Oregon Football: 5 reasons the Ducks will contend in 2019

2. Mario Cristobal’s experience

Though he’s entering only his second year as a head coach at the Power Five level, but Mario Cristobal has already seen it all in college football. He doesn’t quite get the credit for that fact that he deserves. It makes sense, he looks young and he’s only now beginning his high-level head coaching career, but he has more experience than most realize.

He began his career as a GA at Miami in 1998, and spent six years, spread across two stints, in Coral Gables.

Prior to 2018, Cristobal already had five years of head coaching experience. From 2007-12, he was the head man at FIU. At a program with an all-time winning percentage of 32.5, Cristobal was able to win seven games in 2010 and eight games in 2011.

Perhaps his biggest asset, however, is the time he spent at Alabama. For four seasons, from 2013-2016, Cristobal was the offensive line coach, as well as Nick Saban’s assistant head coach. The value of being the right hand man to the greatest coach of all time is immeasurable.

Cristobal feels like a young coach. He talks like one, he looks like one, he brings the energy of one. Make no mistake, though, he knows how to coach a big program.