Oregon's Mario Cristobal offers up interesting response when asked about interest in Auburn job
Oregon coach Mario Cristobal was one of the early and most consistent names mentioned for the Auburn opening across several media outlets once Gus Malzahn was fired.
The former long-time Alabama assistant is finishing his third season at Oregon.
“This is what I can say — I haven’t been contacted, I don’t know if my agent has, and I talk to him every single day,” Cristobal said Monday evening. “I trust Phil Knight. I trust the administration. I trust the people at Oregon. I have full trust in the administration here that things are going to get worked out and I’ll be coaching here.”
Cristobal also referred to working on a contract extension with the administration, however, it stalled when the pandemic started, but has picked up recently, he said.
“I’ve always been transparent with every single one of you and I will continue to do that,” he told reporters. “So hopefully in the next couple of days there’s more stuff to talk about as it relates to that.
Cristobal debuted at 9-4 in 2018, after he was promoted from co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach to head coach three days after Willie Taggart left for Florida State. Cristobal coached Oregon to a 7-6 win over Michigan State in the Dec. 31, 2018, Redbox Bowl.
Cristobal joined Taggart’s 2017 coaching staff at Oregon after a four-year tenure as the assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator from 2013-16 at Alabama. That included the 2015 cycle that crowned Cristobal as 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year.
Previously, Cristobal served as Florida International’s head coach from 2007-12. In six seasons with the Golden Panthers, Cristobal went 27-47 overall and 20-26 against Sun Belt play, including consecutive winning campaigns from 2010-11 at 7-6 (6-2) and 8-5 (5-3).
Here’s Mario Cristobal’s full response when asked about the Auburn rumors. #GoDucks #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/ODQxxG6Kwa
— Brandon Kamerman (@B_Kamerman) December 15, 2020