Auburn football: What does Mario Cristobal extension mean for Tigers’ coaching search?
With Mario Cristobal getting a new deal at Oregon, where does that leave the coaching search at Auburn?
After years on and off the hot seat, Gus Malzahn was finally fired as Auburn football coach last weekend. A list of candidates to replace him has included Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, with a nod to his time as an assistant at rival Alabama.
Cristobal was direct, yet diplomatic this week when asked about the Auburn job.
“We seem to get a lot of rumors at this time of year,” Cristobal said. “This is what I can say: I can say that I haven’t been contacted, OK? I don’t know of my agent being contacted, and I talk to him every single day.”
On Thursday, the Board of Trustees at Oregon voted on and approved a contract extension for Cristobal. The new deal goes through 2026, and is set to pay him $24.1 million over those five seasons.
Oregon extends Mario Cristobal’s contract to be worth $27 million... which is slightly more than what Auburn just paid to fire their coach and be initially interested in Cristobal https://t.co/IKywu8DlmT
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 17, 2020
Where does Mario Cristobal’s deal to stay in Eugene leave Auburn?
The easily rumored top candidate to replace Malzahn at Auburn is Liberty head coach (and former Ole Miss head coach) Hugh Freeze. Current defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is being advanced as a top candidate, if not the increasing favorite as this week goes on. A little off the radar, with the huge buyout their doling out to Malzahn as a factor, UAB head coach Bill Clark looks like a solid fit.
With Cristobal’s removal from the equation, Auburn loses a good candidate if he was entertaining the possibility. But as is the common reaction when a coach is a candidate for another job, Oregon ponied up to keep Cristobal. He was just the 11th-highest paid coach in the Pac-12 this year ($2.7 million), and his new deal has an annual value just north of $4.5 million.
Auburn has options to replace Malzahn, exciting or otherwise, known and perhaps unknown right now. So Cristobal being made an offer he couldn’t refuse to stay at Oregon is just a setback in the coaching search.
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