Oregon Ducks football has now lost four-straight games with the most embarrassing loss coming last weekend against Washington, 70-21.
Oregon athletic administration, the fans, the players and coaches, everyone has to be disappointed and frustrated at the recent descent of the team.
If head coach Mark Helfrich makes it through this season showing he should continue as head coach, he probably gets one more year to try to save the sinking ship. Potentially he is able to turn things around enough to stick around longer.
Ultimately, he was the next in line to become the in-house hire after Chip Kelly left, but it clearly wasn’t the right choice now four years later. It doesn’t seem like he has been able to lead a team by himself, as this team is now completely his being far removed from the Chip Kelly era.
If Oregon decides to go with a new head coach it could take a few years before the program is potentially back at the top of the competitive Pac-12 Conference.
I don’t believe Helfrich has been able to recruit high level talent at the level necessary to contend in the way the program has grown accustomed too. Currently there are not a lot of big time playmakers on this team on offense or defensive. Star playmakers help you win big games and are the difference makers on great teams.
“There’s a lot of frustration,” Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said this past Monday on Duck Insider, a University of Oregon produced radio show. “No one thought we’d be 2-4 or expected to be 2-4 halfway through the season. We’ve got to get back to work and figure out how to turn these results around.”
Clearly the university didn’t expect this bad of a year. They aren’t going to fire Helfrich now in the middle of the season. They will see it through and evaluate things at the end of the season and make a decision.
Mullens added that there is a time when you look at it all and say “How did we perform?”
Evaluate four consecutive losses, three of which were against Pac-12 opponents and not to mention two blowouts against Washington schools Oregon has dominated for the better part of a decade. Evaluate that they may only end up with two or three wins in Pac-12 conference play this year.
Is that enough for Oregon to bring back Helfrich for one more year? Perhaps he deserves another year after a down season, but the pressure from fans, boosters, and perhaps Phil Knight may sway Rob Mullens to move in a new direction after finally realizing he isn’t the right guy for the job.
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— 1490 The Score (@KSKRTheScore) October 24, 2024