The players have spoken. Whether they’re heard is another matter entirely.
It’s been three days since Willie Taggart left after one season as Oregon’s head coach to take the same job at Florida State, with a search for Taggart’s replacement commencing even before he officially bolted Eugene for Tallahassee. In the meantime, Mario Cristobal has taken the reins of the program after being named interim head coach, guiding the Ducks as the search continues and helping them traverse the recruiting trail with the finish line of the first early signing period in sight.
If a sizable chunk of the roster has any say in the matter, however, the co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach will have the interim stripped from his current title and be named the full-time UO head coach.
Had an 70+ players signed petition to keep Cristobal as head coach
— Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrellcrosby) December 8, 2017
Not only does Cristobal have the backing of the players, but he would also come to the job armed with head-coaching experience. Cristobal took over a Florida International program that was 0-12 in its third year of existence and, three years later, had them playing in the first of two straight bowl games. A controversial firing in 2012 led him to Alabama for four years before he left Tuscaloosa for Eugene in January of this year.
That said, there are a couple of other names still in play for the job, most notably the recently deposed head coach at Texas A&M who many have assumed to be the front-runner from the get-go.
Oregon Coaching Search: Based on conversations with numerous people it appears that Jim Leavitt is not in the running to replace Taggart. Top candidates are Kevin Sumlin, Justin Wilcox and Mario Cristobal. My money is on Sumlin followed by a push to keep JL and MC. We shall see.
— Aaron J. Fentress (@AaronJFentress) December 8, 2017