I don’t blame Mario Cristobal for wanting to go home. But I will fault the University of Oregon if it ignores the lesson he’s trying to teach it about the strength of roots and the power of opportunity.
The Ducks football coach informed his team on Monday morning that he’s leaving for Miami. His ailing mother lives there, his brother works as a police officer there and he’ll become the next coach at his alma mater.
Nevermind that Cristobal told reporters at his introductory news conference in Eugene, “We felt all in with Oregon after being here just a short amount of time. We want to be here until you got to drag me away kicking and screaming.”
No kicking today. No screaming. Cristobal, 51, is going home.
Now Oregon starts over.
First though, some important context. In 2016, Oregon fired Mark Helfrich. The athletic department was justifiably frustrated with the trajectory of the program after suffering through a 4-8 season that caused unrest among high-dollar boosters. Season-ticket renewals were wobbling. Athletic director Rob Mullens knew he’d have to eat the remaining $11.6 million of Helfrich’s contract and another $3.7 million in assistant-coach salary, but Mullens decided he couldn’t afford to wait.
The Ducks fired Helfrich four days after the season ended.
Helfrich’s record at Oregon: 37-16.
Cristobal’s record at Oregon: 35-13.
The firing of Helfrich is a significant marker in program history because it represented a deviation in philosophy. Then-running backs coach Gary Campbell had been with Oregon for 33 seasons, for example. He’d worked for four different Ducks head coaches. Offensive line coach Steve Greatwood and conditioning coach Jimmy Radcliffe had been with the Ducks for 31 seasons. Don Pellum had been in Eugene 27 seasons.
It wasn’t just the end of an era at Oregon -- it was the official entry point to the madness of major college athletics for the university. The Ducks waded into deep waters. Like just about everyone else in major college football, Oregon now finds itself open to the threat of poaching.
But ... because of all those years of conditioning and continuity, the athletic department somehow still believed it lived in a world where a handshake and the word “loyalty” meant something.
I suspect that’s why the buyout in Willie Taggart’s contract was woefully inadequate. The Ducks never imagined he’d ditch them. After all, they’d given Taggart a golden opportunity. He lasted one season and left for Florida State, his hometown program. Cristobal made it four seasons before Miami called on him. Which is only to say that Oregon either needs to get real with itself about being a stepping stone job for outsiders or make the next coach someone who is also coming home and wants to stay.
Cal coach Justin Wilcox, for example.
Chris Petersen, for instance.
Or maybe old friends Jeff Tedford and/or Chip Kelly.
Those are your first calls if you’re reaching back to your Northwest roots. Either that, or Oregon needs to acknowledge the football job is a revolving 4-to-6-year endeavor and chase Baylor’s Dave Aranda or Iowa State’s Matt Campbell with a blank check and the kind of support they might not currently have.
It’s A) Go local; or B) Go splashy.
There’s a fair bit of division on that front among high-level donors today.
Some are openly happy Cristobal is departing for Miami. They weren’t at all entertained by his slow-churn offense and bumper sticker quotes about toughness and fistfights. Others are miffed at what they believed is a disrespectful departure by Cristobal, who was hired by Oregon despite his 27-47 record. Others are just fed up with having four different head football coaches in 10 years and want someone who will stay.
Nike co-founder Phil Knight has clout. He is deeply connected and thinks big. I won’t be surprised if Oregon goes full-on pipe-dream in its initial push and contacts Urban Meyer or looks to the highest levels of football for a face-saving answer. It may sound delusional, but that’s a thing.
One long-time UO administrator told me on Sunday night, “Phil can get the Pope to return his call.”
Yeah but can the Pope recruit?
Signing day is a week away.
Remember, Oregon once took 39 days and offered its vacant men’s basketball job to Tom Izzo and Jaime Dixon before it landed on Dana Altman. The Ducks took a series of big swings back then. They had chats with Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Butler’s Brad Stevens, and then-Missouri coach Mike Anderson at the time. Altman was a fall back hire who ended up taking the Ducks to a Final Four.
What I’m saying is, sometimes good fortune finds you.
It became apparent on Sunday that Cristobal couldn’t return to Oregon next season without troubles. Knight was the co-signer on a 10-year contract extension that was offered and doesn’t like to get played. It was clear Camp Cristobal was using Oregon’s extension offer as leverage with Miami. I’m told Knight withdrew his support when Cristobal refused to sign the extension before the Pac-12 title game. He’d won two Pac-12 titles and posted a 10-win season, but I doubted in a column I posted late Sunday if Cristobal could be effective in Eugene without Knight in his corner.
I don’t blame Cristobal for going home. His mother’s recent illness was sobering. The alumni push at Miami was inspiring. The fan base in South Beach is as fired up as USC’s base was when it landed Lincoln Riley. I wonder if Oregon’s alumni and fan base will be as vocal in its hopes and cries for the next coach. But first, I wonder if the Ducks understand they have only two choices in the next week.
They can either go home with the next hire -- or find peace with uncertainty.
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