The good news, perhaps, for nervous Duck fans is Mario Cristobal says it does not compare to the situation three years ago.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Cristobal was elevated to replace head coach Willie Taggart \u2014 who left Oregon after one season for a lucrative contract at Florida State \u2014 before attempting to prepare the team for the Las Vegas Bowl while also trying to salvage a promising recruiting class.<\/p>\n
This year Cristobal is preparing for Friday\u2019s Pac-12 championship game against No. 13 USC after having the regular-season finale against Washington canceled and throwing the original game plan to play Colorado on Saturday in the wastebasket.<\/p>\n
The coaching staff is also trying to close on\u00a0what could be the best recruiting class in program history ahead of signing day on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Cristobal has been mentioned by various national media outlets as a possible replacement for Gus Malzahn at Auburn; Cristobal is negotiating\u00a0a new contract at Oregon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s any comparison, even though this does have its challenges,\u201d Cristobal said of comparing 2017 to 2020 before Monday night\u2019s practice. \u201cThat was tough. Not only did you have to pull that class together, half the staff was in, half the staff was out. Your operational staff \u2026 you didn\u2019t know who was doing what.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we had our entire team in Las Vegas trying to prepare for a really good opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cristobal, who has a $2.7 million salary this season but took a 10% pay cut due to the pandemic, would owe Oregon an $8 million buyout if he leaves for another job before Jan. 14, 2021.<\/p>\n
However, money doesn\u2019t seem to be an issue in the SEC, despite the losses in athletic department revenue during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Malzahn \u2014 who was fired Sunday after posting a 68-35 record with six bowl games and an appearance in the 2013 BCS national title game at Auburn \u2014 will reportedly be paid a buyout of $21.45 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe seem to get a lot of rumors at this time of year,\u201d Cristobal said when asked about the Auburn job. \u201cThis is what I can say: I can say that I haven\u2019t been contacted, OK. I don\u2019t know if my agent is being contacted and I talk to him every single day.<\/p>\n
“And I trust Phil Knight, I trust (athletic director) Rob Mullens, I trust our administration and I trust the people here at Oregon.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the\u00a0USA Today coaches salary database, six of the top 10 highest paid FBS football coaches are in the SEC, including Alabama\u2019s Nick Saban (highest salary at $9.3 million) and Malzahn (seventh-highest at $6.9 million).<\/p>\n
Cristobal ranks 57th nationally and 11th in the Pac-12 ahead of only Oregon State\u2019s Jonathan Smith ($2.4 million).<\/p>\n
Mullens projects the Oregon athletic department will lose $65 million during this fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were working on something when the pandemic first hit and things kind of stalled,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cThings have picked back up. \u2026 Hopefully in the next couple days there\u2019s more to talk about as it relates to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cristobal, a former assistant to Saban at Alabama, is 24-9 overall and 16-7 in Pac-12 games at Oregon.<\/p>\n
The Ducks\u2019 2021 recruiting class is ranked third nationally by Rivals and sixth by 247Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that we have an awesome thing going, we\u2019ve got an unbelievable class going,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cAnd I think that when people speculate and start putting rumors out there, a lot of times people try to take that and get it to fit their narrative, which is to try and affect recruiting classes at Oregon, try to spin a story.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ducks (3-2) are coming off back-to-back losses but will\u00a0represent the North Division with a chance to repeat as Pac-12 champions\u00a0after rival Washington (3-1) had to back out of the title game due to COVID-19 issues.<\/p>\n
A victory over the Trojans (5-0) at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum would give Oregon, which has the highest percentage of underclassmen on its roster in the FBS, even more momentum entering what Cristobal hopes is a less turbulent 2021 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it will be worked out and I\u2019ll be coaching here,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cThat\u2019s where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n
The good news, perhaps, for nervous Duck fans is Mario Cristobal says it does not compare to the situation three years ago. That\u2019s when Cristobal was elevated to replace head coach Willie Taggart \u2014 who left Oregon after one season for a lucrative contract at Florida State \u2014 before attempting to prepare the team for the Las Vegas Bowl while also trying to salvage a promising recruiting class. This year Cristobal is preparing for Friday\u2019s Pac-12 championship game against No. 13 USC after having the regular-season finale against Washington canceled and throwing the original game plan to play Colorado on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n