Former Oregon Ducks head coach and current Philadelphia Eagles head man Chip Kelly may get the glory for the Ducks' rise to prominence, but current Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich has quietly established himself as one of college football's most innovating head coaches in a short time span.
A 40-year Oregon native, Helfrich started his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach at Boise State (1998-2000), before picking up his first major conference job with the Arizona Sun Devils in the same capacity.
After five seasons of helping ASU's offense grow into one of the Pac-10/12's most potent units, Helfrich took his first offensive coordinator job with the Colorado Buffaloes before the 2006 campaign. Also taking on the role of quarterbacks coach for three years, Helfrich's work caught the eye of Chip Kelly when the former Oregon OC was promoted to head coach before the 2009 season.
Kelly tabbed Helfrich to take his place as offensive coordinator (and quarterbacks coach), and together the two built one of the most-feared high-speed offenses in the history of college football, culminating in a trip to the 2011 BCS Championship Game against the Auburn Tigers.
Oregon went 46-7 with the two at the helm, includng BCS bowl appearances in every year they worked together (2009-12).
So naturally, when Chip Kelly was named the new coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Oregon opted to once again promote from within and dub Mark Helfrich as the team's next head coach.
Helfrich has taken the baton from Kelly and has run with it, leading Oregon to the fifth and sixth seasons in its history with 11 wins or more. Now, with Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota by his side and one of the most impressive skill position collectives in college football history, Helfrich has a chance to do something that no Oregon coach has ever done including Kelly - bring a national title home to Eugene.
Oregon takes on Ohio State in the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship Game on Monday, January 12th.
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