Cristobal pursuit is part of change in how UM does business. Details and new power brokers

The pursuit of Mario Cristobal — and everything about this wild, ruthless, but necessary reboot for Miami Hurricanes athletics - didn’t simply reflect an adjustment in how UM operates. It represented a seismic change in every aspect of how the Hurricanes do business, and who’s now calling the shots.

According to multiple people briefed on how the past two weeks unfolded, the Hurricanes athletic program not only gained access to far more money from school coffers than ever before, but the school essentially handed the keys to a new cast of power-brokers, while politely keeping the old guard at a comfortable distance.

UM’s pursuit of Cristobal and Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich has been mostly a four-person show led by president Julio Frenk’s two trusted lieutenants — chief of staff Rudy Fernandez and UHealth CEO Joe Echevarria — and two billionaires who sit on UM’s Board of Trustees: cable entrepreneur and soccer mogul Jose Más, and auto magnate Manny Kadre, who is UM’s vice chairman. Mas and Kadre are big UM donors.

Board of Trustees chair Laurie Silvers — who appeared during Cristobal’s introductory news conference — was also involved throughout, as was Board of Trustee member David Epstein. We’re told both were supportive of the moves during the past week.

But the fingerprints of Fernandez, Echevarria, Mas and Kadre — with Frenk’s blessing — were on every single decision UM made in this unusual coaching search, one conducted with the job still filled.

Mas and Kadre offered their jets — Kadre’s was used in the simultaneous courtships of Cristobal and Radakovich.

That quartet — with Frenk’s approval — executed the pursuit of Cristobal (overtures initially were made in mid-November) and decided to do it without first firing Manny Diaz, a decision Fernandez declined to explain on Tuesday.

Why was the coach hired before the athletic director?

“We had to make a decision very quickly [on the coach],” Fernandez said. “The coaching one, we were able to close it first. That window of opportunity opened very quickly and was going to close very quickly. We had a unique opportunity to bring someone who has had great success at a Power 5 level and is one of the top three recruiters in the country and is uniquely tied to our program.”

It certainly didn’t hurt that Mas and Cristobal had a close friendship. And the fact Frenk empowered Fernandez and Echevarria to assess the state of athletics after Kirk Herbstreit’s rant about the ‘U’ on ESPN — one of several developments that led to athletic director Blake James’ ouster — made it easier for them to execute their plan.

That quartet (Fernandez, Echevarria, Kadre, Mas) worked to ensure that money was available not only to entice Cristobal with easily the biggest contract in UM history but also significantly increase the assistant coaching budget to more than $8 million.

And they essentially shepherded UM into the world of big-time, big-spending college athletics, after James’ tireless work raising money to upgrade facilities over the past nine years.

Fernandez emphasized Tuesday that the decision to allocate more financial resources for athletics was entirely Frenk’s, and that he and Echevarria did not need to convince him to do it.

So where’s all this new money coming from to pay Cristobal’s 10-year, $80 million deal, his $9 million Oregon buyout, a Diaz buyout topping $4 million and the best assistant coaching staff that $8 million-plus can buy?

To this point, from the UM coffers, which have been augmented by enormous profits from UM’s health system.

So far, UM hasn’t needed anything from Mas, Kadre, deep-pocketed donor John Ruiz or any booster or trustee to pay for Cristobal or his Oregon buyout.

Fernandez insisted that no UM health system money was directly going to athletics.

“Under Julio Frenk, his financial stewardship of this university [has] put us in a position where we are very healthy financially and can make significant investments in the academic mission and the non-academic part,” Fernandez said. “The university is very efficiently run.”

In recent years, UM’s healthcare system, including its network of hospitals and clinics and joint operating deal with the publicly owned Jackson Memorial Hospital, has earned substantially higher profits for the university.

According to UM’s tax return in 2019, the UHealth System generated $2.1 billion in revenue and expenses of $1.8 billion, yielding earnings of about $300 million. The nonprofit school’s return, compiled by the GuideStar organization, shows that the healthcare system contributed significantly to UM’s total retained earnings in the academic year ending May 31, 2019.

