Cristobal played under Hall of Fame coaches Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson during the rise of the University of Miami as one of the nation's most elite college football programs.
Cristobal is one of several University of Miami players from the late 1980s who appears in the documentary The U, which premiered December 12, 2009, on ESPN and chronicles the program's rapid ascent and national championships and the era's associated scandals that proved costly to it.
However, on December 1, the Golden Panthers finally broke a Football Bowl Subdivision-leading 23-game losing skid with a 38–19 victory over North Texas.
After three straight nonconference losses to Kansas, Iowa, and USF, the Golden Panthers under Cristobal pulled together an upset win against MAC opponent Toledo.
The team used this momentum to build a three-game winning streak, defeating Sun Belt Conference opponents North Texas and MTSU before it continued on to finish with a 5–7 record.
[citation needed] The team regressed under his leadership and took a step back going 3–9 overall, with wins coming against North Texas, Western Kentucky, and Louisiana-Lafayette.
During the offseason recruiting period, Cristobal was able to secure FIU's first ESPN 150 player, Willis Wright, from nearby Miami Springs High, the same school that produced T. Y. Hilton.
FIU Athletic Director Pete Garcia explained his reasoning for firing Cristobal as "He's done a very good job for this program, but we've gone backwards over the last year and a half.
Alabama's offensive lines produced standout players and NFL draft picks under Cristobal, including first-team All-American and 2015 first-round draft pick Ryan Kelly and 2014 freshman All-American Cam Robinson, who went on to win the Outland Trophy in Cristobal's final year with Alabama.
[17] In 2019, Cristobal was voted Pac-12 Coach of the Year by the Associated Press after going 11-2 during the regular season, winning the North division, beating Utah in the Conference Championship, and earning a trip to the Rose Bowl.
[23] In 2021, Cristobal took Oregon to a 10–2 regular season record before a surprise departure of the program prior to the season-ending Alamo Bowl loss to Oklahoma.
[24] On December 6, 2021, Cristobal was named head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes football team, replacing Manny Diaz.
[26] During his second year at Miami, Cristobal received significant criticism in October 2023 for what was widely deemed a costly clock management mistake during a home game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Hard Rock Stadium.
[38] After his football playing career ended, Cristobal went through a two-year application process to become a U.S. Secret Service agent and was offered a job in 1998.
Then a first-year graduate assistant at the University of Miami, Cristobal said his goodbyes to fellow Hurricanes players but then abruptly changed his mind the following morning and chose instead to remain with collegiate football coaching.