A new college football champion will be crowned Monday night in Miami Gardens, Fla., when No. 1 Indiana faces No. 10 Miami in the national title game. One of the central figures in the matchup isn't a specific player or a coach, but a high school that sits just 21 miles south of Hard Rock Stadium:
Christopher Columbus High School.
Located in the Westchester suburb of Miami, the small, all-boys Catholic school has built a formidable reputation both academically and athletically.
Founded in 1958, the school produced Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, Indiana starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and several other NFL, Major League Baseball, and NBA players.
Mendoza’s father, Fernando Mendoza IV, played at Columbus alongside Cristobal, as did Hurricanes assistant head coach and offensive line coach Alex Mirabal. All three suited up together for teh Explorers in the late 1980s;
AllSportsPeople spoke with longtime Columbus fixtures to learn how the private school helped shape some of the national title game’s most-important figures, including the fiery Miami coach whose fiery personality seems to be as enduring as his legacy at the high school.
“When [Cristobal] was a player here as an offensive lineman, everybody liked him until practice started,” John Lynskey, Columbus’ director of alumni affairs and a 1978 alumnus, told AllSportsPeople. “Then the defensive guys hated him, because Mario never heard the whistle, never stopped. We had some pretty good fights involving Mario and the defense. That defined his playing career here, carried over to his time at UM when he won two national championships, and I think it defines his coaching style.”
MORE: Meet Fernando Mendoza's entire family, including his mom, dad and QB brother
Where did Fernando Mendoza go to high school?
Long before he hoisted the Heisman Trophy, Indiana starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza attended Christopher Columbus High School, the same institution where his father played football. The school itself has humble beginnings. It opened in 1958 under the direction of the Diocese of Miami with just 139 students. By the late 1980s, enrollment had grown to around 1,000 students, with tuition estimated between $1,000 and $1,500 annually.
Christopher Columbus High School is led by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute whose origins date back to the 1800s.
"The core beliefs of this school were established by the Marist brothers in 1958 and we've never wavered from them," Lynskey said. "And the fact that we have 55 alumni teachers working here ensures that from generation to generation, decade to decade, you know our principles are going to be carried down. We stand on the shoulders of giants here."
Today, Columbus' enrollment is over 1,700, with a tuition of $18,150 for 2026. In June 2025, the school ranked as one of the best high schools for athletes in the entire country. In football, it has played in multiple state title games, with current Explorers head coach Dave Dunn leading the program to three state championships in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
But in the 1970s and 80s, Columbus was far from the powerhouse it is today. When former Columbus coach Dennis Lavelle arrived at the school in 1972, the Cuban boys that comprised the majority of the school's student body had yet to embrace football.
"It was only a decade since Castro, right? So the Cubans -- it was, it was predominantly already Cuban," Lavelle told AllSportsPeople via phone interview. "Because Columbus is owned by the Marist brothers, and in Havana there was a school called Marist. So the kids gravitated to the Marist School in Miami when they came. And none of them — and I mean none of them -- played football. There were a lot of good athletes. They played baseball. They played basketball. And we would beg the kids to come out for football. They just, they just wouldn't come. We were horrible. We couldn't win. I can remember sitting in the office just complaining about the Cuban kids not playing."
Lavelle began his tenure as Columbus’ defensive coordinator, and the program gradually improved under his guidance. The school eventually reached the state championship game in 1980 and 1982, just a few years before Cristobal and Mendoza Sr. Enrolled.
The 1982 season was a rollercoaster of a year. The team featured quarterback Mike Shula—the son of legendary Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula—as well as future Canes and NFL star Alonza Highsmith. Lavelle took over as head coach midseason, after the longtime Columbus head coach, Bob Lewis was arrested for "lewd and lascivious behavior."
"The arrest had been kept a secret," Lavelle said of how his team handled it all. "So we practiced on Wednesday, they were going to play on Friday, so the game plan was to lie to the kids. I lied my ass off to the kids."
