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Mark Helfrich brought up topic of returning to Oregon to Chip Kelly
When San Francisco 49ers coach Chip Kelly said earlier in the week that he wasn’t a candidate at Oregon, he said the only person he’d talked to at the school was now-former coach Mark Helfrich. And, according to Helfrich, the topic of Kelly returning to the school was broached during their conversation.
Helfrich said on ESPN Radio’s Russillo and Kannell on Friday that his conversation with Kelly came as rumors were swirling regarding Helfrich’s job status. Helfrich was fired Tuesday night after the conclusion of a 4-8 season at Oregon.
He also noted that Kelly — or at least Kelly’s representatives — had been contacted about the job and that he had the futures of his coaching staff in mind regarding the topic.
“At that point you’re thinking of every possible scenario and obviously he had been contacted a couple times or something and so it was — it was probably more selfishly than anything when you start thinking about your assistants and your support staff and all those people, if he were to come back here some of those people would be ‘saved.’ Just trying to take our personal relationship out of it, remove me from the equation and let him think of it that way.”
The idea of continuity in Helfrich’s brain makes sense. Oregon has been an incredibly stable program in recent history and the next coach will (presumably) be the first outside hire in Eugene since 1976.
Kelly’s 49ers are 1-10 in his first season with the team. The former Oregon coach was 46-7 in four years with the school before moving to the NFL. Helfrich, hired to replace Kelly before the 2013 season, was 37-16 in his four years with Oregon.
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Without Kelly (publicly) available, one of Oregon’s targets appears to be Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck. The Broncos play in the MAC Championship game Friday night vs. the Ohio Bobcats. Florida coach Jim McElwain’s name has also been mentioned for the Oregon job and he had this to say when he was asked about it during his SEC Championship game news conference Friday:
“Rumors are always out there,” McElwain said. “I remember, even when I was at Alabama with [coach Nick Saban], every year he was going to Texas or the NFL, I think, and they would drag the NFL thing on because the NFL thing was so late, trying to make sure that that never happened. That’s the beauty. It’s a free world, man. People will do whatever they want and say whatever they want. I know how excited I am to be a Gator.“
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
