Mario Cristobal's take on the Griz

[ari gold]

For those that haven't heard of him, he has seen success both as a player while starting on the Miami Hurricanes O-line from 1988-1992 and winning a couple of national titles and as a coach, serving as O-line/assistant head coach/recruiting coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama from 2013-2016. His emphasis at Oregon has been installing a more physical, SEC style of play, which is evidenced first and foremost currently by their enormous offensive line.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

I did not see the game 1 loss against Auburn - what happened there?
It sounded like the Auburn offense drove and scored late in the 4th quarter, but the Duck's enormous offensive line and skill players only scored 7 points in the last 47 minutes of that Auburn game right ?

For those that haven't heard of him, he has seen success both as a player while starting on the Miami Hurricanes O-line from 1988-1992 and winning a couple of national titles and as a coach, serving as O-line/assistant head coach/recruiting coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama from 2013-2016. His emphasis at Oregon has been installing a more physical, SEC style of play, which is evidenced first and foremost currently by their enormous offensive line.

 

[grizindabox]

He gives our team more credit than the majority of you Negative Nellies! There you go, Box!

It is called Coach Speak.

 

[grizindabox]

Very interesting that he knows so much, and some names, already. Guess we aren't going to catch Oregon sleeping. His summary is very accurate, and errors on the side of being very complimentary to the Griz.

I like that coach. Have never heard or seen his name until now. I am now a fan.

Go Griz. Go Ducks.

Not really that interesting. I know it’s been 50 years since you played the game but this thing called the internet was invented in the 90’s plus all the advancements in scouting make quite easy to find out information.

I am blown away that you never hear of Mario with infinite knowledge of the game you have.
He may as well be a relative to you. After all he was born in 1970 which links him to you forever since that was the year your team went undefeated in college much like the fact that you played the same time as Franco Harris even though he played at a different school and you never competed against him.
I guess from this day forward this will make you the foremost expert on Mario Cristobal.

PA really has a hard-on for PR

 

[PTGrizzly]

Cristobal has a reputation as a mediocre HC, but very good recruiter.

He was a pretty decent OL coach.

 

[503Griz]

I did not see the game 1 loss against Auburn - what happened there?
It sounded like the Auburn offense drove and scored late in the 4th quarter, but the Duck's enormous offensive line and skill players only scored 7 points in the last 47 minutes of that Auburn game right ?

For those that haven't heard of him, he has seen success both as a player while starting on the Miami Hurricanes O-line from 1988-1992 and winning a couple of national titles and as a coach, serving as O-line/assistant head coach/recruiting coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama from 2013-2016. His emphasis at Oregon has been installing a more physical, SEC style of play, which is evidenced first and foremost currently by their enormous offensive line.

This is correct, however a few key moments from the game:

- Oregon had one dropped pass in the endzone and a botched handoff in the redzone second quarter. It could have very easily been 28-0 or 28-3 at the half.

- Oregon's playcalling in the second half became extremely conservative. This was the biggest criticism against OC Marcus Arroyo, that they weren't letting Herbert throw more vertically. That's why last week against Nevada the Ducks were much more aggressive (then again, it was Nevada...)

- Oregon has been playing without 3 starting WRs. No doubt that hurt them against Auburn.

- Herbert came out for two key plays in the fourth quarter when the Ducks were stopped on 4th down.

 

[ari gold]

I did not see the game 1 loss against Auburn - what happened there?
It sounded like the Auburn offense drove and scored late in the 4th quarter, but the Duck's enormous offensive line and skill players only scored 7 points in the last 47 minutes of that Auburn game right ?

For those that haven't heard of him, he has seen success both as a player while starting on the Miami Hurricanes O-line from 1988-1992 and winning a couple of national titles and as a coach, serving as O-line/assistant head coach/recruiting coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama from 2013-2016. His emphasis at Oregon has been installing a more physical, SEC style of play, which is evidenced first and foremost currently by their enormous offensive line.

