manny Diaz took over for Richt in 2019 and ended his first season with three straight losses, including a humiliating defeat to the crosstown rival Panthers at Marlins Park, the site of the old Orange Bowl. Diaz and Miami then ended the 2020 regular season with an embarrassing 62-26 loss to North Carolina. The Tar Heels ran for 554 yards and six touchdowns on Miami’s home field.

• Kneegate: Cristobal took over in 2022 and went 5-7 in his first season with a mind-numbing loss to Middle Tennessee State at home. Right when it appeared things were getting better in Year 2, Cristobal’s late-game coaching debacle — failing to take a knee — against Georgia Tech short-circuited the 2023 season.

Few voices in the South Florida market speak louder in support of Cristobal and the Hurricanes than Mike Ryan Ruiz, the executive producer of the “Dan LeBatard show with Stugotz.” Ruiz is more than a fan. He’s been a Golden Cane booster, too, for the last four years.

He was able to secure 12 tickets to Monday’s national championship game. He’s using four for himself and close friends and sold eight at face value to other Hurricanes fans.

“Market prices are awfully nice,” Ruiz said. “I’m not shaming anybody if they (sell their tickets).”

Ruiz said both fan bases can play the role of tortured souls. Indiana, after all, was the losingest program in college football history until two months ago.

“But this never mattered that much to Indiana people,” Ruiz said. “It’s way more difficult to reach these highs, know what it’s like, taste it and have it ripped away from you. It’s like that old cliche, it’s better to be broke your whole life than taste riches and then be broke. That’s kind of where we’ve been living for the last 20-odd years.”

Do NOT slander Mario Cristobal around Mike pic.twitter.com/pJBWUcYYR5

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) January 14, 2026

Ruiz said he keeps “waiting for the clock to strike midnight” on the Canes. It might be Monday — for this season anyway. However, he believes Cristobal is one of the best at his craft and doesn’t receive nearly enough credit for developing players.

“Yeah, he’s a grinder. Yeah, he can get the top guys (in recruiting),” he said. “Yeah, he knows how to play the NIL game, too. But I think that’s the part that people sleep on … guys improve when they get to Miami.”

Ruiz said the FIU loss was the low point for him as a Miami fan, but he didn’t get angry and frustrated until Miami opened the 2021 season with an embarrassing 44-13 loss to Alabama.

“I watched two plays from my seats and knew that we were an ocean apart from that team,” Ruiz said. “I went downstairs and just started bitching at any Miami person that I could find, and just decided that I was going to be part of the change that I sought.

“It all became cyclical. Kirk Herbstreit says that thing on “Gameday” because Barry Jackson writes that column. Barry Jackson writes that column because he’s listening to the Dan LeBatard show, probably, and he’s hearing the passion from that. And we’re getting influenced by tweets that we see and message board posts.”

Harry Rothwell has been selling Hurricanes merchandise for decades. He started at the corner store around campus, All Canes, and now works for the team store on campus.

He’s had players and coaches autograph memorabilia for fans for decades in his stores. Few people have grown closer to generations of Miami players and fans over the years. He said the diehards appreciate this run differently from the new bandwagon fans he’s seen pop into his store.

“Expectations have always been high and always will be high, but sometimes hitting the bottom makes getting to the top like we are now, that much more rewarding,” Rothwell said.

Bryan Callahan, a longtime Miami season-ticket holder from Roanoke, Va., was able to get two tickets at face value ($475 each) for Monday’s championship game. He made it to Miami’s last two CFP games — the Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl — spending about $6,000 along the way. Callahan runs the Facebook page for “CanesUnited,” a group that attends Hurricanes road games. It has over 4,000 members, but about 200 to 300 diehards, Callahan said.

Members of CanesUnited tailgated before Miami’s College Football Playoff game at the Fiesta Bowl. (Courtesy of Bryan Callahan)

Callahan has been a donor/season ticket holder since 1995. He got his first job at 16 years old, making $4 an hour, and bought a $50 membership to the Miami booster club. Callahan made it to every road game this season, except for the SMU trip, because it was his youngest son’s first birthday. He estimates he’s missed a total of five road games over the last 10 years.

One of the lowest points for Callahan being a Hurricanes fan: celebrating in the stands at Syracuse up 21-0 last season only to see Miami blow the lead.

“We had such an elite offense last year that everybody thought we’d at least make the playoffs,” Callahan said. “Every time I’ve thought about giving up, the middle of the week comes and I’m like, ‘Well, let’s rally the troops and let’s go.’ I kind of feel the responsibility of getting the troops together and picking ourselves up. It’s not about football. It’s about the friends and people you meet. It’s been quite the ride.”

Callahan said he was at his job at Food Lion with his phone in his hand when Miami earned the final spot in this year’s Playoff field.

“I was getting ready to just click it off when they were going to announce Notre Dame getting in, and when they said Miami, I literally scared every customer in my store, running through the aisles, screaming,” Callahan said. “I was just ready for the letdown. We’ve been let down so many times that you just kind of brace yourself for it.”

Callahan said there’s not a day in his life that he’s not wearing green and orange. He even wears it on Christmas.

“My wife said it’d be nice to see you in something besides green and orange,” Callahan said. “I told her, that’s just not happening.”