But Cristobal always realizes that success in the fall doesn't end with the final whistle in December. The head coach personally logs thousands of miles each off-season recruiting, attempting to attract top high school and junior college talent to South Florida. That effort apparently worked with a February 2010 Singing Day harvest that netted FIU Football arguably its best-ever recruiting class , which included FIU's first-ever ESPN top-150 recruit in Willis Wright, and has been ranked by some recruiting services as the best in the Sun Belt Conference. 2009's recruiting class included a pair of four-star performers in "Pooh Bear" Mars and Dudley LaPorte. In fact, ESPN ranked Cristobal's recruiting class No. 50 nationally, ahead of well-known programs like North Carolina State, Colorado, Purdue, Cincinnati and Ball State..
But Cristobal expects more than just effort on the field. He demands effort in the classroom, as well. After just one year on the job, not only did his Panthers record their highest grade point average in the history of the program, but they also saw 31-percent of the team achieve academic honors of between a 3.0-4.0 GPA.
And that's not all. Last spring, the NCAA commended Cristobal with regards to the team's 74-point increase in the all-important Academic Progress Rate (APR) for, "the improved academic performance of the football team since the arrival of [Cristobal] in December 2006."
But Cristobal does not demand anything from his student-athletes that he wouldn't demand of himself. Hours in the weight room are a prerequisite to winning football games at this level and Cristobal "walks the walk" in that regard. This summer, he was named No. 1 by ESPN The Magazine's Bruce Feldman on the list of college football's Workout Warriors: Coaches Edition.
