The Miami Hurricanes went hunting for a new football coach despite still having Manny Diaz in the role. According to the Miami Herald, the school is finalizing a deal with Oregon coach Mario Cristobal to take over for Diaz.
Cristobal, 51, was born and raised in Miami, played offensive tackle for the Hurricanes, and joined the school’s coaching staff as a graduate assistant in 1998. He later coached tight ends and the offensive line for the university before leaving to become the head coach at Florida International. In 2017, Cristobal succeeded Willie Taggart as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks and led the team back to prominence with appearances in the 2020 Rose Bowl and 2021 Fiesta Bowl.
More recently, Oregon was on the verge of a College Football Playoff appearance and climbed as high as No. 3 in the rankings before suffering blowout losses against Utah on November 20 and again two weeks later in the Pac-12 championship game.
Miami is far removed from its days as perennial national championship contender. The program has just one 10-win season in the last 17 years and hasn’t won the ACC once since joining the conference in 2004.
News of the hire of Cristobal broke while Diaz was still on the staff and hadn’t formally been dismissed by the school. He spent three seasons as defensive coordinator of the Hurricanes from 2016-18. After serving as the head coach at Temple for two weeks in December 2018 he bailed on the program to return to Miami as head coach following the retirement of Mark Richt. He has a 21-15 record during his tenure as Miami’s head coach.
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