Cristobal shares a long history with the Miami program
Multiple reports claim that Mario Cristobal will be the next Miami football coach.
Manny Diaz was fired Monday, after three seasons of middle-of the-road seasons with Hurricanes. Cristobal will take his place. Cristobal will be coming from Oregon, which lost the Pac-12 Championship last week to Utah.
Rumours circulated about the Miami head coach position following Hurricanes’ close games against Virginia and North Carolina. Although Miami would win big over North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and other states, it seemed that Diaz’s final game was a three point loss to Florida State.
President Julio Frenk stated that Coach Diaz was a great contributor to the University and his native South Florida. He also exemplified strong leadership and an exemplary character during his time at the University. We wish him and his family all the best as they move forward.”
Because of his Miami background and being a Hurricanes player and coach, Cristobal was one of the first coaches to be mentioned in the rumor mill.
From 1989 to 1992, he was an offensive lineman for Miami. He later spent two seasons with the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe. In 1998, he returned to Miami as a graduate assistant. Later, he was an offensive line coach and tight ends coach.
His first job as a head coach was at Florida International. He was there from 2007-2012. After that, he became an associate head coach for Alabama under Nick Saban from 2013 to 2016. After one season as a coordinator for the offensive, he was promoted to head coach of Oregon in 2018.
As Oregon’s head coach, he was 35-13. The Ducks were 2-2 in bowl games with his biggest win being the 2019 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin. Some of his teams produced recent NFL players, such as Penei Sewell and Jevon Holland, among others.
Cristobal now has a chance at resurrecting Miami’s football team. Although the Hurricanes are far from their glory days, they seem to have hope in quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who has done well in the second half of the 2021 season.
Miami will face Washington State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.