Below is a chart of offense, defense and total production of the University of Oregon Ducks football program during Helfrich's tenure as head football coach, along with who would be the lowest ranked team during this time period (in purple) and the average team (sky blue). As you may notice, Oregon has had some great seasons and some not so great seasons under Helfrich's tenure. All rankings in this blog come from my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. More details about the program under Helfrich are after the chart below, including his contract linked below. For comparison purposes, here is Chip Kelly's contract at Oregon.
Mark Helfrich (2013 - 2016)
2013
The Ducks finished the regular season at 10-2 and were bowl eligible,winning their bowl game to #64 ranked Texas 30-7. This season the Ducks played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Ducks' best regular season game was a (45-24) victory over #12 Washington, their worst regular season loss was to #42 ranked Arizona (16-42). Overall, Oregon had the #3 ranked team with the #4 ranked offense and the #10 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. This was a really good team.
2014
The Ducks finished the regular season at 12-1 and were bowl eligible,winning their first College Football Playoff bowl game to #43 ranked Florida State by a score of (59-20), but losing the first ever College Football Playoff championship game to #4 ranked Ohio State to finish 13-2 overall. This season Oregon played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Ducks' best regular season game was a victory (46-27) over #3 Michigan State, their worst regular season loss was again to #46 ranked Arizona (24-31). Overall, the Ducks' had the #2 ranked team with the #1 ranked offense (yes the best offense in all of the FBS) and the #85 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. This was Helfrich's best team during this time period in terms of overall productivity.
2015
Oregon finished the regular season overall at 9-3 and were bowl eligible, losing their bowl game to #31 ranked TCU by a score of (41-47) to finish overall at 9-4, while playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Ducks' best game was their victory over #12 ranked Stanford (38-36) and their worst loss (38-45) was to #55 Washington State. Oregon had the #54 ranked team in total production with the #13 ranked offense and the #115 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2016
At the end of the regular season the Ducks' were 4-8 (and bowl ineligible) playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, which means that their current strength of schedule was plus or minus one standard deviation of the "league's" average SOS. The Ducks' best win was over currently ranked #45 Utah (30-28) and their worst loss (49-52) was to currently ranked #107 California. Oregon at the time of Helfrich's departure had the #103 ranked team in total production with the #33 ranked offense and the #127 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. Yes their defense is currently second to last in all of college football.
2016 NCAA Head Football Head Coaching Changes
Texas and Charlie Strong
Georgia State and Trent Miles
Fresno State and Tim DeRuyter
Purdue and Darrell Hazell
LSU and Les Miles
Florida International University and Ron Turner
Baylor and Art Briles