Mario Cristobal says neither he nor his agent have been contacted by Auburn

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Mario Cristobal’s name has again surfaced in connection with prominent job openings, this time Auburn.

Oregon’s third-year coach addressed the rumors connecting him to the SEC West vacancy on Monday night.

“We seem to get a lot of rumors at this time of year,” Cristobal said. “This is what I can say, I can say that I haven’t been contacted, OK? I don’t know of my agent being contacted and I talk to him every single day. I trust Phil Knight. I trust Rob Mullens. I trust our administration and I trust people here at Oregon.

“As you guys know, we have been working on something when the pandemic first hit and things kind of stalled and things have picked back up. I’ve always been transparent with every single one of you and I will continue to do that. Hopefully in the next couple of days there’s more stuff to talk about as it relates to that. That in itself right there hopefully explained to you exactly where things are with me.”

Cristobal, who is under contract at Oregon through January 2024, and UO began working on a contract extension following last year’s Pac-12 championship and Rose Bowl championship and those talks have resumed recently.

He was due $2.7 million in salary this season, with raises of $100,000 in each of the next three years, and took a voluntary 10% pay cut and forwent all his bonuses this year due to the pandemic.

The buyout Cristobal would owe UO if he were to leave for another job is presently $8 million through Jan. 14, 2021, and drops to $5 million, $3 million and $2 million each subsequent year.

With less than two days before the start of national signing day, Oregon has 20 commits in the No. 6-ranked class in the 247Sports Composite with several prominent targets still considering the Ducks.

“I know that we have an awesome thing going,” Cristobal said. “We got an unbelievable class going and I think that when people speculate and start putting rumors out there, a lot of times people try to take that and get it to fit their narrative, which is try to affect recruiting classes at Oregon, try to spin a story. Like I said earlier, like I said right now and like I’ll say tomorrow, I’ve been honest with you, I’m continuing being honest with you, things are being worked out and I have full trust in the administration here that things are going to be worked out and that I’ll be coaching here, so that’s where it’s at.”

Auburn fired eighth-year coach Gus Malzahn on Sunday and owes him a buyout of $21,450,000, with 50% of that due within 30 days and the remainder paid in four equal annual installments.

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