Miami football: 5 unrealistic options to replace Manny Diaz

4. Mario Cristobal

Another former player from the best days of the Miami Hurricanes who is an unrealistic option for the fans is Mario Cristobal. A two-time National Champion with the Hurricanes in the early-90s, Cristobal has gone on to a very successful coaching career in his time.

In fact, Cristobal’s coaching career started at his alma mater in 1998 under Butch Davis for two seasons until he moved to Rutgers under Greg Schiano for the following two seasons. He then returned to Miami under then-coach Larry Coker from 2004 to 2006.

In 2006 Cristobal was named the head coach of FIU. He would go on to coach six seasons with the Panthers with a record of 27-47 and a claim to fame of snapping a 23 game long losing streak. Eventually, expectations that he set would catch up to him and lead to his dismissal from the program, which was met by most with criticism.

He would bounce from FIU to Alabama under Nick Saban where he was known as an elite recruiter and offensive line coach. Finally, Willie Taggert scooped Cristobal up when he was at the helm of the Oregon Ducks in 2017. Cristobal would go on to replace Taggert after the latter left the pacific northwest to coach Florida State.

Miami fans are hoping Cristobal’s alma mater’s beckoning will overshadow the fact his current program is in a much better position for success. Currently, Cristobal heads an Oregon Ducks team that has big aspirations, despite an upset loss to Stanford earlier this season.

It is hard to envision a situation where a coach of his stature leaves a program that consistently appears in conference championship games for a program that has not finished ranked inside the Top-25 to end the season in 4 years.