Pretty Sobering Account of What Transpired Last Season

[greenyellow]

zac, you said you worked in the recruiting department at the UO so I figure you could give some insight into what went on behind the scenes. Were there big disagreements among the staff about how or who they recruited? It's been rumored/said that some coaches wanted to recruit some kids but were overruled by Helf due to rigid adherence to a supposed "12-step process."

Chins, Lubick, and Frost were the only ones that really had issues. Occasionally Neal. The young guys were ok with taking some red flag guys. The older coaches generally just went with the flow. There was very little urgency to recruiting. Chins and Lubick attacked it and came up to the recruiting office to see what was happening, but that was it. Probably the worst thing that could have happened for the 12 step process was Joe Mixon punching that girl. Mixon wanted to commit to Oregon for ages, but he had multiple red flags. We never offered. He punches a girl. The 12 steps are vindicated are here to stay.

Thanks for the answers there. Another issue that came up from a recruit playing in the NCG on Monday was that Oregon's coaching and recruiting staff had very little social media presence. Was that a major issue that some within the department tried to correct but couldn't really correct due to the staff either not feeling the need to or wanting to learn how to do?

Back then our twitter game was non existent. The recruiting staff handled pretty much every coaches twitter page other than Chins, Lubick, and Frost. Only so much we could do.

So was it just the coaches who were behind the times or were some of the recruiting staff as well? It used to be that the recruiting staff was one of the most innovative around but the stuff coming out as of late due to the coaching transition has been saying that's not the case anymore.

[scoducks]

zac, you said you worked in the recruiting department at the UO so I figure you could give some insight into what went on behind the scenes. Were there big disagreements among the staff about how or who they recruited? It's been rumored/said that some coaches wanted to recruit some kids but were overruled by Helf due to rigid adherence to a supposed "12-step process."

Chins, Lubick, and Frost were the only ones that really had issues. Occasionally Neal. The young guys were ok with taking some red flag guys. The older coaches generally just went with the flow. There was very little urgency to recruiting. Chins and Lubick attacked it and came up to the recruiting office to see what was happening, but that was it. Probably the worst thing that could have happened for the 12 step process was Joe Mixon punching that girl. Mixon wanted to commit to Oregon for ages, but he had multiple red flags. We never offered. He punches a girl. The 12 steps are vindicated are here to stay.

Thanks for the answers there. Another issue that came up from a recruit playing in the NCG on Monday was that Oregon's coaching and recruiting staff had very little social media presence. Was that a major issue that some within the department tried to correct but couldn't really correct due to the staff either not feeling the need to or wanting to learn how to do?

Back then our twitter game was non existent. The recruiting staff handled pretty much every coaches twitter page other than Chins, Lubick, and Frost. Only so much we could do.

Out of curiosity, Zac were you part of the TeamWork recruiting internship at Oregon? Or a recruiting assistant?

[Duckenstein]

Helfrich: making sure nice guys will always finish last.

The more I hear about this staff, the more I wonder how helfrich survived the pellum fiasco.

[DuckedOut]

Helfrich: making sure nice guys will always finish last.

The more I hear about this staff, the more I wonder how helfrich survived the pellum fiasco.

As we get farther and farther away from the Helfirch era, some of the stories that you start to hear just make you wonder why he was hired in the first place...what people saw in him and his ability to lead a team.

It also makes you understand why this season was such a train wreck.

[Groundswell]

No offense to anybody here, or any former players, current, or staff. But as a football fan, that defense was one of the worst units I've ever witnessed. The coaches were bad. The talent was nonexistent. Linebackers have been awful for years. A couple decent lineman graduated and were not replaced with even salvageable talent. The db's couldn't tackle, weren't physical, and didn't create turnovers the last couple of years. Everybody from the coaches on down sucked. They all deserve to be gone. The defensive roster is going to get turned over. There is little talent. You guys are arguing over which rotten fish stinks the most. Doesn't matter.

[z99clark11]

I was a recruiting assistant.
After that I turned down a grad assistant job because I honestly couldn't see myself working with Aiken, and because I wanted to get my masters in education and I was told that wasn't possible at oregon.
I then went on to take a grad assistant job at a d2 program in Oklahoma. I am now in north Texas teaching elementary school and enjoying it much more than I did college coaching. Hopefully this upcoming summer me and my fiancé (former duck women's basketball great Amanda Johnson) will be able to move back home to Kansas.

