Over the past decade, the Oregon Ducks have unfortunately had to make a number of head coaching changes after the previous guys left for new jobs. While one made the leap to the NFL level, and a pair of others departed for their “dream schools,” the Ducks are no stranger to hiring new head coaches.
Fortunately, ESPN recently declared in their rankings of the best hirings in the past 5 years that Oregon deserved mention. Unfortunately, it was to give them credit for hiring Mario Cristobal, who recently left the Ducks to join his alma mater Miami Hurricanes.
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However, Cristobal’s tenure with the Ducks was certainly impressive. After taking over the trainwreck that was left by Willie Taggart, Mario won 9 games in his first season and showed the world that Oregon could recruit on a national level. Because of this, ESPN ranked him as the 7th-best coaching hire in the past half-decade.
Cristobal not only restored Oregon atop the Pac-12 after a brief downturn, but showed that the program could recruit at a nationally elite level. Oregon had won the Pac-12 and Rose Bowl before, but even during the program’s best era, which featured two national runner-up finishes under Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, the Ducks weren’t pulling in recruiting classes like Cristobal did. He signed the Pac-12’s top-rated recruiting classes from 2019 to 2021, including ESPN’s No. 6 class in 2019 and No. 8 class in 2021.
Oregon had fallen off after its national title appearance in 2014, going 4-8 in Helfrich’s final season and 7-6 in Willie Taggart’s lone season as coach. The team improved to nine wins in Cristobal’s first season, and then won the Pac-12 and the Rose Bowl, and finished No. 5 in 2019. Oregon repeated as league champion during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Cristobal’s final year in Eugene featured a Week 2 win at Ohio State, one of the biggest non-conference regular-season wins in team history. Oregon spent much of the fall in CFP contention before falling off late, although it still won the Pac-12 North Division. Cristobal ultimately didn’t get Oregon back to the national title stage, but he proved that the program can excel with a pedal-down, relentless recruiting approach that his successor, Dan Lanning, likely will continue.
The Ducks made another coaching hire after the 2021 season, bringing in former Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, who is fresh off of a national championship. When we look back on this latest coaching cycle in a few years, hopefully he will be near the top of the list as well.
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