Auburn adjusted really well in the second half. It also certainly didn't help that Oregon was without 3 starting wide receivers and their starting tight end either. They basically were not able to stretch the field passing at all and Auburn eventually tightened up their coverage of the short/intermediate passing game which took away their ability to consistently move the ball and sustain drives. There were also some bad mistakes like a dropped TD in the endzone and Oregon fumbled in the red zone and had it returned to the 1-yard line.

 

[ari gold]

Cristobal has a reputation as a mediocre HC, but very good recruiter.

He was a pretty decent OL coach.

Looking at his head coaching record without context is very misleading. What he did at FIU was really pretty amazing given their lack of structure, funding and the fact FIU had only had a football program for 4 years total.

Cristobal took over a winless 2006 squad. The winless streak continued in his first season with the Panthers until the regular season finale — a 38-19 win versus North Texas. Whatever momentum the Panther’s gained quickly disappeared as FIU was hit with four years of probation after an NCAA investigation. The infractions, occurring prior to Cristobal’s hiring, inflicted a loss of four football scholarships each year of the probation.

The scrutiny was a setback in Cristobal’s attempt to bring FIU to life, but the Panther’s somehow managed to show immediate improvement with a 5-7 season. The team was one overtime game away from qualifying for their first bowl game in school history. Cristobal and company went backwards in the 2009 season with a 3-9 record with brutal games against Alabama, Florida, and Rutgers.

The dismal stretch continued to start the 2010 season. The Panthers entered the year with a four game skid versus Rutgers, Texas A&M, Maryland and Pitt. While all were losses, the Panthers proved they weren’t a team to be messed with while under Cristobal. Against Rutgers and Texas A&M, FIU only lost by a combined 12 points. Despite the 0-4 start, Cristobal and company finished the regular season at 6-6, earning the school’s first bowl berth in school history — a feat which seemed non-existent just a few seasons prior. The Panthers stamped their existence in the college football world with a 34-32 win against Toledo in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl featured on ESPN.

Coming off the bowl game win and share of the conference title, Cristobal captured arguably the best win of his career with an upset victory over Louisville early in the 2011 season. The Panthers carried that momentum and went on to a new program record eight wins.

Following the 2011 season, FIU star receiver TY Hilton entered the NFL draft. With that lack of star power, Cristobal and the Panthers went a disappointing 3-9 in 2012. On an important note, five of those losses were by only one score — but a loss is still a loss, no matter how close.

In a shocking move, Pete Garcia, FIU’s athletic director, made the decision to move on from the man who led FIU to their only winning seasons in school history. The firing displays the harsh reality of coaching — the past can never outweigh the present.


The move proved to be a poor decision, as Cristobal’s successor Ron Turner went a combined 10-30 before his firing halfway through the 2016 season.

Nick Saban hired Cristobal in February of 2013 to be Alabama’s assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. During his time there, Cristobal received national accolades. He was deemed the 2015 National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports and his offensive line won the Joe Moore Award.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

great post Ari. Thank you for steering this board back to discussing Football. :clap:

Auburn adjusted really well in the second half. It also certainly didn't help that Oregon was without 3 starting wide receivers and their starting tight end either. They basically were not able to stretch the field passing at all and Auburn eventually tightened up their coverage of the short/intermediate passing game which took away their ability to consistently move the ball and sustain drives. There were also some bad mistakes like a dropped TD in the endzone and Oregon fumbled in the red zone and had it returned to the 1-yard line.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Since we're Montana, let's remind ourselves of another scenario: The Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Which side are we? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[PTGrizzly]

Cristobal has a reputation as a mediocre HC, but very good recruiter.

He was a pretty decent OL coach.

Looking at his head coaching record without context is very misleading. What he did at FIU was really pretty amazing given their lack of structure, funding and the fact FIU had only had a football program for 4 years total.

Cristobal took over a winless 2006 squad. The winless streak continued in his first season with the Panthers until the regular season finale — a 38-19 win versus North Texas. Whatever momentum the Panther’s gained quickly disappeared as FIU was hit with four years of probation after an NCAA investigation. The infractions, occurring prior to Cristobal’s hiring, inflicted a loss of four football scholarships each year of the probation.

