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This is why I think he had to go, from stories about that time the team had turned on MH. Kelly created a culture, and whatever shortcomings he had as a coach, "The Blur" and 46-7, covered them up

Yeah, Greg should watch out for the "guy in the know" who told him this or he might sell him a bridge. Saban's already the GOAT, he saw what the sport was turning into and got out.

He was actually in the Oregon norm for the most part. https://fishduck.com/2022/02/a-defense-of-helfrichs-recruiting-legacy/ He was still under the shadow of the Kelly sanctions which reduced scholarships by a couple per year, not great but not a killer, but what really hurt was the amount of official visits per year dropped from 35 (max) to I believe 28 (I think it's in my article posted above). That was killer to Oregon recruiting at the time because the key was always get likely commits on campus and lock them in with the facilities. That is more or less still the case under Lanning. But with 23-25 scholarships spots and only about 28 official visitors allowed, they had to get really really selective as to who they would give an official to because they couldn't afford to take as many long shot recruits. Great example of a long-shot (that paid off) was Kayvon Thibodeux under Cristobal. He didn't see the Ducks as that much of a contender but decided to take an official visit and just take a look at the program. His time at Oregon completely blew him away and that was what sealed the deal for him. However, for every KT out there there far at least 3-5 misses. Even the master recruiter Lanning has suffered a TON of high profiles misses this recruiting cycle. Oregon was already a conservative recruiting operation and it got worse with those sanctions. The first recruiting class Helfrich would have had without sanctions was 2017 and the uncertainty of his position hurt that class. Taggart took over and brought in a class of a lot of Helfrich recruits who would go on to be stars... more on this soon as I finish the Taggart article. I do believe context gives us a fuller picture of these individuals. They're human and by default complex. And not to make myself out to be too much of a Helfrich homer but I do believe Helfrich had a culture problem within the program developing and it manifested in 2016. If he was save his job he was going to need to revamp the Oregon culture, which obviously didn't happen.

Exactly, the game of social media passed him by. Not necessarily his fault . . . See Saban's voluntary exit as the game passed him by. Yes, but not to the heights we are seeing today due to his, Taggarts and Cristobal's departures.

I don't knock the Pellum hire, it was the Oregon way to hire from within when possible and Pellum was close with Aliotti for the better part of 20 years. That seemed like a safe and surefire hire. It didn't work out that way in the end. Pellum didn't have the aggressiveness that Aliotti had when it came to scheme and play-calling. Hoke was a super-duper-major fail and he was the highest paid Oregon staff member that wasn't the HC at the time of his hire. The Ducks paid out for that disaster. There are so many things that went wrong with that hire. I think first and foremost was that Hoke wanted to shift Oregon's defensive front from the 3-4 to a 4-3. The biggest problem in this shift was that Oregon outright lacked the proper bodies to pull it off. It needed more defensive linemen and a part part of Oregon going for a 3-4 defensive front as to reduce their dependency on those linemen who are difficult to recruit as there aren't very many of them. From there on out it all just fell apart. I like to think if Helfrich was given another season Hoke would have been fired and he would have had another shot at hiring. Perhaps the biggest weakness in Brooks-Helfrich era was that Oregon was so dependent on hiring from within at times that many of those coaches never got terribly good at hiring from a large pool of candidates. Look at what happened to Kelly after he left, he may have finally put together a good staff by his last year at UCLA. Lanning has done an incredible job in his hires and Cristobal did a good job hiring good people on paper but that never really came together in practice. I look forward to writing on those two coaches and their methods more in the weeks to come.

I remember him as someone whose learning curve didn’t match up well with the expectation curve of AD staff and fans alike.

USA Today is not wholesale buying Sankey's SOS claims. https://sports.yahoo.com/article/greg-sankey-embellishes-bold-claims-175723796.html

The most problematic defensive player for each of Oregon's 2025 opponents Who will be the best defensive players the Ducks will play this fall? Here are the most problematic ones from each team on the 2025 Oregon schedule. The most problematic defensive player for each of Oregon's 2025 opponents

If the SEC stays with 8 conference games, the PO should stay at 12. The B1G is No. 1 in $$$ and will stay at No. 1 if the PO stays with 12 teams in the field. https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/whats-next-for-college-football-playoff-format-sec-commish-says-it-could-stay-the-same-if-sides-remain-divided-164415303.html

I hate it when Pawallll agrees with me. 🤬 https://athlonsports.com/college/lsu-tigers/brian-kelly-gives-honest-reaction-reports-nick-saban-returning-college-football

SEC Media Days begin today. B1G is at the plate on 7/22. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabamas-playoff-outlook-texas-protection-for-arch-manning-among-2025-sec-media-days-burning-questions/?ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=457809&ET_RID=52482716

Come on Greg! Saint Nick hates the pay-for-play new game. He's wealthy and has his businesses, including being the biggest Mercedes dealer in Alabama, to attend to. He's retired in no state income tax Florida and golfing his ball whenever he wants to. He is still in the game with his Gameday gig that won him an Emmy. I've heard that Greg is coming out of retirement to suit up for the Birmingham Stallions.😁 It's a looooong off season.

