One of the most shocking heads to roll in this year's edition of the coaching carousel came at Florida International, where the school fired Mario Cristobal, who had built its football program from scratch, after one down season.
No Butch Davis for Florida International: Whoops
Many thought AD Pete Garcia fired Mario Cristobal because he had a high-profile replacement already lined up, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Grant Halverson
Cristobal had turned down many higher-profile jobs to stay at FIU last off-season, but a coach widely considered a rising star in the business couldn’t survive a 3-9 season in 2012.
One rumor that quickly picked up steam on Wednesday was that AD Pete Garcia was bringing in former Miami and UNC coach Butch Davis, as the two have a long-standing relationship from their time with the Hurricanes.
However, according to a report from ESPN’s Joe Schad, Davis will not be coaching at FIU in the fall.
Davis, now an assistant with the Tampa Bay Bucs, has many skins on the wall from his time in college football and the NFL, but it’s unclear whether he’d even be interested in returning to college after having to leave UNC in the midst of a series of off-field scandals in 2010.
Without him, Garcia may be hard-pressed to find a coach high-profile enough to justify dumping Cristobal, who likely won’t remain unemployed for too long.
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