70 Oregon Football Players Banded Together To Keep Their New Coach From Being Fired
Breaking news: The act of support worked.
In the world of college football, a player’s “career” has a short shelf life. However, in the few years that they spend in a program, they bond closely not just with each other, but with their coaches and other team members as well.
Just days ago, the Oregon football team was shaken to learn that their head coach, Willie Taggart, would be leaving his post to take a new job coaching Florida State. However, with a bowl game left on the docket — the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 16 — the team appointed co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Mario Cristobal as interim head coach. Typically, such a move serves as preparation for the remaining game with the understanding that the interim coach’s tenure will end when the team finds a permanent replacement.
The young men on the squad would like to see Cristobal stay on a little longer.
A tweet from Oregon Ducks offensive tackle Tyrell Crosby reveals that the players have banded together in a remarkable act of solidarity and support to petition the school to keep Cristobal on as the team’s permanent head coach.
Had an 70+ players signed petition to keep Cristobal as head coach— Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrell Crosby) 1512700636.0
That’s 70 of 96 players on the roster. Not bad for a couple days’ work.
Crosby explained why the number of signatures isn’t even higher.
Without a doubt majority would have signed it. It's just finals week so not everyone was available to sign it betwe… https://t.co/eTv8ORAS55— Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrell Crosby) 1512702069.0
We are all fighting so hard for him to be HC, because we all know he'd fight just as hard for us.— Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrell Crosby) 1512702319.0
The social media-savvy lineman even put up a public Twitter poll to get the fans’ support as well.
If you could would you sign a petition to keep Cristobal permanent head coach knowing all the players endorse him?— Tyrell Crosby (@Tyrell Crosby) 1512704933.0
The extraordinary effort put forth by Crosby and his teammates paid off, as USA Today is reporting that the Ducks have ended their head coach search and named Mario Cristobal the team’s permanent head coach.
In a game where coaching means earning the trust of your players, it sounds like Cristobal already has a big leg up going into his first game as head coach.