EUGENE — The coaching carousel is already spinning just two full weeks into the college football season and Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, fresh off the biggest win of his career at Ohio State, has been mentioned on numerous lists of potential candidates at USC.
Asked during an appearance on the Doug Gottlieb Show what his response would be to being mentioned in connection to the USC job, which opened on Monday after Clay Helton was fired following a loss to Stanford, Cristobal said, “My response is Go Ducks.”
Pressed as to whether he’d at least have a conversation about the opening at USC, Cristobal repeated himself.
“I’m saying, telling you again Go Ducks,” he said. “I’m not sure why you brought me on this interview, I was under the impression that we were talking about the Oregon Ducks and whatnot. Since we go this route, I’ll reinforce it again, Go Ducks.”
Oregon is 2-0 against USC under Cristobal, including a 31-24 win in last year’s Pac-12 Championship game at the LA Coliseum.
Cristobal signed a new contract last December that runs through the 2025 season and his buyout is $9 million through Jan. 14. He’s earning $4.3 million this season, plus a $300,000 retention bonus and is eligible for just over $2 million in performance bonuses.
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