Mario Cristobal Named Oregon Co-Offensive Coordinator

New Oregon head football coach Willie Taggart has found the man to lead his offense, hiring Alabama offensive line coach Mario Cristobal as co-offensive coordinator and run-game coordinator, the Ducks announced on Tuesday.

Ryan Bartow of 247Sports first reported Cristobal's hiring at Oregon on Jan. 13. Dan Wolken of USA Today confirmed the report.

Bartow noted that Cristobal is "recognized as one of the nation’s elite recruiters and top offensive line coaches," with these examples:

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Cristobal was named the National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports in the 2015 cycle. He’s currently ranked as the nation’s No. 2 recruiter this cycle by 247Sports. ...

Cristobal signed some of Alabama’s top targets including Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jonah Williams, Calvin Ridley, Jerry Jeudy, Cam Robinson and Da'Ron Payne.

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Considering how well Alabama recruits talent and how dominant its offensive line has been over the years, it's hardly a surprise that Cristobal is held in such high regard in either category. 

Oregon needed to make a splash heading into recruiting season coming off a disappointing 4-8 record in 2016. Hiring Taggart, who turned South Florida around from a two-win team in his debut season four years ago to a 10-win team in 2016, was the first step in the Ducks' process. 

Cristobal's elite recruiting skills and four seasons working under Nick Saban to learn the ropes of coaching a major college program has prepared him for this promotion. 

The Pac-12 is loaded heading into 2017 with USC, Washington, Stanford, Utah and Washington State atop the list, but Oregon is doing all it can to put itself back in the conversation with those programs to challenge for conference supremacy right away.