Now back to recruiting. I got to watch Chip recruit my little brother (he ended up at ok state) and then I got to work for Helf. Chip hated recruiting but he did it. He let the brand recruit for him too. He threw out offers and had the balls to say "here is the offer, take it or leave it". With Helf it was like we didn't believe in the power of the brand. We wanted Mike Clay at every position. Mike Clay is an Oregon great, but that doesn't work on the d line. Or at corner. You have to have some creatures. Bama doesn't have 4.0 brainiacs on their d line or at corner, they have 2.5 students who can move. I don't know how many guys we passed up in recruiting because they had one bad post on twitter

Quick story before bed. This kid wanted to walk on for us. Solid athlete. Could have been a special teams guy in the future. Good grades. Good character report from his counselor. Good social media. Except for one post. Their was a picture of him taking a shot with his mom and Dad after graduating high school. We red flagged him for that. Never got a look. That's how rigid the system was.

[TualatinDuck]

I was a recruiting assistant.
After that I turned down a grad assistant job because I honestly couldn't see myself working with Aiken, and because I wanted to get my masters in education and I was told that wasn't possible at oregon.
I then went on to take a grad assistant job at a d2 program in Oklahoma. I am now in north Texas teaching elementary school and enjoying it much more than I did college coaching. Hopefully this upcoming summer me and my fiancé (former duck women's basketball great Amanda Johnson) will be able to move back home to Kansas.

Now back to recruiting. I got to watch Chip recruit my little brother (he ended up at ok state) and then I got to work for Helf. Chip hated recruiting but he did it. He let the brand recruit for him too. He threw out offers and had the balls to say "here is the offer, take it or leave it". With Helf it was like we didn't believe in the power of the brand. We wanted Mike Clay at every position. Mike Clay is an Oregon great, but that doesn't work on the d line. Or at corner. You have to have some creatures. Bama doesn't have 4.0 brainiacs on their d line or at corner, they have 2.5 students who can move. I don't know how many guys we passed up in recruiting because they had one bad post on twitter

Quick story before bed. This kid wanted to walk on for us. Solid athlete. Could have been a special teams guy in the future. Good grades. Good character report from his counselor. Good social media. Except for one post. Their was a picture of him taking a shot with his mom and Dad after graduating high school. We red flagged him for that. Never got a look. That's how rigid the system was.

Thanks for sharing, feel like your mending some bad feelings with clearing the air for what we all felt.

Once a Duck, always a Duck!

[scoducks]

I was a recruiting assistant.
After that I turned down a grad assistant job because I honestly couldn't see myself working with Aiken, and because I wanted to get my masters in education and I was told that wasn't possible at oregon.
I then went on to take a grad assistant job at a d2 program in Oklahoma. I am now in north Texas teaching elementary school and enjoying it much more than I did college coaching. Hopefully this upcoming summer me and my fiancé (former duck women's basketball great Amanda Johnson) will be able to move back home to Kansas.

Now back to recruiting. I got to watch Chip recruit my little brother (he ended up at ok state) and then I got to work for Helf. Chip hated recruiting but he did it. He let the brand recruit for him too. He threw out offers and had the balls to say "here is the offer, take it or leave it". With Helf it was like we didn't believe in the power of the brand. We wanted Mike Clay at every position. Mike Clay is an Oregon great, but that doesn't work on the d line. Or at corner. You have to have some creatures. Bama doesn't have 4.0 brainiacs on their d line or at corner, they have 2.5 students who can move. I don't know how many guys we passed up in recruiting because they had one bad post on twitter

Quick story before bed. This kid wanted to walk on for us. Solid athlete. Could have been a special teams guy in the future. Good grades. Good character report from his counselor. Good social media. Except for one post. Their was a picture of him taking a shot with his mom and Dad after graduating high school. We red flagged him for that. Never got a look. That's how rigid the system was.

Thanks for sharing, feel like your mending some bad feelings with clearing the air for what we all felt.

Once a Duck, always a Duck!

Agreed, thanks for sharing! Always nice to hear an inside perspective of how the football team operates

[Phenom]

Thanks Zac!

[Duckenstein]

I was a recruiting assistant.
After that I turned down a grad assistant job because I honestly couldn't see myself working with Aiken, and because I wanted to get my masters in education and I was told that wasn't possible at oregon.
I then went on to take a grad assistant job at a d2 program in Oklahoma. I am now in north Texas teaching elementary school and enjoying it much more than I did college coaching. Hopefully this upcoming summer me and my fiancé (former duck women's basketball great Amanda Johnson) will be able to move back home to Kansas.

