Anonymous Coaching Agents Sound Off On Cristobal

[Smith72]

I know we need to move on, but interesting article.

 

Anonymous coaching agent questions Mario Cristobal’s recruiting, coaching ability

SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM

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Anonymous agents sounded off on the former Oregon Ducks head coach in a recent piece from The Athletic.

 

[Kurt Rambis]

Huh.  I understand questioning his coaching and his decision to jump ship.  But questioning his recruiting?  That's the one thing that never seemed to be a problem.  Even QB - he got a five-star and a couple of four-stars.  The fact that they didn't produce during his time here and/or he chose to go with the grad transfer isn't really a function of recruiting.

[Charles Fischer]

First of all, it is never time to move on from Cristobal as far as I'm concerned!     Keeping tabs on him over the next couple of years is going to be highly entertaining, IMHO, and I regard it as entertainment as I would the stuff about the Huskies.  So thank you for posting this!

 

This article was written by someone looking to create an article out of quotes...without knowing anything about Mari's time at Oregon. Questioning his recruiting is truly nuts, as one thing I am very grateful for is how he left the cupboard full for Coach Lanning.

 

Comparing the move from a program standpoint is interesting and comforting for Oregon fans to read.  But the absence of discussion about his coaching abilities makes that article sadly lacking.  If you are going to report what has happened....then report it all and accurately.  Sheesh!

 

 

[Haywarduck]

Pretty entertaining piece of writing. He confirms all the recruiting success Mari'no'O had then has an 'agent try to suggest not having a strong qb is associated with his weakness in recruiting. 

 

That is like saying the USA 400 relay team has all kinds of speed, but they always lose the race because they are slow. The relay team loses because they can't hand off the baton, and have no skill other than running fast.

 

Mari'no'O is the same as our sprinters. He has all kinds of skill at recruiting, but can't hand off the job of coaching. He can recruit, but can't do the other little things it takes to win the big race. The USA sprinters, much like Mari'n0'O won't win the big race until they get down the skill it takes to turn raw talent into game day talent. 

 

Running real fast and recruiting extremely well look great, and are impressive feats. The problem is there are many other things it takes to win big.

[AnotherOD]

It is sort of interesting.

 

Back over those last few days before Mario made his decision official, I recall commenting in some discussion about how people were feeling:  and sort of reluctantly agreeing that "yes" you probably do stick with Mario rather than roll the dice with a new coach and staff.

 

BUT, the thing Mario had to do was actually RECRUIT BETTER if Oregon was going to make any steps forward. Not that his recruiting was there -- and he just needed to coach, scheme, and develop better. The only avenue I saw Mario ever consistently doing better with what he brought to the table was to get in even better talent.

 

He had gotten Oregon close to the often referenced 60% "blue chip" ratio, which generally opens the door to a top 10-12 program each year.

 

BUT, in terms of what national championship squads look like, he wasn't getting enough top 70 recruits. There were some (Sewell, Flowe, KT, etc.) but by in large Mario was making his "buzz" on the recruiting scene with kids ranked maybe 150 to 400 nationally, while your Alabamas, LSUs, tOSUs, and Clemsons generally had something like 3 to 4 times as many top 70 kids. 150 to 400 nationally produces plenty of players and the top teams all have guys from those spots, they just don't particularly make a living there.

 

Running out there with talent like

Sewell, Flowe, KT,  Manning great? Yes. Imagine if instead of having 4 of those guys at that level on your roster, you had 17?

 

That is where Mario needed to go, and at the time, I think his class only had one top 70 kid committed (Banks).

 

Because he just was never going to get there on scheme, development, and coaching. Shoot, I'm sure there was zero chance Miami was gonna let Mario consider either his prior OC or DC for the same jobs at his new school, yet those guys were gonna get Oregon to that next step of beating more talented teams regularly?

 

I didn't know much about Moorhead (but sort of went along with the consensus it was a grand-slam hire); but, I must say, I never "got it".

 

When Oregon's offense was just  regularly blah, I looked back at some of his other teams at the D1 level and kinda mostly what I saw was a big running QB and some short read-option passing; and, really other than one strong season with a loaded Penn State roster, not exactly gangbusters. Maybe it was Mario and not Joe but let's just say I'll be happy if 80% of Oregon's offensive playbook has found a garbage receptical somewhere.

 

DeRuyter only got one year and really was dealt a bad hand with injuries, so I can't see giving him a ton of criticism; but, I think we were expecting a bit more? Maybe something of a more aggressive plan than the same old "bend-but-don't-break" that seems to be recycled ever Duck season?

 

Again, injuries, but 75th in points allowed, 72nd in yards allowed, 95th in red zone defense, and 41st in sacks? Don't we all feel a bit more comfortable with Lanning and Lupoi heading things? Doesn't Texas Tech seem like a good spot for DeRuyter (where I am sure he probably does fine); but, not exactly where Oregon is looking to go? Really jazzed about the shake-ups on both sides of the ball. I find it strange to be saying this but the last couple years Oregon has just been boring, both sides of the ball.