CFP National Championship

Former Alabama assistant Mario Cristobal is joining Oregon as its co-offensive coordinator.

(Tom Pennington/Getty)

Suitors have attempted to pry offensive line coach Mario Cristobal away from Alabama every year since he joined Nick Saban's staff, in 2013.



So you could almost hear the question being raised across college football Friday morning: How in the world did new Oregon coach Willie Taggart persuade a native Floridian who's never coached west of Tuscaloosa to leave a national title contender for a West Coast program coming off a 4-8 record?



"This is one I felt really strongly about because of the head football coach, coach Taggart, and the other assistant coaches who I've known from competing against them back when I was a head coach myself," Cristobal told the Tuscaloosa News on Friday. "My familiarity with them, the way that they want to run a program and the ability to help a university in a capacity that's different: one that that gives me an opportunity to show growth and develop men. Those are things I learned here under coach Saban."



Cristobal's hire has yet to be made official by UO but he has reportedly already made contact with Ducks recruits with the NCAA's recruiting "dead period" now over. High school recruits can sign letters of intent for the first time Feb. 1.



Until then, the Oregon staff will be making a mad dash throughout the state and country to round out a recruiting class that currently ranks 41st, per Rivals, with 15 commitments. Oregon coaches met with southern Oregon prospects together Thursday and visited Thurston High School in Springfield on Friday -- whose head coach is a former UO player -- en masse before hosting recruits at UO that evening.

Coach Willie Taggart addressing some of our staff and students this morning. pic.twitter.com/c4IoIVQDLN — Thurston Athletics (@thurstonathlet1) January 13, 2017

Blitzing Oregon! Must take care of our Home State! Ducks hittin it in style!! Go DUCKS! pic.twitter.com/ZddYzXmw9q — Jim Leavitt (@CoachJimLeavitt) January 12, 2017

Past results suggest strongly that Cristobal, 46, is exactly the kind of person a head coach would want on their staff when heading out on the recruiting trail.



Tabbed the nation's top recruiter in 2015 by 247 Sports, Cristobal ranks second-best in 2017 for his work helping secure two of Alabama's six five-star commitments in its top-ranked 2017 class. Only one other program, Ohio State, has six five-star commits; Clemson is next with three.



But if Alabama could offer a name brand perhaps unlike any other in college football -- helpful when walking into a recruit's high school or living room -- Oregon offered Cristobal a promotion and, if the salaries earned by other UO assistants is any gauge, likely a significant pay raise from the $525,000 he earned last season, as well.

At Oregon he will serve as the run game coordinator and co-offensive coordinator, sharing duties with David Reaves.

"It's an opportunity that's exciting for a lot of reasons," Cristobal told the Tuscaloosa News. "I'm certainly grateful for that opportunity."

The move was a step up in responsibilities, and long-term might lead to another. Cristobal was Florida International's head coach from 2007-12 and reportedly was interested in Western Michigan's vacant head coaching position this week. With those ambitions in mind, it's rare that position coaches are elevated to the top job -- though Cristobal himself was once an exception when he was hired at FIU -- and more common for head coaches to be plucked from the coordinator ranks.

Taggart has officially announced six of the nine full-time assistants allowed by the NCAA, and spent a combined $2.795 million to do it. (Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens has said UO's salary pool for assistants could be as high as $4 million.)



That total of six doesn't include Reaves and Cristobal, whose hirings and contracts haven't been made finalized. Reaves has worked with quarterbacks at past stops including South Carolina, Tennessee and New Mexico, and most recently coached tight ends at South Florida. That leaves one vacant position on Taggart's staff, most likely for special teams.



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif