Oregon fires Helfrich: What's next?
Travis Haney
Oregon made official on Tuesday night the firing of coach Mark Helfrich, though the school said the decision was actually made shortly after the Ducks’ loss to Oregon State in the Civil War rivalry.
Helfrich had a 37-16 record in four seasons, including a national title game appearance in 2014. But he was 13-12 following Heisman winner Marcus Mariota’s departure, and the defense declined precipitously following coordinator Nick Aliotti’s retirement following the 2013 season. This year’s Ducks, who finished 4-8, allowed 49.2 points in their seven conference losses.
With AD Rob Mullens and super-donors Pat Kilkenny and Phil Knight leading the hunt, here’s what Oregon is looking for: An offensive-minded coach who fits with the program’s recent tradition — but someone also capable of balancing the defensive side of the ball. It’s clear, we’ve repeatedly been told by other coaches, that Oregon has lost an edge since Chip Kelly took the Philadelphia Eagles job.
We’ve been told also that it prefers a Power 5 sitting head coach.
“If they’re hiring from the outside, which they haven’t done, they want to swing for the fences,” an industry source told us in the past week.
“They do not want to pay (Helfrich’s) buyout if they don’t have someone to make a splash,” another source said this week.
Here's a refresher on the first names likely to draw interest:
Jim McElwain, Florida head coach
Legitimate interest or play for a raise and extension at Florida? That’s the game of roulette everyone’s playing this time of year, with agents often floating names to fit their clients’ particular agendas.
It seems likelier that this is a ploy to get some more cash out of new AD Scott Stricklin, seeing as how McElwain has taken Florida to consecutive SEC title games in his first two seasons. However, McElwain is from Montana, played quarterback at Eastern Washington and his first head-coaching gig was at Colorado State. Perhaps he’s just cut out more for a job nearer the West Coast.
And there is the fact that Stricklin just arrived; a new AD always changes the dynamic for a sitting head coach. Stricklin helped hire Dan Mullen, at that time a former UF assistant, at Mississippi State. If McElwain thinks even remotely that Stricklin would ultimately like to bring back his choice, this is a great job for which to leap.
Bryan Harsin, Boise State head coach
If the leadership becomes more open to a Group of 5 candidate, we’ve been told by industry sources that the 40-year-old Harsin would be in play.
The Broncos are 31-8 in Harsin’s three seasons, though they didn’t even win their division this year. He’s still been widely respected in his ability to continue winning after replacing highly successful coach Chris Petersen, even beating Petersen’s Washington team in the 2015 opener.
P.J. Fleck, Western Michigan head coach
We’ve been told all along that it’s unlikely Fleck would leave the Midwest, the only region in which he’s coached — but Oregon, a top-15 or so job, is surely worth a long look.
Oregon desperately has lost its edge, and no available candidate would bring that as much as Mr. Row Your Boat. Not unless it could pry James Franklin from Penn State, somehow.
Western Michigan is playing this week in the MAC title game against Ohio. Those close to the 35-year-old have said he will not talk jobs until after that game. Keep a close eye on WMU, we’ve been told by industry sources; it will make a lucrative play to keep Fleck.
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia head coach
The job Holgorsen has done at West Virginia has gone widely unnoticed. The Mountaineers are 9-2 despite losing their best defensive player in the preseason. They can get to 10 wins this week against Baylor, which has lost five consecutive games.
What separates Holgorsen, 44-30 in his sixth season, from other coaches who run a tempo system: He has a defense. Coordinator Tony Gibson has built a consistent unit, something that has been so sorely missed at Oregon since Aliotti retired.
Holgorsen learned from Mike Leach, who successfully made the transition to the division.
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State head coach
While no one was watching, Mullen’s teams upset Texas A&M and Ole Miss in the final month. His teams have mostly overachieved at MSU, though this is the first time since his first season that the Bulldogs aren’t bowling. Mississippi State had won 19 games the past two seasons, developing the quarterback, Dak Prescott, now winning a bunch of games in Dallas.
Mullen and a few staff members have West Coast experience. Current DC Peter Sirmon is an Oregon alum. The recruiting world wouldn’t be entirely unfamiliar.
As we’ve pointed out previously, Oregon had its heyday with a fast-talking guy from New Hampshire running the show. Perhaps Mullen would be Chip 2.0 in Eugene.
Mike MacIntyre, Colorado head coach
MacIntyre will receive plenty of Coach of the Year consideration for getting the Buffaloes into the Pac-12 title game. They still have an outside shot at the College Football Playoff, which would have sounded ludicrous in August.
In addition to Colorado, MacIntyre also made over the program at San Jose State. The track record suggests he’s someone who can turn around a program — though it’s unclear how he would fare in sustaining success. To that end, Colorado currently has a top-20 recruiting class. If he can manage that at CU, why couldn’t his staff recruit well at Oregon?
Larry Fedora, North Carolina head coach
Fedora’s case would have been greatly aided by a second straight ACC title game appearance, but that was off the table when the Tar Heels lost Friday against North Carolina State. That loss, paired with a late-season loss to Duke, really damaged the good vibes that Fedora’s program was developing. Fedora has done a nice job, but did losses to the other Triangle schools take him out of the running at places such as LSU, Texas and, to a lesser extent, Oregon?