Slowly but surely, Mario Cristobal is putting together a formidable coaching staff at Miami.
His latest hire is Charlie Strong, who joins the staff as linebackers coach, according to Chris Low of ESPN.
The former Louisville, Texas, and South Florida head coach will be a position coach in college football for the first time since he coached Notre Dame's defensive line from 1995-98. That job led to South Carolina's defensive coordinator role in 1999, and ever since he was a coordinator (that, to be clear, also coached a position) or a head coach through his final season at USF in 2019.
Strong spent 2020 as an analyst at Alabama and 2021 as Urban Meyer's assistant head coach and inside 'backers coach in Jacksonville.
Strong joins a staff that includes offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, and offensive line coach Alex Mirabal.
Including Cristobal, all five of Miami's coaches have ties to Nick Saban and/or ties to the South Florida recruiting scene.
Strong's Louisville teams at one point had 38 Floridians and 28 from the Miami area. In a related story, Strong went 21-3 in 2012-13 before leaving for Texas.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.