Miami closes in on Clemson AD, targets Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, sources say

The University of Miami is closing in on hiring a new athletic director while vigorously pursuing Oregon football coach Mario Cristobal.

The Oregonian is reporting, through a source, that Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, 63, who earned an MBA at the University of Miami and started his career in the Hurricanes athletic department, will be going to Miami as its new athletic director.

Sources told the Miami Herald that Radakovich is a candidate for the job, and one source said he was the first choice all along. But it is unclear whether he had accepted the position as of Friday night.

UM also is intensely pursuing Miami native Cristobal, the Oregon football coach and former Hurricane whose Ducks faced Utah in the Pac-12 title game Friday night, several sources told the Miami Herald. Utah dominated the 10th-ranked Ducks 38-10 to end their season at 10-3.

High-ranking Hurricanes officials are optimistic about UM’s chances of landing Cristobal in the coming days. An announcement is expected before Tuesday. UM understands that it would need to pay Cristobal more than it has paid any coach in its history — perhaps in the $8 million per year range — and is prepared to do so.

After the game Friday night, the first question Cristobal faced was about his future. Asked if he plans to sign a contract extension with Oregon or accept the UM job, if offered, he replied: “I haven’t talked to anyone. Let’s not create narratives. Oregon is working on some stuff for me and that’s what I have right now. That’s the extent of that conversation.

“If there is anything to report, I’ll report it. I always have. Every year, we have people come for our staff, including myself. How the media treats it, I have no control over...Do I expect people to come at me? Yeah, I do. There’s nothing else to report. If there ever is, I’ll make sure to get it to you as fast as I can.”

Radakovich is a highly respected athletic director at a football powerhouse that has won three football national titles, including in 2016 and 2018. He is making $800,000 per year at Clemson, but could get a huge raise to come to UM. Sports Illustrated is reporting UM “has reached out to several high-level Power 5 ADs with contract offers that would make them the highest paid in the industry ($3M+ a year).’’

If he’s officially named, Radakovich would replace Blake James, who was dismissed Nov. 15. The Athletic reported Friday that there are still three AD candidates remaining.

Radakovich joined Clemson in 2012 after six years at Georgia Tech. The Clemson athletic department has increased revenue from $69 million in 2014 to $120 million in 2019. During his tenure, Clemson had $180 million in facility improvement. Radakovich served on the College Football Playoff selection committee after 30 years of college football experience as an athletic director and former football player. He played tight end and punter at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Radakovich, who worked as an athletic business manager at UM from 1983-85, was named Sports Business Daily’s Athletic Director of the Year in 2017 at the Sports Business Awards.

It’s been known for a long time that Cristobal, regarded as an exceptional recruiter as well as coach, was the major target by at least some of the big-time UM decision-makers who have been pushing hard for him.

There have been assurances from Hurricane donors that money will not be an issue in landing the former UM player who in December 2020 signed a six-year, $27.3-million contract that pays him an average of $4.45 million annually. His buyout is $9 million through Jan. 14.

The Hurricanes, however, still have a head coach, as Manny Diaz, whose Canes finished the regular season 7-5 and 5-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, is busy recruiting under what must be an enormous amount of pressure.

The Oregonian reported Friday that a “source at Oregon confirms that University of Oregon has a contract extension offer in front of Mario Cristobal. It’s aggressive and in line with what we’ve seen this week.’’

The report added, “Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley dollars, I’m told.’’

Former Notre Dame coach Kelly left the Irish this week to become the LSU coach and is being paid $95 million over 10 years. Riley, who left Oklahoma for USC this week, will reportedly earn more than $110 million with the Trojans over 10 years.

Miami donors

Miami donors are believed to have the resources to compete with Oregon booster/Nike founder Phil Knight. Among the UM donors with interest in the athletic department are brothers Jose and Jorge Mas, owners of Mas Tec, a $6.6 billion infrastructure contractor. The Mas brothers are co-owners of David Beckham’s Inter Miami MLS Team.

Another donor believed to have interest is billionaire John H. Ruiz, an attorney and entrepreneur whose Medicare litigation firm MSP Recovery last summer was valued at $32 billion. All support the pursuit of Cristobal, sources said.

With the Pac-12 championship signaling the end of the season for Cristobal, UM’s pursuit of the coach has intensified.

This is Cristobal’s third season at Oregon, where he captured back-to-back Pac-12 Conference titles in 2019 and 2020.

UM ties

Cristobal was an offensive tackle at UM from 1988 through 1992 under Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson, and won two national titles. He coached at UM as a graduate assistant from 1998 through 2000, then as an assistant from 2004 through ‘06. He got his first head-coaching job in 2007 at FIU, where he stayed through 2012 — then returned to UM as its tight ends coach under Al Golden for a month before leaving to be the offensive line coach, recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach for four years at Alabama.

Cristobal’s mother Clara is ill, and he flew home last weekend to spend time with her. Upon returning to Eugene, he told the Oregonian: “She’s fighting. That’s the best way to say it, and that’s exactly what I expected to see out of her. We’re going to go day-by-day.”

Cristobal graduated from Miami’s Columbus High where the Mas brothers as well as former UM fullback great Alonzo Highsmith, who also interviewed for UM’s vacant athletic director job, graduated.

The deep Columbus connections could help Highsmith land a role in the new Hurricanes athletic administration. Highsmith is a longtime NFL front-office scouting executive who is the assistant to the Seattle Seahawks’ general manager.

Radakovich has held athletic administrative jobs at five Division I-A schools. Under his watch, the Tigers football program went to back-to-back national championship games. Clemson’s baseball team has been in the national conversation for many years. Clemson’s ranking in the Graduation Success Rate and Academic Progress Rate has been among the national leaders.