One of the "fun things" about road game attendance is near-stadium atmosphere. Personally, a visit to The Grove at Ole Miss would attract me. There are other on-campus stadiums, near campus business districts, that are attractive. One aspect of Iowa's on-campus stadium is that it is close to residential neighborhoods. Season ticket holders often rent parking spaces on the front lawns of homes nearby. If you are invited to a tailgate, your host may tell you, "we're at 223 Melrose Dr." The home owner rents the space, and may provide a porta-potty as part of the annual rent for the Saturday renters, water, electricity hookup. The stadium is "walking distance" from downtown for those reasonably fit. But, if you are going and have a car I would suggest you do some research on parking. A lot of these B1G stadiums are so old they are surrounded by other development rather than being at the edge of town with parking lots. The last two November 8's in Iowa City were 55 degrees. But, you can't count on that.

Dak is EA's No. 1 Newbie. On3Ranking top-50 freshmen in EA Sports College Football 26...EA Sports College Football 26 officially dropped on Thursday. On3 is breaking down the top-50 freshmen in the video game.

Greg McElroy: Insider says Nick Saban isn't done coaching

Where Oregon Commits and Targets Landed in the Updated 2026 Rivals300 Ranking On3Where Oregon Commits and Targets Landed in the Updated 20...Tracking the latest movement of Oregon commits and targets in the 2026 recruiting class following the release of the Rivals 300 ranking.

Great for Neville and Lurch. Some team is going to get a great pick in Jacob Walsh and what about Grinsell?

Woody Hayes, Ohio State, 1951-78 (205 wins) Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, 1999-present (204) Amos Alonzo Stagg, Chicago, 1896-1932 (199) Bo Schembechler, Michigan, 1969-89 (194) Joe Paterno, Penn State, 1993-2011 (162) Hayden Fry, Iowa, 1979-98 (143) That's total wins as a Big Ten coach, not total Big Ten conference wins. Nor is it career wins at all coaching stops. Average wins per season would be a different list.

Nostalgia can be an addictive drug. What I periodically think about is where Oregon would stand in recruiting today if Taggart hadn't shown the Ducks could recruit nationwide, and Cristobal showed it wasn't just a Taggart thing.

I'm intrigued about "the kit that will be discussed, like, a lot" Hopefully it won't be for the game on Peacock that I don't have anymore.

Helf was a true Oregonian and a fellow coastal boy at that! He coached our only Heisman Trophy winner and led us to the NC game with a massive win over FSU. That may have been our most talented team ever. That said, he whiffed on two DCs and not many coaches survive that. That was not entirely his fault IMHO, I feel like Mullen was being too much of a bean counter instead of just bucking up for the best. Seems he learned that lesson with the hires of Leavitt and Lupoi. Our recruiting was deteriorating as well. Great man, great football mind, but just not a great HC. If he were coaching the rodents he'd still be there. We just have a higher standard.

Mason Neville is headed to the National League Central. The Oregon Ducks center fielder was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the fourth round with the No. 114 overall pick The third unanimous All-America selection in UO history, Neville tied for the national lead in home runs (26) and hit .290, had a program record .724 slugging percentage and tied for the school record with 67 runs scored. Neville is the highest selected UO player since Sabin Ceballos went No. 94 overall in 2023. A slotted value of $667,700. Oregon’s Jason Reitz is headed to the Minnesota Twins organization. The Ducks’ 6-foot-10 right-hander was selected by the Twins in the fourth round with the No. 119 overall pick. The pick has a slotted value of $635,700, according to MLB.com.

Oh, this is such a sweet memory of the past, so many players, so many great plays...for the Rose Bowl!

My lasting image of Helfrich is that the chair he sat in for their post game interviews was too big for him. He wasn't hired because Oregon thought he was a great head coach; he was just as close to Chip as there was going to be. It was unfair but Helfrich took the job, and it worked for a while, but the gas ran out and was running on fumes. He might have been able to get it going but I think it was the right decision to move on.

Holy Buddy Holly! Pat failed to note the new leader in roster payroll expenses resides in ... Lubbock, Texas?🤪 AP NewsTexas Tech hoping big money and top transfers lead to unp...Texas Tech is investing a lot of money into its athletes, and has brought in a lot of football players from the transfer portal.