Now back to recruiting. I got to watch Chip recruit my little brother (he ended up at ok state) and then I got to work for Helf. Chip hated recruiting but he did it. He let the brand recruit for him too. He threw out offers and had the balls to say "here is the offer, take it or leave it". With Helf it was like we didn't believe in the power of the brand. We wanted Mike Clay at every position. Mike Clay is an Oregon great, but that doesn't work on the d line. Or at corner. You have to have some creatures. Bama doesn't have 4.0 brainiacs on their d line or at corner, they have 2.5 students who can move. I don't know how many guys we passed up in recruiting because they had one bad post on twitter

Quick story before bed. This kid wanted to walk on for us. Solid athlete. Could have been a special teams guy in the future. Good grades. Good character report from his counselor. Good social media. Except for one post. Their was a picture of him taking a shot with his mom and Dad after graduating high school. We red flagged him for that. Never got a look. That's how rigid the system was.

Definitely appreciated man.

Always enjoyed watching you play. Those were some great times before we got all jaded

Love hearing all the gnarly bits regarding Helfrich and co. Not sure how he got the job. Like many armchair Duck fans, I wondered who he blew to sit in the drivers seat.

Don't mean to demean the man. He's just not cut out to be a Head Coach. Anywhere. D2, D3, High School. Every time I think I'm being to hard on him, I think Pellum. Or Hoke. Or Utah.

[TualatinDuck]

I was a recruiting assistant.
After that I turned down a grad assistant job because I honestly couldn't see myself working with Aiken, and because I wanted to get my masters in education and I was told that wasn't possible at oregon.
I then went on to take a grad assistant job at a d2 program in Oklahoma. I am now in north Texas teaching elementary school and enjoying it much more than I did college coaching. Hopefully this upcoming summer me and my fiancé (former duck women's basketball great Amanda Johnson) will be able to move back home to Kansas.

Now back to recruiting. I got to watch Chip recruit my little brother (he ended up at ok state) and then I got to work for Helf. Chip hated recruiting but he did it. He let the brand recruit for him too. He threw out offers and had the balls to say "here is the offer, take it or leave it". With Helf it was like we didn't believe in the power of the brand. We wanted Mike Clay at every position. Mike Clay is an Oregon great, but that doesn't work on the d line. Or at corner. You have to have some creatures. Bama doesn't have 4.0 brainiacs on their d line or at corner, they have 2.5 students who can move. I don't know how many guys we passed up in recruiting because they had one bad post on twitter

Quick story before bed. This kid wanted to walk on for us. Solid athlete. Could have been a special teams guy in the future. Good grades. Good character report from his counselor. Good social media. Except for one post. Their was a picture of him taking a shot with his mom and Dad after graduating high school. We red flagged him for that. Never got a look. That's how rigid the system was.

Definitely appreciated man.

Always enjoyed watching you play. Those were some great times before we got all jaded

Love hearing all the gnarly bits regarding Helfrich and co. Not sure how he got the job. Like many armchair Duck fans, I wondered who he blew to sit in the drivers seat.

Don't mean to demean the man. He's just not cut out to be a Head Coach. Anywhere. D2, D3, High School. Every time I think I'm being to hard on him, I think Pellum. Or Hoke. Or Utah.

OUCH! Get what your saying but man thats harsh!

[Ducks10]

Thanks for the info z99clark11! Pretty damning!

[5$]

Fantastic insight in this thread for us Ducks!

[Groundswell]

Thanks, Zac. Great stuff! The real irony is off the field issues helped get Helf canned. Had we had a bunch of stellar students who kept their noses clean, everything Helf stood for might have carried some weight.

[bdkipe]

Random thoughts:

#1 - Zac Clark straight dropping MAJOR knowledge bombs = MIND BLOWN! (Welcome Zac BTW, always great to see the former Ducks who gave us blood, sweat and tears chasing their dreams, starting their families, careers, succeeding at life, etc.)

#2 - On the bright side, thanks to AGreif's article we now know what the oh-so-mysterious "million little things" were that Helf always referred to in his press conferences.

#3 - It is quite clear now Helf hired coaches that meshed with his own individual personality (introverted, analytical, trusting to a fault, not wanting to put a foot in someone's ass, expecting players to police themselves).

I think if there was such a thing as a time machine and a perfect world we'd all give Helf and Staff a ton of $$$ and contracts that ended immediately after the 2014 Bowl Season. Then, we'd clean house and bring in an entirely new coaching staff. They were the perfect group to continue the philosophy and strengths of the WTD Mantra and roster philosophy that was built from 2009-2014, but not the right group to move it forward after the leaders of the 2014 team graduated.