It seems like Oregon has been in this situation before.
In fact, they have just four years ago.
Mario Cristobal has decided to leave a 10-year, $85 million contract on the table in order to return to his hometown of Miami in hopes of rebuilding his alma mater’s football program into a national powerhouse.
The coach before him, Willie Taggert, left Eugene for the exact same reason at Florida State and it didn’t work out so well.
The timing of Cristobal’s departure couldn’t be any worse as signing day is just nine days away and Oregon will have to prepare for a meeting with Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl without their head coach or their offensive coordinator.
Joe Moorhead left the program after the Pac-12 title game to be the head coach at Akron.
So once again, athletic director Rob Mullens will be on the head for a new football coach for the third time in six seasons. The search shouldn’t be too difficult as Nike U has state-of-the-art facilities and Phil Knight as Booster No. 1. Several coaches will be calling him, not the other way around.
COACHING CANDIDATES
Expect those close to the program to want Mullens to go after the hometown kid of Justin Wilcox. The Junction City native has been the head man at California for five seasons and while the record isn’t spectacular (25-28), the Bears don’t have the facilities or the backing the Ducks do. Wilcox has also found coaching at Cal increasingly frustrating with the harsh COVID restrictions in Berkeley. Mullens might now want to take a chance at another coach using Oregon as a stepping stone to further their career. For Wilcox, Oregon is a destination.
But Mullens might want to go the other way and make a “splash” hire. The first on that list will be Baylor’s Dave Aranda, who turned the Bears completely around in two short seasons. Baylor is 11-2 and heading to the Sugar Bowl after winning the Big XII title.
Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell could get a look and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell will draw interest. Oregon saw firsthand how Campbell can motivate a team as the Cyclones defeated the Ducks in last season’s Fiesta Bowl. BYU’s Kalani Sitake could be a wild card.
But if Oregon wants to dominate the news cycle, a reunion with Chip Kelly could be a possibility. Kelly is in a different stage of his career than he was when he left at the end of the 2012 season.
Whomever the new coach is, it’ll need to be a quick search as they’ll need to largely preserve one of the best recruiting classes in the school’s history.
WHAT’S NEXT?
In the immediate future, the Ducks have a game to prepare for on Dec. 29. Expect defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter to take the team over against Oklahoma. One idea that is being floated out there is a one-time reunion with Mike Bellotti. Oklahoma, which is in a similar situation as Oregon, turned to former coach Bob Stoops to coach the Alamo Bowl. The Sooners have since hired Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, but he won’t coach until after this season is over.