But on Friday, Lewis' arrest made the front page of The Miami-Herald. Despite the off-field distraction, Lavelle's team made it to the state championship that season anyway, falling 23-14 to Pensacola Woodham.
"We won Friday night," Lavelle says of the tumultuous 1982 season. "We just never looked back. It was us against them. Everybody hated us, we were the only private school."
Lavelle says his Columbus players' discipline they learned in school translated tremendously on the field.
"That carried over to discipline," Lavelle said. "We didn't get penalties. We didn't turn the ball over. It was us against the world."
The head coach went on to coach 17 seasons at Columbus, before moving to Stuart, Fla. To coach another 16 seasons at South Fork High School. He has compiled a 192-143 record over his 33 seasons as a coach.
MORE: Revisiting Mario Cristobal's decision to leave Oregon for Miami
Mario Cristobal high school roster
During the late 1980s, Lavelle's rosters included Cristobal, Mirabal and Mendoza on the offensive line.
Cristobal went on to play offensive line at the University of Miami and won two national championships with the Canes in 1989 and 1991. He was named a First-team All-Big East Conference tackle during his senior season in 1991.
His intensity as a player and coach dates back to his Columbus days.
"I think people's personalities are pretty much established by the time you're 15," Lynskey said of Cristobal. "And the Mario Cristobal of today and the Mario of age 15, when I first met him, hasn't changed. He is one of the most intense people I've ever been around. He has no off switch, full go all the time. He doesn't do anything half-speed."
Photo courtesy of Christopher Columbus High School
Cristobal’s older brother, Lou, also played football at Columbus, and Lyskey says he made Mario look “calm” in comparison. Lou was a 30-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department. Columbus’ teams finished a combined 14-6 with Cristobal, Mirabal and Mendoza Sr. On the roster in 1986 and 1987.
When Cristobal, Mendoza and Mirabal all played together, the three teammates had different playing styles.
“Alex Mirabal — he’s pretty diminutive. He’s a small guy. He played like a pit bull — just attack, attack, attack. Because when you’re that small, you have to give all you have. And that’s how he coaches today. And there’s nothing better than watching him at, you know, 5-foot-5, 5-foot-6, just tearing into some guy who’s 6-foot-9, with that guy towering in front of him.”
After high school, Mendoza Sr. Rowed crew at Brown University and even won a gold medal in the Junior Men’s event in 1987.
“Fernando Sr. [Was] very stoic, very quiet, very polite,” Lynskey said. “Which you don’t necessarily think of an offensive lineman being. But Fernando was like a smoldering volcano. You knew he was going to explode, and on game night, he did.”
In 1986, Mendoza, Cristobal, and Mirabal’s Columbus team upset the No. 1 team in the country, Miami Southridge, 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
“We absolutely, positively, physically demolished them in the playoffs and upset the number one team in the nation through sheer physicality,” Lynskey said. “That, without question, is one of the greatest wins in the history of Columbus football.”
Cristobal reflected on the victory the week before the national title game.
"We went 6-4, Cristobal said. "We won the district championship in a three-way tiebreaker.
"We played number one Southridge in the state championship. They had a couple Hurricanes on there, Robert Bailey and Herbert James."
We punted. Robert Bailey fumbled the punt. He’ll deny it, but he did. We recovered. Huerta kicked the field goal and we beat the number one team in the state."
Fernando Mendoza Sr., Courtesy of Columbus High School
MORE: Fernando Mendoza's journey from two-star recruit to Heisman Trophy winner
Mario Cristobal-Fernando Mendoza dad relationship
These day, Mendoza Sr. Is one of the most well-respected pediatric emergency doctors in the Miami area. Cristobal said that, although he and Mendoza didn’t stay in touch after high school, he has tremendous respect for him and his family.
“When you go to Columbus, that brotherhood is extremely strong,” Cristobal said. “You know, everywhere you go, especially in town you run in — but we have crossed paths before. Certainly he was an excellent football player and has become such a prominent member of the community in the medical field. And certainly all the respect in the world for him and his family.”
