The Miami Hurricanes were so close to defeating the Indiana Hoosiers in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Miami will enter the 2026 season with plenty of changes, including Carson Beck going to the NFL and former Duke quarterback Darian Mensah coming to town. On Thursday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Miami running backs coach Matt Merritt is leaving the program to take the same job with the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals were one of the final teams that needed to hire a new head coach, and they chose Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
The Cardinals also hired former Green Bay Packers OC and ex-Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett to be the OC in Arizona, so LaFleur has been working quickly to put his staff together.
Prior to coming to Miami, Merritt spent one season at USF, and he was at Georgia Southern in 2022 and at Tennessee the year before that. He also spent time at Elon and Ohio State, and he was a part of the Bill Walsh Minority Fellowships with the Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers.
LaFleur was with the 49ers from 2017 until 2020 as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, so the two were together with SF in 2019.
This is the second departure for Mario Cristobal’s coaching staff. Cody Woodiel, who was the tight ends coach, left for a job with the Ole Miss Rebels.
