There are times when you can just feel Mario Cristobal’s Cuban-American blood rising to the same temperature as his beloved cafecito , the ultra-caffeinated espresso drink he consumes like a life force and that has become as much a part of the culture of his football program as orange T-shirts and U-shaped hand signals. You can feel it when he becomes animated with officials over a missed call or when a player does not act according to the standards of the team. You can feel it in the moments after a cathartic win, when the former offensive lineman’s already intense eyes widen further and the veins bulge ever so slightly on his forearms as he fist-bumps Hurricanes fans leaving the field.

If ever his pulse would quicken off the field, you would expect it to occur when Cristobal is forced to answer an inquiry he’s heard who knows how often since he was hired five years ago, one which has hovered over the tenures of his four coaching predecessors in a way that makes one of the best jobs in the country also one…