Rumor: Mario Cristobal hasn’t heard from Auburn football program

While many Auburn football fans want to take Mario Cristobal out of Oregon and see him be the head coach of the Tigers, there doesn’t appear to be much smoke to that fire…yet.

Since the dismissal of Gus Malzahn as head coach of the Auburn football program, there have been names flying all out of the woodwork for the newly vacated seat. Lane Kiffin was a possibility I went into yesterday, and fans seemed to take well to the idea of the former Alabama offensive coordinator and current Ole Miss head coach bolting a new school early once again to be the lead voice in the Plains.

Well, another popular current head coach that fans have an interest in is Mario Cristobal of Oregon. The Ducks are in the midst of a disappointing 3-2 season–and due to the Washington Huskies having to pull out due to COVID-19 concerns–Cristobal’s squad is sneaking into the Pac-12 title game to take on USC.

The Ducks will likely lose to the Trojans, who seem poised to enter the College Football Playoff conversation with an expected victory against Oregon. If that happens, could a 3-3 record force the program to make some changes? If not, could Cristobal himself be looking for greener (or perhaps more orange and bluer) pastures with the Tigers?

It doesn’t appear terribly likely, given Cristobal’s words to the media (via NBCSN):

"Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal addressed the rumors of him entertaining the Auburn head coaching vacancy Monday night by saying he has not been contacted by the Tigers.“We seem to get a lot of rumors. I haven’t been contacted, I don’t know if my agent has been contacted and I talk to him every single day,” said Cristobal. “I trust Phil Knight, I trust Rob Mullens, I trust our administration, and I trust the people at Oregon.”"

Assuming his agent isn’t pulling a fast one and Auburn hasn’t yet reached out, Cristobal seems more focused on a new deal with the Ducks:

"“I’ve always been transparent with every single one of you and I will continue to do that. Hopefully, in the next couple of days, there’s more stuff to talk about as it relates to that,” said Cristobal. “That in itself right there hopefully explained to you exactly where things are with me.”"

For now, Auburn football fans, it appears that the head coaching search won’t be going through Cristobal–who seems focused on his current team and extending his deal. That said, who knows how convincing this advisory search firm is.

One good candidate call could change a lot (I know firsthand as a former recruiter) and Cristobal didn’t write it off.

The War Eagle will monitor this one closely.