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Alabama offensive line coach Mario Cristobal is reportedly one of the frontrunners to be Miami’s next head coach.
Several reports have identified Cristobal as one of the Hurricanes’ top candidates.
On Thursday, former Miami offensive tackle Joaquin Gonzalez tweeted that Cristobal and Butch Davis (who won three Big East titles with Miami) are the school’s current leading candidates, and former NFL head coaches Rob Chudzinski and Greg Schiano are also in the mix. Davis was Miami’s head coach from 1995-2000, while the other three candidates have all been assistants at the school.
Just finished interview with search firm..consensus across all their interviews has been Butch/Mario leading, followed by Chud then Schiano
— Joaquin Gonzalez (@Joaquin_UMOL73) November 19, 2015
The 45-year-old Cristobal is a Miami native who played tackle for the Hurricanes from 1989-92. He was an assistant coach at the school from 1998-2000 and 2004-06.
Cristobal was the head coach at Florida International, which is also located in Miami, from 2007-12. When he took over the Golden Panthers’ program in 2007, they were coming off an 0-12 season. He improved the program tremendously, and led the Golden Panthers to the only winning seasons and bowl appearances in school history (2010 and 2011).
He was fired after the 2012 season, and FIU went 5-19 over the next two years.
Cristobal has been an assistant on Nick Saban’s staff since 2013.
Miami has been looking for a head coach since firing Al Golden in October.
