Former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich made his first public comments on Friday morning since being fired on Tuesday evening.
He appeared on the ESPN Radio show Russillo & Kanell to talk about former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, the way the dismissal was handled and his current state of mind.
“Nobody is safe in this business but you just got to do the best you can,” Helfrich said.
The full interview is available here.
In the appearance, Helfrich said a couple weeks ago he talked with former Kelly — now the coach of the 49ers — as it appeared it was “going south” in Eugene. Kelly owns a 1-10 record in his first year in San Francisco.
“Just wanted to — that was a very awkward conversation — but to let him know to take our personal relationship out of it in every way, shape or form if he wanted to consider this,” Helfrich said.
He continued after he was asked to clarify: “It was probably more selfishly than anything. When you start thinking about all your assistants and the support staff — if he were to come back here, some of those people would be saved, quote, unquote. Just trying to take our personal relationship out of it — remove me from the equation.”
Helfrich also commented on the press release Oregon used to announce the news. It drew criticism for the way it characterized his time in Eugene.
“A little disappointed for sure, but nothing that I’ll think twice about,” he said.
The Ducks will return many of the key pieces from the 2016 team in 2017. Freshmen Justin Herbert, Troy Dye and Brenden Schooler emerged as standouts during Helfrich’s final year as coach.
Helfrich said Oregon’s next coach won’t have an empty cupboard.
“Whoever ends up being the coach here will inherit a very talented team,” he said. “A couple of really, really good quarterbacks on campus. A couple guys coming in that will be impact players. Would have certainly liked to have gotten through this recruiting cycle with guys we had in place.”
Helfrich said he doesn’t have any predicition on whom Oregon might bring in as the next head coach. He did say, however, that he has already began to ponder and navigate his next move.
“I thought they had a pretty good situation, but obviously they disagreed,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m hearing all the same rumors obviously as you guys are hearing. But I have no idea.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne