EUGENE – After more than two days of deliberation, University of Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens announced Tuesday night that head football coach Mark Helfrich has been fired.
“I met with Mark and informed him that after much thought and careful consideration, I’ve decided to change leadership in our football program,” Mullens explained at a press conference Tuesday night.
In four years as the head coach of the Ducks Helfrich accumulated a 37-16 record, won a Pac-12 Conference title, and took the team to the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship game. But his job security came into question this year as the Ducks struggled through a 4-8 season.
Oregon finished the season with a disappointing 34-24 loss to rival Oregon State in the Civil War on Saturday and the speculation about Helfrich’s job status reached a fever pitch. While there was an immediate desire by the fans for a decision, Mullens said he purposely took time to consider his options. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t caught up in the emotions of the loss to the Beavers.
“No one wanted Mark to be more successful at Oregon more than me,” said Mullens. “Yet, over the past several months I have grown concerned with the direction of the program. We were not competitive in a number of games and we were on a poor trajectory.”
Mullens explained at a late press conference Tuesday that Oregon will now begin a national search to replace Helfrich. The university has hired a search firm to help with the task, but no time table has been put in place for finding Oregon’s next head coach.
In a release posted to goducks.com, Helfrich said “it is a great honor to have served as the head football coach at the University of Oregon. It is with respect and disappointment that we receive this decision. Plain and simple — we didn’t win enough games this season.”
As for the rest of the coaching staff at Oregon, which includes some of the longest coaching tenures in college football, Mullens said that it will be up to the next head coach as to who will be offered jobs to return next year.