University of Oregon Athletics

Oregon Head Coach Mark Helfrich knew the comparisons would be inevitable – how do you replace arguably the most successful football coach in school history? His answer was simple – by being Mark Helfrich.

There is no question the formula has proven to be widely successful. In three seasons the Ducks have flourished under the native Oregonian’s guidance, accumulating a 33-8 record (.805) and wins in the 2013 Valero Alamo Bowl over Texas (30-7) and in the 2015 Rose Bowl over Florida State (59-20).

He has helped orchestrate the continuation of the program’s offensive firepower in his brief head coaching tenure as the Ducks led the league in total offense (fifth in the country) for the sixth year in a row in 2015, in scoring offense (fifth in the nation) for the ninth straight season, and in rushing (fifth nationally) for the 10th time in many years.

Helfrich led Oregon to a first-year mark of 11-2 and a victory in the Alamo Bowl in 2013, joining Ducks’ alum John Robinson as the league’s only other coach to win a bowl game in his inaugural season (USC, 1976).

But 2014 resulted in an entirely different standard of success. While becoming only the school’s second football coach ever to lead the program to a National Championship appearance, he guided Oregon to more single-season victories (13) than any other school in conference history. In the process, Helfrich avenged his only regular-season loss of the year to Arizona with a convincing 51-13 win in the conference championship game, handed defending national champion Florida State its only setback in two seasons, and benefitted from the play of the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner ever.

Only one other team in school history had ever won as many as 11 football games in a single season (2001) prior to his arrival as offensive coordinator in 2009 – Helfrich now has been a part of five teams to do so – three as an Oregon assistant (2010, 2011, 2012) and two others in a head coaching capacity.

However he may have overcome his biggest challenge in 2015. Faced with breaking in a new quarterback who was limited to only one quarter of play during a four-game stretch, the Ducks overcame a 3-3 start to win their final six regular-season outings against a schedule that would include nine opponents who advanced to the postseason. Included were wins over the likes of Washington, California, Stanford, and USC who were all positioned among the nation’s top-25 at one point of the season.

The 42-year-old Helfrich was appointed the school’s 32nd head football coach on Jan. 20, 2013, following a quartet of seasons as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the program’s most prolific era in school history. Oregon tallied a 46-7 ledger and four BCS bowl appearances from 2009-12.

He had spent three seasons as an offensive coordinator and 11 years coaching quarterbacks prior to his return to Eugene.

The first native Oregonian to head the university’s football program in 71 years was named the program’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach following three seasons in the same capacity at Colorado (2006-08), five years as quarterbacks coach at Arizona State (2001-05) - which included his final three campaigns in Tempe, Ariz., as passing game coordinator - and three seasons as quarterbacks coach at Boise State (1998-2000).

It didn’t take long for Helfrich to be recognized for his impact on the Ducks’ offensive success as he was named by FootballScoop as its National Quarterbacks Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2012, in addition to being one of three finalists as its national offensive coordinator of the year honor.

Following the 2014 season, the Ducks’ former graduate assistant coach (1997) was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach-of-the-Year Award as well as the Maxwell Football Club Coach-of-the-Year honors.

He played a significant role in the development of Darron Thomas, who went on to lead Oregon to the 2011 BCS National Championship Game as a first-year starter, as well as the 2012 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. Thomas became the school’s first signal-caller to throw more than 30 touchdowns in a single season on two separate occasions, finishing his collegiate career with a then school-record 66 scoring strikes.

Helfrich then tutored Pac-12 Conference Offensive Freshman of the Year and three-time first-team all-conference choice Marcus Mariota, who not only quarterbacked the Ducks to a 35-17 win over Kansas State in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl but became the program’s first freshman to earn first-team all-league honors since 1989.

But that was only the beginning as Mariota completed his collegiate career as the Ducks’ third unanimous first-team All-American in school history as well as their first Heisman Trophy winner ever. He proceeded to become the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and the most decorated football player in the program’s annals.

Over the course of his last 16 seasons, Helfrich has played a role with offenses that have ranked among the nation’s top-eight in scoring offense nine times, the top-seven in passing efficiency five times, the top-six in rushing five times and the top-five in total offense seven times.

One year after Mariota set the Pac-12 record for passing efficiency while leading the country in 2014 (181.7), Vernon Adams Jr. became the nation’s pacesetter in that category (179.1) in his only season in Eugene a year ago.

While Mariota developed into Helfrich’s most notable pupil, he certainly wasn’t his only standout.  Prior to the three-year starter establishing the Ducks’ freshman record for passing efficiency in 2012 (163.23), Thomas finished 11th in the country in passing efficiency and second in the conference in 2011.

Prior to his return to Eugene Helfrich coached Arizona State’s Rudy Carpenter, who led the nation in passing efficiency in 2005 after the Sun Devils’ Andrew Walter was second in the Pac-10 in total offense and third in passing efficiency in 2004.

Walter completed 2002 third in the conference in total offense and passing efficiency while Jeff Krohn led the league in passing efficiency in 2001.

Walter set Arizona State records for both career (85) and single-season touchdowns (30) in addition to shattering the previous Pac-10 record for career TD passes, previously set by Stanford’s John Elway (77). The third-round NFL draft pick finished his collegiate career as the school’s career record holder in nearly every passing category.

Ranking as the youngest offensive coordinator in the nation at a BCS school at Colorado in 2006, Helfrich’s offenses were marked by improvement each of his first two seasons in Boulder.

His first Colorado offense averaged 4.5 yards per carry and featured three different players rushing for 500 yards or more for just the 10th time in school history. His 2007 team was just the third in school history to gain 1,000 yards on offense more than the previous season in the same number of games, and scored 30 or more points five times.

During his five-year Arizona State stint, the program blossomed into one of the top passing teams in the country. In his final season there, the Sun Devils finished third in the NCAA and led the Pac-10 in passing yards per game (373.9 per game) as well as second in the country in passing efficiency. ASU posted a school-record 4,481 yards passing that season to elevate its five-year total to 18,686 yards (306.3 per game).

While at Boise State, Helfrich tutored one of school’s all-time greats in Bart Hendricks, the 1999 and 2000 Big West Conference Player of the Year. In 2000, the Broncos led the country in scoring (44.9 ppg) and passing efficiency (168.9) while finishing fifth in passing offense (321.6 per game).

Born in Medford, Ore., the 1992 Marshfield (Coos Bay) High School graduate turned down an opportunity to walk on at Oregon in favor of attending Southern Oregon University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1996. The NAIA Scholar-Athlete (1993) led the nation in total offense while earning NAIA honorable mention All-America accolades and first-team Columbia Football Association honors as a senior. That season, he accumulated single-season school records in passing yards (2,712), total offense (3,196) and touchdown passes (23), topping the 400-yard mark in single-game total offense three times.

He was inducted into his alma mater’s Athletics Hall of Fame in the fall of 2012.

He began his coaching career as running backs coach at Southern Oregon in 1996 before playing and coaching (offensive coordinator) in Europe with the Vienna (Austria) Vikings in the winter of 1997.

Mark and his wife, Megan, are the parents of one son, Max (9), and one daughter, Maggie (5).