EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Oregon will promote offensive coordinator Mario Cristobal to head coach, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because a deal and announcement were still being finalized. Cristobal was co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Oregon this past season and was named interim coach on Tuesday when Willie Taggart left to become head coach at Florida State.
NBC Sports Northwest was first to report Oregon had decided to promote Cristobal. A team meeting was scheduled for early Friday afternoon.
That Cristobal’s “interim” tag was only in place for three days shows the enthusiasm the program has for him. Dozens of players signed a petition backing him as head coach. Some players voiced support by using the hashtag #cristobALLIN on social media.
Left tackle Tyrell Crosby tweeted Thursday night that more than 70 players had signed the petition.
“We are all fighting so hard for him to be HC, because we all know he’d fight just as hard for us.” Crosby wrote.
Before coming to Eugene, Oregon, with Taggart, Cristobal had spent four seasons as offensive line coach at Alabama. He has six seasons of head coaching experience at Florida International, where he went 27-47, including 20-26 in conference, with two bowl appearances from 2007-12.
He was also an assistant at Miami, his alma mater.
When Oregon hired Taggart to replace Mark Helfrich, he was the first Oregon coach to come from outside the staff in more than four decades. Losing Taggart, the Florida native, after less than a year meant another coaching search, but this time the Ducks stayed in-house. Oregon went 7-5 this season, including 1-4 in games without starting quarterback Justin Herbert, who missed time with a broken collarbone. The Ducks face Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 16.
The Ducks had also been doing well on the recruiting trail under Taggart and the hope is promoting Cristobal can help Oregon keep a promising class of high school commitments together.
The Ducks wanted to name a successor quickly because of the early signing period, which begins Dec. 20. Oregon is set to host a group of recruits this weekend.
Photo credit –Â Andy Nelson / The Register-Guard via AP / Eugene, OR
