Time for some real talk.
I've read the Oregon board and their Mario to Miami threads. Here's the one thing that they keep on overlooking or easily dismissing:
YOU CAN'T BEAT HOME. Home is undefeated. How much does Mario value going home?
Let me tell you a story. I was born in Queens but raised in Palatka, Florida. My mother was killed in a car accident when I was four, my father killed himself the following year. Instead of me, my older brother and sister going into foster care, my 70 year old maternal grandparents adopted us and we moved from Queens NY to Palatka FL. At the age of 25, I became a Christian and met my wife in Peniel Baptist Church (where her family continues to attend to this day). I love Peniel. I still have a great relationship with the pastor who is there and I consider him my mentor (and he would agree). Many of the men who discipled me are still there and when my wife and I visit Palatka, I still attend that church and visit with all my former church members and pastor. After a few years, that church sent me to Dallas, TX to go to Bible college (DBU & Criswell), and then to seminary (SWBTS). I pastored a church just west of Dallas (Chico, TX area), and now we have been in Kansas for almost 6 years. The pastor of Peniel is getting older and he will be retiring probably in the next five years.
You bet your *** that I will be applying for that position. Why?
Because IT'S HOME. I have such a love and respect for the church where the Lord saved me and then discipled me. I have such a love and respect for the men of that church who poured their lives into mine. I have such a love and respect for the pastor there; it would be an honor to follow in his steps. My wife's family is there. My older sister lives in Jacksonville (hr north). My older brother lives in Winter Haven. Palatka is Home.
For Mario, Miami is home.
That's more than anything Oregon can offer.