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On Monday afternoon, we got the chance to talk with Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal ahead of his teams third-consecutive appearance in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
There was a lot to talk about, including key injuries on the roster, a highly-anticipated rematch against the Utah Utes, and the ongoing coaching carousel that is churning in college football, leaving rumors about certain Oregon coaches flying about.
The conversation with Cristobal was notable in many ways, and the Ducks’ head man touched on several subjects. Here are some of the more important things that he talked about:
The Plight of Coach Poaching
Rumors are flying about with the college coaching carousel in full swing, and some of them impacting the Ducks.
One of the rumors is that offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is likely to become the next head coach at Akron, with a potential deal coming this week. Cristobal was asked about how he handles those rumors with his players, and the role it plays as a distraction when preparing for a conference championship game.
“Well, I think it’s the nature of the sport since forever. I think the noise comes at a million miles per hour, and you’re just always up front and honest with them. You tell them exactly like it is, and if there’s ever anything that does come up, you go to them and you tell them. And when there’s nothing to report, you tell them that there’s nothing to report. It’s that simple. We’ve got good coaches, we have a good staff, and we’ve had success. Naturally people are going to come and try to poach our people. I think it’s a compliment. It’s a pain in the neck because year after year you’ve got to replace guys, but we’re systematic, and we’re systematic from a cultural standpoint as well. We do things a certain way, and when you come here to Oregon, you have to do things our way. We tweak schemes, we make adjustments, we make advancements, we progress. But we do things a certain way. For us and our players, they know us. We’re honest with them, and there are no concerns.”