The university’s previous tax returns for 2017 and 2018 also reflect rising revenues and expenses in the UHealth System, producing hundreds of millions of dollars in retained earnings for UM, according to IRS filings gathered by GuideStar.

UM’s athletic program is now taking a page from UM’s health care playbook.

Echevarria, Kadre and local businessman and philanthropist Stuart Miller — an influential Board of Trustee member who has donated more than $200 million to the university over the years — took a faltering health system and made it profitable.

They want to use the same model for UM athletics, and Frenk is on board, hoping the additional allocation of funds will build Canes athletics back into a national powerhouse.

The business model is simple: Spend money to make money.

One source put it this way: By pumping an additional $30 million into athletics, UM is banking on a big return, as the UM brand - which has withstood 15 years of football mediocrity — becomes more attractive again and enjoys the financial windfall that should follow.

As one source said, “keep in mind that the health system lost big money for 10 years” and Echevarria, Kadre and Miller “turned it into a machine making hundreds of millions.”

Under this new UM model for athletics, invest generously in the program and “the return will come,” the source said.

Fernandez put it this way in a chat with the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post: “Football makes money and has always made money. Football helps subsidize every other sport. We also analyzed projections, did some analysis as to what we could expect to get from a fantastic hire in Mario Cristobal.

“You guys attend games. That stadium was half full. If we get the stadium to 90 percent, 100 percent capacity [more revenue will result]. Football has been making money. And it’s going to make a lot more money. We believe the football program will generate the revenue to pay for these expenses.”

Echevarria, Kadre and Fernandez have found a willing partner in Mas, who has assumed some of the power previously afforded to both Epstein and a separate old guard of longtime Trustees who were essentially kept at arm’s length in this process.

There was nothing about this plan that was run by the full Board of Trustees.

Ruiz — an attorney, entrepreneur, and founder of a firm called MSP Recovery who is set to be worth over $20 billion — has offered to help the program financially, including floating the long-shot notion of financing and building a UM football stadium on the grounds of Coral Gables High.

But Ruiz wasn’t much involved in the Cristobal pursuit, and UM hasn’t asked him to pay for anything.

Now let’s be clear: UM is open to using money from donors to finance assorted projects (including additional facility upgrades) and have their businesses assist athletes — under parameters of the NCAA’s new Image and Likeness rules. The administration is not averse to using donors’ money on coaching salaries if it’s needed. But to this point, it hasn’t been needed.

During negotiations with Cristobal’s camp, Fernandez, Kadre, Echevarria and Mas made sure every one of his concerns was addressed at every level, that he would be afforded the type of resources no UM coach has ever been bestowed.

An agreement was reached mid-afternoon Sunday — Cristobal conveyed to UM he was on board — but UM withheld an announcement on Diaz’s firing for 18 hours to give Cristobal time to inform Oregon players on Monday.

THIS AND THAT

▪ Fernandez declined to answer when asked if Diaz would have kept the job if Cristobal had declined UM’s overtures.

▪ Alex Mirabal, Oregon’s offensive line coach, is expected to join Cristobal’s UM staff. Classy UM offensive line coach Garin Justice called Mirabal and arranged Zoom sessions Tuesday between Mirabal and Hurricanes linemen. Former LSU and Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady is among those in the mix for UM’s offensive coordinator job.

▪ Is Fernandez optimistic that a deal is close with Radakovich to be athletic director?

“I’m always optimistic,” Fernandez said. “We’re big fans of Pat Riley. We’re out whale hunting. We hold Dan in very high regard. He’s one of the top people in the country at his profession. Have tremendous respect for him. I’m not going to say anything else on the AD search.”

If Radakovich surprisingly decides not to join UM, the Hurricanes are expected to pursue New Mexico AD Eddie Nunez and Colorado athletic director Rick George. There would be UM interest in Alabama AD Rick Byrne, but there’s no indication he would leave Alabama.

▪ Former UM greats Alonzo Highsmith and Gino Torretta were strong candidates for the AD job, but UM decided it prefered to hire a career administrator over a first-time AD.

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

Here’s my Tuesday piece with everything notable Cristobal said in his press conference and details on who will coach UM in the Sun Bowl.