The scrutiny was a setback in Cristobal’s attempt to bring FIU to life, but the Panther’s somehow managed to show immediate improvement with a 5-7 season. The team was one overtime game away from qualifying for their first bowl game in school history. Cristobal and company went backwards in the 2009 season with a 3-9 record with brutal games against Alabama, Florida, and Rutgers.

The dismal stretch continued to start the 2010 season. The Panthers entered the year with a four game skid versus Rutgers, Texas A&M, Maryland and Pitt. While all were losses, the Panthers proved they weren’t a team to be messed with while under Cristobal. Against Rutgers and Texas A&M, FIU only lost by a combined 12 points. Despite the 0-4 start, Cristobal and company finished the regular season at 6-6, earning the school’s first bowl berth in school history — a feat which seemed non-existent just a few seasons prior. The Panthers stamped their existence in the college football world with a 34-32 win against Toledo in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl featured on ESPN.

Coming off the bowl game win and share of the conference title, Cristobal captured arguably the best win of his career with an upset victory over Louisville early in the 2011 season. The Panthers carried that momentum and went on to a new program record eight wins.

Following the 2011 season, FIU star receiver TY Hilton entered the NFL draft. With that lack of star power, Cristobal and the Panthers went a disappointing 3-9 in 2012. On an important note, five of those losses were by only one score — but a loss is still a loss, no matter how close.

In a shocking move, Pete Garcia, FIU’s athletic director, made the decision to move on from the man who led FIU to their only winning seasons in school history. The firing displays the harsh reality of coaching — the past can never outweigh the present.


The move proved to be a poor decision, as Cristobal’s successor Ron Turner went a combined 10-30 before his firing halfway through the 2016 season.

Nick Saban hired Cristobal in February of 2013 to be Alabama’s assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. During his time there, Cristobal received national accolades. He was deemed the 2015 National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports and his offensive line won the Joe Moore Award.

I follow South Florida football pretty heavily. Mario improved FIU a ton because he's a very good recruiter, and there are a ton of excellent players in that area. So he did a great job building, no doubt about that. The knock on him was that when he couldn't/didn't out-talent opposing teams, he rarely won. Hence why the opinion around him in that area was that he was a mediocre coach, very good recruiter. Now I'd imagine that being around Saban has made him a better coach. He's certainly better than Taggart, he's a bum. I hope Mario does well. I've always liked Oregon, and if he does well, his Alma mater may come calling.

 

[signedbewildered]

Since we're Montana, let's remind ourselves of another scenario: The Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Which side are we? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

I laughed! And then I was like...oh crap.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Very interesting that he knows so much, and some names, already. Guess we aren't going to catch Oregon sleeping. His summary is very accurate, and errors on the side of being very complimentary to the Griz.

I like that coach. Have never heard or seen his name until now. I am now a fan.

Go Griz. Go Ducks.

Not really that interesting. I know it’s been 50 years since you played the game but this thing called the internet was invented in the 90’s plus all the advancements in scouting make quite easy to find out information.

I am blown away that you never hear of Mario with infinite knowledge of the game you have.
He may as well be a relative to you. After all he was born in 1970 which links him to you forever since that was the year your team went undefeated in college much like the fact that you played the same time as Franco Harris even though he played at a different school and you never competed against him.
I guess from this day forward this will make you the foremost expert on Mario Cristobal.

Well I never played the game, don't have infinite knowledge of the game, was never on a team that went undefeated (in football, yes my little league team went undefeated and won the Mount Sentinel title in 1974), never played against Franco Harris (but did against Mike Ramos if that counts for anything) and I agree 100% with PR on this one. Never heard of this guy, hadn't heard or seen his name until now, couldn't have picked him out of a lineup, but he obviously has done his homework, isn't looking past the Griz and I am also now a fan.

Obviously, this is why we always agree, like each other, and never have a spat.

Mike Ramos counts. He was a pretty good athlete, right? I like Mike. One of his sons, or his son, was in high school at the same time as one of my sons.

Exactly.