Football: 2009-2021 Oregon Coaching Review Part 4

Between 1977 and 2008, the Oregon Ducks had just two head football coaches. For more than 30 years, that remarkable consistency allowed the program to steadily grow from its humble place it occupied in the early to mid-1970s to the national presence it enjoys today.

In stark contrast, between 2009 and 2021, Oregon had four different head coaches in just 12 years—twice as many as in the previous 31—with none staying longer than four seasons. As Dan Lanning enters his fourth season in 2025, hopefully beginning a tenure more in line with Oregon legends Rich Brooks and Mike Bellotti, it feels like the right time to reflect on the era of transition that followed Bellotti’s retirement.

This series will take a close look at each coach from that period: what they did well, where they struggled, and what the facts and numbers say beyond the familiar narratives.

Next Up: Mario Cristobal

What We Remember – And How His Team Performed

Much like the last two coaches in this series, Mario Cristobal’s time at Oregon is significantly marred by his exit. For the second straight time, an Oregon coach left for the “dream job” back in Florida, with Cristobal returning to his alma mater, Miami, after four seasons as the Ducks’ head coach.

Part of why Cristobal’s departure still dominates the narrative is because, unlike the previous coaches in this series, he remains an active FBS head coach — now entering his fourth season with the Hurricanes.

In addition to the unceremonious exit, here are the three main things I remember from the Cristobal era:

1. A significant uptick in recruiting (covered later).

2. His teams were broadly very good, but never truly great.

3. Related to point #2: Cristobal’s teams were consistently ready for big games but often sleepwalked against overmatched opponents.

Cristobal’s winning percentage supports point #2, as shown in the two charts below.

Mario’s two successful seasons (his 2nd and 4th) are right in line with the average Oregon season from 2008 to 2024. However, his two more difficult years (his 1st and 3rd), while better than the 2016 and 2017 seasons, still fell below the standard Oregon had come to expect.

That said, when it came to big games, Mario’s teams were often ready to play and secured some massive, program-defining wins.

Mario Cristobal, Dan Lanning

Vs Washington, OSU, USC 7–1, 4–3

Vs Top 15 Opponents 5–2, 6–4

Vs Top 10 Opponents 4–2, 4–4

Vs Top 5 Opponents 2–0, 2–3

Vs Unranked Opponents 28–6, 25–0

While not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison — due to Cristobal’s teams losing more games and thereby playing fewer elite opponents — this table illustrates two things: Cristobal was a great big game coach, but a consistently poor average game coach.

Those 28 wins over unranked opponents include:

• A 12-point win vs. a 1–11 San Jose State team (2018)
• A 2-point walk-off FG win vs. 6–7 Washington State (2019)
• A 3-point win vs. 3–4 UCLA (2020)
• A 7-point win at home vs. Fresno State (2021)
• A 7-point win vs. eventual 5–7 Cal (2021)

So that’s how Cristobal’s teams performed from a wins-and-losses perspective. But how did they play in those games?

Offensive Performance

Unlike Kelly and Helfrich — who also served as head coach for exactly four seasons — Cristobal’s offenses varied considerably year to year. While Kelly’s or Helfrich’s statistical outliers were generally explained by a change in quarterback, Cristobal’s four seasons felt erratic.

Broadly speaking, Cristobal’s teams ran efficiently to stay ahead of the chains and passed for chunk gains — a basic but effective approach from 2019 to 2021. Beyond that, there’s little stylistic consistency in his offenses. For example:

• How does Oregon increase in both passing efficiency (by 5 points) and explosiveness (by 1 point) the year after losing Justin Herbert?
• Why was the 2018 offense so poor despite Herbert being a future top-10 NFL draft pick?

Digging deeper reveals a likely culprit: the injury to 18-year-old Penei Sewell.

As a true freshman in 2018, Sewell was already a high-level left tackle. When he was absent:

• 3 of Oregon’s 4 offensive rate stats declined by 6.5+ points
• Offensive rhythm and protection collapsed

Strangely, explosive rushing increased during his absence, but even so, Sewell’s loss was arguably the largest factor in Oregon’s uncharacteristically bad 2018 offense.

Replacing 2018’s full-year stats with the “with Sewell” split results in a more consistent offensive profile over Cristobal’s tenure — aside from the unusually low passing explosiveness in 2021, which can be explained by the full Anthony Brown Experience: a season of thrilling highs and brutal lows.

Defensive Performance

Like his predecessor, Cristobal made his mark as an offensive assistant, particularly developing offensive linemen. This made his defensive coordinator hires arguably the most important decisions of his tenure. He had three DCs:

1. Jim Leavitt (inherited, 2017–2018)
2. Andy Avalos (first hire, 2019–2020)
3. Tim DeRuyter (final hire, 2021)

Here are Oregon’s defensive charting stats from 2017–2021 (with 2017 included for context).

Leavitt’s exit for an analyst role at Florida State raised eyebrows. The 2018 defense wasn’t significantly worse than 2017, but Oregon quickly upgraded. Under Avalos in 2019, the defense improved in 5 of 6 categories — with only a slight uptick in explosive passes allowed.

After Avalos left for Boise State, DeRuyter’s 2021 defense regressed slightly and essentially returned to 2018 levels — not awful, but disappointing given the increased talent on the roster.

Speaking of:

Recruiting

If nothing else, Cristobal’s legacy at Oregon should be defined by his recruiting. And the numbers don’t lie:

– He capitalized on Taggart’s momentum to bring in Oregon’s best-ever class in 2019 — and then topped it in 2021.

– His recruiting consistently raised Oregon’s baseline talent and directly helped Dan Lanning hit the ground running in 2022.

His four classes at Oregon finished ranked:

• 2018: #13
• 2019: #7
• 2020: #12
• 2021: #6

Lanning’s first two classes? #3 and #5.

Cristobal’s Miami classes? #4 and #14.

So: Had Cristobal stayed, could he have broken into the Top 5 consistently? Could he have developed teams that played to their potential week in and week out? We may never know.

What’s certain is this: Cristobal’s recruiting laid the foundation for Oregon’s three straight 10+ win seasons — and for the presence of players like Troy Franklin, Terrance Ferguson, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Jeff Bassa.

Summary: Strengths & Weaknesses

When Cristobal took over, Oregon was averaging just 5.5 wins over the previous two years. When he left, they had just beaten Ohio State in Columbus. That arc alone makes Cristobal’s tenure a success.

Strengths

• Recruiting
• Big-game preparation
• Assistant hiring

Weaknesses

For all of Cristobal’s strengths, his teams consistently underperformed against inferior opponents — and that pattern has continued at Miami. The “why” remains a mystery.

The Actual Legacy vs. The Perceived Legacy

If your lasting memory is that Cristobal “backstabbed” Oregon, his four years of elite recruiting say otherwise.

If you think he was a great recruiter but not a good game-day coach, the wins over Ohio State, USC, Washington, Utah, and a Rose Bowl title challenge that perception.

Cristobal’s actual legacy is that of a very good — maybe even great — coach, with clear flaws, who left Oregon in a much better place than he found it and set the stage for the program’s next step under Dan Lanning.