Oregon’s Mario Cristobal offers up interesting response when asked about interest in Auburn job
By Keith Farner
Published:
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
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
