Miami will hire Mario Cristobal, replacing Manny Diaz

Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal is officially leaving Eugene for Miami, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Zenitz reported Monday that Cristobal informed the Oregon Ducks team that he will be accepting the head coaching job at Miami.

Cristobal will replace Manny Diaz, who was fired on Monday morning. It appeared as though Miami was waiting for Cristobal to give an official word before parting ways with Diaz.

Cristobal has been linked to Miami for most of the past week, despite Oregon playing in the Pac-12 Championship game Saturday with a bowl game still left on schedule. A previous report from Barry Jackson said that as of Sunday morning, Cristobal and Miami negotiations for a deal that pays around $8 million per year, with the duration set for “longer than five years.” Plus, as Jackson noted, Cristobal is not expected to come alone. Reports said that Miami was set to replace athletic director Blake James with Clemson’s Dan Radakovich, and Jackson said that he would come to Miami with Cristobal unless “somebody gets cold feet.”

Cristobal is a Miami native who played for the Hurricanes from 1989-92 before starting his coaching career in 1998 as a graduate assistant. The 51-year old coach spent time on staff from 1998-2000, then again as the tight end coach and offensive line coach from 2004-2006.

The whole time that Miami was reportedly pursuing Cristobal, the university did so without a sitting athletic director. All the while, Diaz, Miami’s sitting head coach, had not yet been fired. Reports said that Diaz was still on the recruiting trail over the last week, despite the Hurricanes seeking to replace him with Cristobal. Diaz was fired on Monday morning.

After Oregon lost 38-10 to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game, reporters asked Cristobal whether there was any validity to the Miami rumors. He did not quite rule it out.

“I would say if there’s something to report, I will report it. I always have,” Cristobal said. “Over the years, because certain things are put out there or not. Every year our entire staff, whether behind the scenes, whether public or not, we’ve always had different people come for our people, including myself, and how the media treats it and how they choose to posture it, I have no control. As I just mentioned, that’s the extent of it.”

For a while, it seemed like Cristobal would consider both Oregon and Miami, as the Ducks’ brass was planning on offering him a contract extension as well. Oregon was hoping to give Cristobal a significant raise in his new contract, and “early whisper” indicated that he was leaning towards staying in Eugene, though that eventually proved wrong.

Since his first two coaching stints in Miami, Cristobal has emerged as one of college football’s best coaches. In four seasons as head coach at Oregon, he has accumulated a 35-13 record, including a 2-2 run in bowl games. Cristobal led the Ducks to 2019 and 2020 Pac-12 titles with another conference championship game appearances in 2021.