Why was Mario Cristobal fired at FIU? Revisiting his first head coaching job
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Mario Cristobal is a perfect example of never giving up on your dreams.
The Miami football coach will lead the Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 19, against No. 1 Indiana with a chance to help Miami win its first national title since 2001.
For Cristobal, the dream of one day coaching a national title contender nearly died just 25 miles from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, the location of the Monday’s national championship.
On Dec. 5, 2012, following a 3-9 season with Florida International, Cristobal was handed a pink slip as Panthers coach, capping a 27-47 record over six seasons.
Here’s what you need to know about Cristobal’s time at FIU and what led to his firing:
Mario Cristobal coaching history at FIU
On Dec. 19, 2006, Cristobal was named the second-ever head coach at FIU. The program played its inaugural season in 2002 and moved up to the FBS level in 2004. The program had gone 8-25 at the FBS level ― including 0-12 in 2006 ― before Cristobal’s arrival.
In Cristobal’s first year, the Golden Panthers started the season 0-11, pushing their losing streak to 23 games. They closed out the season with a 38-19 win over North Texas.
FIU showed tremendous improvement in Cristobal’s second year, finishing with a 5-7 record, which included an upset win over Toledo. However, the third year showed regression with a 3-9 record.
In 2010, Cristobal’s fourth year at FIU, the Panthers had a breakthrough season: He led the Panthers to their first winning season (7-6); first (and only) conference championship (in the Sun Belt); first bowl appearance (Little Caesars Bowl); and first bowl win (34-32 over Toledo).
The Golden Panthers went 8-5 in 2011, putting up back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history. They reached the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, falling 20-10 to Marshall. However, in 2012, the Panthers went 3-9, which resulted in Cristobal’s firing after six seasons of leading the program.
Why was Mario Cristobal fired at FIU?
FIU athletic director Pete Garcia pointed to Cristobal’s record when the school opted to fire him on Dec. 5, 2012.
“He’s done a very good job for this program, but we’ve gone backwards over the last year and a half,” Garcia said at the time of the firing. “Over the last 22 games, we’ve gone 8-14.”
However, the decision to fire Cristobal was not well received. The Golden Panthers had just 32 wins in program history, with the majority of them coming under Cristobal. He also helped the team gain enough relevance for a move to Conference USA, starting in the 2013 season.
“I’m amazed Florida International and mid-majors, they act like they’re big-timers — and they’re not,” former Purdue coach Joe Tiller told the New York Times in 2012. “They might have a nice little program going someplace, but they’re not amongst the heavyweights.”
“They’re neophytes. They’re babies,” Tiller added. “They’re new to the scene, really, and they’re still trying to build their program. They’re acting like, for crying out loud, they’re LSU or Auburn or somebody.”
Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote called the decision to fire Cristobal “unfair and impatient.”
“The 3-9 record included five losses by one score. FIU had lost its best player by far, T.Y. Hilton, to graduation. Starting quarterback Jake Medlock and top running back Kedrick Rhodes both missed a big chunk of the season injured,” Cote wrote in December 2012.
“But Garcia figured a team with a lot of seniors should overcome all those things.
“That’s why Cristobal, 42, Miami-born and the first Cuban-American head coach in NCAA Division I football, is unemployed today. And why Garcia is shopping for a new coach — perhaps former Canes coach Butch Davis, if rampant speculation proves true.”
What Mario Cristobal said about coaching at FIU
During the buildup to Monday’s national championship game, Cristobal was asked about his time at FIU and how it may have helped mold him into the coach that leads the Hurricanes back to the national elite.
“It’s the ultimate experience in cutting your teeth. You have to do everything when you take over a situation like that,” he said.
“I don’t know how much of it is documented, but when you take over a program that I think hadn’t won a game in almost two years, was going to make the jump from a lower division to Division I, and then literally the schedule with games against Miami, Florida, Arkansas, you name it — and also before even having a single practice, started with a five-year probation, 17 ineligible players and a contemporaneous penalty regarding the APR, which means any player that’s not eligible per semester, you lose a scholarship.
“So, I probably got more into this than you were hoping for. But it’s the ultimate challenge. And you find out truly what you’re made of and who has your back.
“You start finding out everything that goes with college football. How the bursar’s office works, how registration and academics and the department and supervision and RAs and recruiting budgets and travel.
“And you have to do everything, every single part of it. You have to be a coach, you have to be a CFO, CEO, a provost. You have to do it all.
“So, a tremendous blessing. And really the biggest blessing was the players and the people that we had there because they were able to take what was historically the worst program in the country in a short period of time and actually win their first conference championship. And it was super rewarding, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. It was pretty cool.”
Mario Cristobal coaching career
Following his firing from FIU, Cristobal joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama in 2013 as an assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator until 2016, winning a championship with the team in 2015. He joined Oregon’s staff as the co-offensive coordinator in 2017 before taking over as the head coach following the departure of Willie Taggart.
On Dec. 6, 2021, Cristobal signed a 10-year, $80 million contract with Miami to become the football coach of his alma mater, where he won two national titles during his playing career.
Here’s a look at Cristobal’s coaching career:
Head coach unless otherwise specified. Assistant role listed in parentheses
- 1998-2000: Miami (Graduate assistant)
- 2001-02: Rutgers (Offensive tackles/tight ends coach)
- 2003: Rutgers (Offensive line coach)
- 2004-05: Miami (Tight ends coach)
- 2006: Miami (Offensive line coach)
- 2007-12: FIU
- 2013-16: Alabama (Assistant head coach/offensive line coach/recruiting coordinator)
- 2017: Oregon (Co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach)
- 2018-21: Oregon
- 2022-present: Miami
Mario Cristobal coaching record
Here’s a look at Cristobal’s record as a head coach:
- 2007 (FIU): 1-11, 1-6 Sun Belt Conference
- 2008 (FIU): 5-7, 3-4 Sun Belt Conference
- 2009 (FIU): 3-9, 3-5 Sun Belt Conference
- 2010 (FIU): 7-6, 6-2 Sun Belt Conference
- 2011 (FIU): 8-5, 5-3 Sun Belt Conference
- 2012 (FIU): 3-9, 2-6 Sun Belt Conference
- 2017 (Oregon): 0-1
- 2018 (Oregon): 9-4, 5-4 Pac-12
- 2019 (Oregon): 12-2, 8-1 Pac-12
- 2020 (Oregon): 4-3, 3-2 Pac-12
- 2021 (Oregon): 10-3, 7-2 Pac-12
- 2022 (Miami): 5-7, 3-5 ACC
- 2023 (Miami): 7-6, 3-5 ACC
- 2024 (Miami): 10-3, 6-2 ACC
- 2025 (Miami): 13-2, 6-2 ACC
- Career: 97-78
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why was Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal fired by FIU in 2012?
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