Cristobal vs Golden?

jellyman · Dec 2, 2015

I am not saying RU is looking at, or ends up with either of Cristobal or Golden. Nor that I want or do not want either of these 2. But I thought I would provide a comparison, here.

By the way, I would be delighted if RU completely opened its purse strings for someone like Richt or Mullen ... after all, it is not my money. Not clear to me that RU is indeed willing or capable of doing so, despite the rumors.

So ... to Cristobal or Golden comparisons:

1) Golden was a Coordinator before he was a head coach ... Cristobal was not. This is not an irrelevant issue, in my opinion. And Golden was a Coordinator at a legitimate, P5 college team for 5 years, and then was hired to be the head coach at Temple. UVA's defense improved each year, I think, over his 1st 4 years, before slipping a little in his 5th year. Cristobal was a POSITION coach for RU and for Miami ... for 6 years in total (TE's and OL), but was never a Coordinator. And after being fired by FIU, remains a POSITION coach, though now for Alabama, for the last 3 years. Some would say that Cristobal is the "Associate" Head Coach at Alabama, but I can assure you that is a title ONLY, for purposes of stroking ego and maybe giving more pay ... RU has had several "Associate" head coaches, and it is not all that meaningful.

2) Golden was a head coach at Temple for 5 years, while Cristobal was the head coach at FIU for 6 years. Difficult to compare these to tenures, at one level, but easy, at another level.

FIU was basically a build from scratch job, while Temple was a build from a horrible perception job. I view it almost like the comparison between RU when Schiano took over (Temple) versus UConn moving from Div 1AA to Division 1A (FIU). Each has different challenges, but I always viewed the job of rebuilding RU as more difficult than building UConn ... because you first had to remove the vestiges of the NEGATIVE BAGGAGE RU carried with it (UConn had no negative baggage). Similar to Temple: Huge negative baggage to overcome.
Another difference: FIU had Florida athletes in their backyard, while Temple had ... South Jersey and Eastern PA. True, FIU was maybe the 6th best program in Florida (behind Miami, Florida, Fla St, USF and UCF), plus every college team in the nation recruits Florida. But Temple had to compete for fewer players, but against PSU, Pitt and RU ... plus the Catholic coleges ND and BC, plus many colleges recruiting NJ. And there are fewer college level players available in NJ and Eastern PA than in Florida.
Despite Temple being kicked out of the Big East, and then being an independent for 1 year, the Mid-American Conference was a WAY better conference than the Sun Belt conference. At one level, that would mean Golden might have had a easier path to recruit than Cristobal at FIU ... on the other hand, Temple had much tougher competition to play against - and Golden had the much better overall win-loss record against that better competition.
Cristobal had uneven success: Did a LOT of good things, and built FIU to a winning team (back to back bowl teams), but WAS fired after falling back to just 3-9 his 6th season. Cristobal's overall record was 27-47 ... but 26-36 excluding his 1st season (a 1-11 season). His conference record was 20-16 ... 19-20 excluding that 1st year.
Golden had Temple's record improve is EACH of his 3 seasons after a 1-11 initial campaign ... and even in his 5th season had the same regular season record (8-4), but no bowl game. Golden's overall record at Temple was 27-34, but 26-23 excluding his 1st 1-11 season. His conference record was 20-12 (no conference in that 1st year).
Golden left Temple to be hired as the Miami head coach, while Cristobal was fired from FIU and ended up the OL position coach at Alabama. Now, Golden's record at Miami was not stellar. But it WAS a winning record, and the 1st couple of seasons there was a LOT of turmoil that Golden inherited - a big scandal and lots of distractions, with bowl penalties and some small scholarship penalties. Also, no doubt that 2014 was a large disappointment, with a much better record expected from Golden by Miami.

3) Both are thought to be very good recruiters. Both have been negative recruiters, specifically against RU. Both have dissed RU in different ways over the years.

I really am not capable of knowing which choice would be better for RU, if the choice was between Golden and Cristobal. But frankly, the credentials of Golden DWARF the credentials of Cristobal - and in every way. That is of course, if you look at ANY FACTUAL criteria:

Golden has Coordinator experience, Cristobal does not. Plus Golden's Coordinator experience as at a P5 college.
Golden has 9 1/2 years head coaching experience, Cristobal has just 6 years head coaching experience.
Golden's 1st head coaching job was at a higher level program, in a better conference, than was Cristobal's head coaching job.
Golden was head coach at a P5 program.
Golden had a MUCH better win-loss record at EACH of the 2 programs he was head cpach at, than Cristobal did at his one stop.
Golden only had ONE really bad win-loss season as a head coach: His 1st year at Temple. Cristobal had THREE really bad won-loss records at FIU: His 1st, 3rd and 6th seasons.

My one thing about Golden: NO MARK D'ONOFRIO ... that would be my ONE condition, if I had a vote.

MoobyCow · Dec 2, 2015