If Miami was good defensively last season, the Hurricanes would have been serious contenders for the national championship. If they were just okay, they would have won the ACC and been Playoff participants. Instead, well, the 'Canes missed the ACC title game and lost, 42-41, to Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
I'll quote myself from my piece on Mario Cristobal from last month:
Part of the problem was the defense, which finished the year a respectable 44th nationally in yards per play, but only held Florida State and Wake Forest (who went a cumulative 6-18 last season) below 5.78 ypp over their final nine contests. After removing the first four games, Miami would have ranked 84th in yards per play and 111th in scoring, with six of nine foes putting up at least 31 points.
"After Week 4 last year, we took a downturn defensively. We had some injuries that led to some schematic changes that weren't the best for our football program, so a change had to be made."
Enter Corey Hetherman, a former Division III quarterback who began coaching in 2006 and didn't reach the FBS level until 2022. Hetherman began his career coaching quarterbacks and spent two seasons overseas as an offensive coordinator for European football teams before moving to defense in 2010. He spent the 2010s and early 2020s garnering a reputation as one of the sharpest defensive minds in FCS: first as linebackers coach for Bobby Wilder at Old Dominion, then as defensive coordinator for Joe Harasmyiak at Maine and for Curt Cignetti at James Madison. In three seasons at JMU, Hetherman helped the Dukes go 33-5 and never fell short of the FCS semifinals.
When Harasmyiak, now the head coach at UMass, landed the Rutgers defensive coordinator job in 2022, he brought Hetherman along as linebackers coach. Together, they chopped a full yard per play off the Scarlet Knights' yards per play average by their second year on staff. That was enough for PJ Fleck, a Greg Schiano disciple, to bring Hetherman to Minnesota. For a year. In 2023, the Gophers tied for 93rd in yards per play; in 2024, they finished 12th. "I'm happy for Corey," Fleck said in the spring. "(He) gave a lot to this program in a short year."
"(Hetherman) is an elite teacher and human being, and a guy that does really well at what we need our defense to do and to be. His use of personnel, his ability to adapt, his track record, particularly at Minnesota, was enough evidence for us to feel comfortable in bringing him in, and he hasn't disappointed," Cristobal said at ACC media days.
Speaking of personnel, Hetherman said his defense at Miami will be "very multiple." Players are being trained at multiple positions in an effort to get the best 11 on the field in every situation, so an injury to a linebacker may not bring another linebacker onto the field. "A lot of guys are going to have positional flexibility, a lot of guys are going to be cross-trained at multiple roles," Hetherman said last week. "He makes it simple and digestible for our guys and complicated for the other team," Cristobal added.
Miami brought in 10 defensive transfers, nine of whom play in the back seven. With so many new faces in place and a plan to switch looks and cycle players through multiple positions, communication will be absolutely paramount. To accomplish that, Job 1 is simply getting the Hurricanes' players and coaches to know each other. And so hanging out by the pool and trips to Wing Stop became just as critical to Miami's offseason as film study and walk-throughs.
"More of a connected team," Hetherman told the local media on his primary goal of the offseason. "Getting those guys connected together on defense, whether it's them hanging out together off campus, coming in and watching film together with different position groups, because they're going to have to work together on the field."
Every defensive coordinator preaches the importance of forcing turnovers, but Hetherman's focus level is set on 11. "We've got to be obsessed with the football," he said. "Every day it's going to be all about the ball. How many times can we affect the ball? How many takeaways can we create? How fast do we swarm to the ball?... That's what it's going to be about the entire time. It's not going to be about the Xs and Os. How hard do we play, how fast do we play, and how well do we play together?"
Only 15 FBS teams last season recovered fewer than Miami's four fumbles, and after posting a 3-to-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio through September, Miami allowed 19 scoring strikes with just five picks over their final eight games.
Against a schedule that will see Notre Dame and Florida come to Hard Rock Stadium but only one other preseason top 25 team (at No. 16 SMU on Nov. 1), Miami doesn't have to be great defensively to reach the ACC title game and its first College Football Playoff. "Pretty good" would probably get the job done, but one doesn't get from Division III quarterback to ACC defensive coordinator by settling for "pretty good."