Coaching Carousel Off the Rails - Cristobal Leaves Oregon For Miami, Oklahoma Makes It Official on Venables As HC, Norvell Splits Nevada For CSU

December 6, 2021 by Staff

The Oklahoma website on Monday morning, December 6 announced Clemson defensive coordinator, and former Sooners DC, Brent Venables as its new head coach. The 50-year old Venables spent 12 seasons in Norman from 1999-2011 under former head coach Bob Stoops , the last eight of which he wore the titles of assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He has spent the last 10 years at Clemson with the same responsibilities.

Venables replaces Lincoln Riley who promptly resigned on Sunday, November 28 and headed to Los Angeles to become head coach at USC. Stoops was named interim head coach for the bowl season.

Riley was 55-10 at Oklahoma while losing 2 games every season. He was 37-7 in Big 12 play and just 1-3 in bowl games. He's the first HC to leave OU for another program since 1946.

Also on Monday morning (December 6), Miami (FLA) announced the firing of Manny Diaz so that the school could hire Mario Cristobal away from Oregon. Diaz led Miami to a 5-1 finish in 2021 to end the season at 7-5 and in 2nd-place in the ACC's Coastal division. He was 21-15 in 3 seasons without much to work with as the program was hampered by Covid in 2020 and consistently riddled with injuries. He was 16-9 in the ACC, but 0-2 in bowl games.

Mario Cristobal leaves Oregon (Monday, December 6) to head back to Miami where he played offensive tackle for Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson 1989-1992, and coached under Butch Davis (1998-2000) and Larry Coker (2004-2006). He then became head coach at FIU from 2007-2012, replacing Don Strock, and went 27-47 before being fired. Assistant positions followed at Alabama at Oregon, where he became head coach in 2018 after Willie Taggart left for Florida State.

Cristobal's team was 10-3 in 2021 with two blowout losses to Utah within a 3-week span that dropped Oregon from No. 3 in the college football playoff committee rankings to a season-ending rank of 14. The latter loss was a 38-10 setback to the Utes in the PAC-12 Championship game.

In four seasons with the Ducks, Cristobal was 35-13 over-all and 23-9 in conference games with a 2-2 bowl record.

Also on Monday (December 6), Jay Norvell quit his Nevada gig to close the opening at Colorado State after Steve Addazio was fired on December after a woeful two-season record of 4-12, including 3-9 in the Mountain West. Meanwhile, Norvell's Nevada squad was 8-4 and he leaves Reno with a 5-year records of 33-26 overall and 23-17 in the MWC. Running backs coach Vai Taua was named interim head coach for the Wolf Pack's Quick Lane Bowl game against Western Michigan on December 27.

SEE: Coaching Changes