New Bears head coach Matt Nagy added an important member of his staff Friday with the hiring of former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich as offensive coordinator.
Helfrich led the Ducks—known for their explosive record-setting offense—to a 37-16 record in four seasons as coach from 2013-16, including a 24-12 mark in the Pac-12.
In 2014, Helfrich guided Oregon to a school-record 13 wins, a Pac-12 championship, a Rose Bowl victory in the inaugural College Football Playoff semifinal and an appearance in the CFP national championship game. As a result, Helfrich was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson and Maxwell Football Club Coach of the Year awards.
New Bears offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich in 2015, then the head coach at the University of Oregon.
Also that season, quarterback Marcus Mariota became the first Oregon player to win the Heisman Trophy. A few months later, Mariota was selected by the Tennessee Titans with the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Helfrich became Oregon's head coach after spending four seasons as the school's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Chip Kelly from 2009-12.
During that span, the Ducks played in four straight BCS bowl games and won three consecutive Pac-12 championships. Under Kelly and Helfrich, Oregon's offense averaged 44.7 points and 283.4 yards rushing while putting up more than 500 yards of total offense per game. The 2012 season featured one of the top offensive campaigns in Oregon history as the Ducks averaged 49.6 points and 537.4 yards per game.
Helfrich began his coaching career as running backs coach at Southern Oregon in 1996 before playing and serving as offensive coordinator in Europe with the Vienna (Austria) Vikings in 1997.
He then worked as quarterbacks coach at Boise State (1998-2000) and Arizona State (2001-05) before serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Colorado (2006-08).
Helfrich spent the 2017 season working as a college football analyst for Fox Sports.