“They were really good,” Lavelle said of his teams with Mendoza, Cristobal, and Mirabal. “We were really good. And the thing I remember most about all three of them is they’re just great people, great kids. I mean, you get out of bed in the morning so you can coach kids like that. Good students. Honorable. Polite. Well-behaved. Just like you’d want your son to be. They were all that way, all three of them. And they won a bunch of games and moved on.”
MORE: Revisiting Miami’s loaded 2001 team, the last Hurricanes squad to win a national title
Where is Columbus High School in Miami?
Columbus High School is located just outside of Westchester, a suburb of Miami that sits southwest of Downtown Miami. Cristobal, the Mendozas and Mirabal are all Cuban-American. In the late 1950s, it is estimated that some 500,000 Cubans immigrated to Miami. In 2023, it is estimated that more than 911,000 residents were of Cuban descent.
Lynskey says the added attention to Columbus, which has a waiting list of over 400 students each year, will only make the future brighter for the school.
"It has been incredible already, what it's done for us," Lynskey said. And it's going to be a seismic change here at Columbus. So we'd like to produce another Heisman winner or another national championship coach. This is not the end. This is a new beginning for Columbus."
MORE: Why did Fernando Mendoza leave Cal for Miami?
Why didn't Fernando Mendoza go to Miami?
Mendoza, a Miami native, was not recruited by the Hurricanes. Although he attended a camp at Miami in June of 2021 while Canes head coach Manny Diaz was still in Coral Gables, the Canes fired Diaz that December, and hired Cristobal.
“The dream was to play for Miami as a Hurricane,” Mendoza told NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach in May 2025. “And once I entered the transfer portal, Miami was recruiting me.”
Mendoza's only other offers coming out of high school from a Florida school was from Florida International. He committed to Cal in Feb. 2022, and signed with the Bears. He played three seasons for the Bears before transferring to Indiana. Although the Canes were recruiting Mendoza when he was in the portal, the timing didn't work out
It also helps that Mendoza's younger brother, Alberto Mendoza, was already at Indiana. Alberto, who also played at Columbus, is currently Indiana's backup quarterback.
“It just didn’t end up working out (playing for Miami)," Mendoza added. "Especially with the timing as Indiana’s season got finished a little earlier than Miami because Miami had a very late bowl game. But it was always a dream.”
MORE: Why Fernando Mendoza is extremely active on LInkedIn
Fernando Mendoza high school stats
| Season | Comp | Att | Pass Yards | Pass TD |
| 2021 | 107 | 169 | 1,109 | 11 |
| 2020 | 91 | 129 | 1,086 | 13 |
| 2019 | 26 | 34 | 227 | 5 |
(Stats via Mendoza's Indiana bio)
NFL players from Columbus High School
Despite the school being one of the smaller, private all-boy's schools in South Florida, Columbus boasts a number of impressive alumni who played in the NFL. Here are some of the biggest names:
- LB Mike Whittington, class of 1976
- RB Alonza Highsmith, class of 1983
- K Carlos Huerta, class of 1987
- QB Brian Griese, class of 1993
- OT Joaquin Gonzalez, class of 1997
- CB Patrick Lee, class of 2003
- LBJosh Uche, class of 2016
- CB C.J. Henderson, class of 2017
The school also has a strong athletic reputation beyond football. In baseball, it has produced stars like Alex Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez, Izzy Molina, Ed Lynch, and legendary coach Paul Mainieri. In basketball, notable alumni include Orlando Magic guard Jase Richardson and the Boozer twins at Duke.
The school has won 24 state championships across multiple sports and is the only private school in Florida competing at the Class 8A–7A level.
MORE CFP CHAMPIONSHIP GAME NEWS:
- Expert prediction of Indiana-Miami final
- Curt Cignetti's past meets his future in semis
- Roster breakdown: Who has more blue-chippers?
- Is Indiana better than Joe Burrow-led LSU?
- Miami's run has a March Madness feel