Nearly a week after being blindsided by Todd Graham‘s decision to leave for the Arizona State job, Pittsburgh may be on the verge of landing its replacement.
Possibly. Maybe.
Here’s what is known as it pertains to Pitt’s search for a successor to Graham: according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Florida International head coach Mario Cristobal, Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst and Ohio State assistant Luke Fickell -- and former Kansas head coach Mark Mangino, CFT has been told -- are known to have interviewed for the vacancy. The Post-Gazette writes that Cristobal has emerged as the leader for the job but does not want to get any further into the talks until after the Panthers -- FIU’s Golden version, not the Pitt version -- play in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl against Marshall Tuesday night.
As noted by the paper, that means nothing would happen on the Pitt job front until Wednesday at the earliest. The school has yet to formally offer the job to Cristobal, and likely won’t until they are certain Cristobal will accept the offer.
If money is the overriding factor for Cristobal, a Miami (Fla.) native, it will be an easy decision for the fifth-year coach; Pitt could at least triple Cristobal’s current salary of $500,000 if/when the job is offered.