When Mario Cristobal became Florida International's head coach in 2007, he inherited a program under NCAA sanctions that played in a high school stadium and lifted weights in a modified racquetball court.



Still, even that was more than Jim Leavitt had.



He was hired at South Florida in 1995 when its football program was a start-up born to build buzz for a university, still two years away from playing its first game. By 2002, Leavitt and his staff still worked out of a complex of four trailers.



Yet ever since Willie Taggart's hasty departure this week to coach Florida State following his lone year at Oregon, Cristobal and Leavitt stand to potentially inherit more than ever before in their coaching careers if either is promoted to take over where Taggart left off after 363 days.

Cristobal, UO's co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, is UO's interim head coach entering the Dec. 16 Las Vegas Bowl against No. 25 Boise State, while Leavitt will continue to coordinate one of the country's largest defensive turnarounds.



As Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens left Eugene earlier this week to interview candidates from what was called a "central location," many at UO hope he'll come to a conclusion that the best fit is already on campus. One day after Taggart flew off into the Eugene night on a private jet bound for Tallahassee, more than 70 players had convened during their academic finals week to sign a petition urging athletic director Rob Mullens to make Cristobal the permanent head coach, left tackle Tyrell Crosby said on Twitter Thursday night.

Had an 70+ players signed petition to keep Cristobal as head coach — Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrellcrosby) December 8, 2017

We are all fighting so hard for him to be HC, because we all know he'd fight just as hard for us. — Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrellcrosby) December 8, 2017

"We have an outstanding group of assistant coaches and we're fortunate to have a couple who've had head coaching experience," Mullens said Tuesday. "... There's a number of coaches on our staff who have head coach capability and we certainly would want to talk to those."



Last year, co-offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo was linked to openings at his alma mater, San Jose State, as well as Nevada. Two weeks ago, safeties coach Keith Heyward said leading a program is his ambition, as well.



"I want to be a head coach," Heyward said. "When the time is right for that, it will come."

Mullens was "very confident we'll find someone who wants to be here long-term and build on the foundation that's here." Ties to the Northwest -- ostensibly to lower the risk of another coach jumping for greener pastures -- are a bonus, Mullens said, but not a priority.



Whoever gets the job -- former Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin and Justin Wilcox, the Cal coach and former Ducks player, are other top candidates -- will walk into a job that's both enviable and challenging. Oregon boasts opulent facilities, deep-pocketed support and a roster with two of the country's most prolific young players in quarterback Justin Herbert and linebacker Troy Dye, both sophomores.



But a top priority will be bringing in future Ducks. Several recruits backed off their pledge following Taggart's departure for Tallahassee, yet UO's class could still be the program's highest-rated. Recruits are scheduled to visit Eugene beginning Friday in a critical weekend because college football's early signing period begins Dec. 20 and lasts 72 hours. Recruits who do not sign national letters during that window may do so again in February.

A second program source said that UO felt like it had "three head coaches" this season because Cristobal and Leavitt worked to build relationships across all position groups much the way Taggart did.

That broad consensus has been revealed in the past 48 hours for Cristobal, in particular, as everyone from specialists, to offensive players and defenders have used the hashtag #cristoBALLIN" to make their case to promote Cristobal, in particular.

"Give the man the job," kicker Aidan Schneider tweeted. "Enough said."

The question is how much weight Oregon's search committee -- Nike co-founder Phil Knight will again play a key role in the choice, along with Mullens -- places on players' pleas.

Cristobal, like Leavitt, grew up in Florida and has deep recruiting ties still in the southeast. He was named one of the nation's top recruiters while at Alabama from 2013-16. Though they are relative newcomers to the West Coast -- Leavitt coached at Colorado from 2015-16, while this is Cristobal's first coaching job west of Alabama -- their value is in their head coaching experience and recruiting.





Cristobal was 27-47 at Florida International, a program that had played for three seasons by the time he was hired in 2007. In addition to fewer scholarships due to the inherited NCAA sanctions, the Panthers had few other resources. Before the 2009 season opener at No. 4 Alabama, the Panthers' flight was delayed on a tarmac for hours. Cristobal, he said in October, gave his wife his credit card and asked her to buy food for the team as they waited.



The Panthers qualified for bowls in his fourth and fifth seasons and he turned down a head-coaching offer from Rutgers in 2012 to remain at FIU. He didn't get a chance to stay much longer. He was fired following a 3-9 record in 2012, one year after FIU had given him a five-year extension.



From 2000-09, South Florida finished worse than .500 just once under Leavitt, and the program's high-water mark was its brief No. 2 ranking in 2007. In 2002, a New York Times Magazine story on USF's program described Leavitt as a singularly focused coach who drew up punt plays while reaching "behind him on the floor for his Pepsi, which he drinks by the two-liter bottle." He finished with a 95-57 record.



He, too, was fired. In 2010, a three-week school investigation found he grabbed a player by the throat, slapped him in the face and lied to investigators about it. Leavitt denied all allegations and sued the school. Both sides agreed to a $2.75 million settlement in 2011 in which neither party admitted to any wrongdoing.

Former All-America running back LaMichael James said on Twitter that he believed Leavitt would be the best choice. Ducks defenders said this season they appreciated the raspy-voiced coordinator because he didn't mince words about where they stood.



"Everybody knows" that he wants to be a head coach again, Leavitt said Nov. 22. "Don't most people aspire for more responsibility? I enjoyed being a head coach."

Though some assistants are likely to follow Taggart to Florida State -- Donte Pimpleton and Raymond Woodie have worked with Taggart at every stop of his head-coaching career -- there is a belief in Eugene from program insiders that some semblance of staff continuity could be maintained if either or both Cristobal and Leavitt remain.

"When they speak," a third UO source said, "everyone wants to listen."

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com