Head coaches leading Oregon Ducks football are 21-10-2 all-time in their debuts dating to the program’s start in 1894 under Cal Young and J.A. Church.
Some 123 years later Mario Cristobal was on the sidelines for his first game as Oregon head coach — a game that ended in a 10-point Las Vegas Bowl defeat last December.
Now, with Cristobal less than two months from leading UO into his first full season as head coach, we look back at how first-year coaches performed in their first games and first seasons in Eugene. Some faced opponents of dubious strength — UO alumni, for example, was a common opponent in the program’s early years.