John Neal

[lukeyrid13]

I think Helf would have inevitably failed. He was hired to keep continuity in the program and maintain what chip had built. That meant loyalty to guys, promoting from within etc. I know he tried to get kwiatkowski from Washington but I doubt he goes after Leavitt even if he had the budget. He also wasn’t leading the charge in recruiting.

[GoDucksTroll]

I think Helf would have inevitably failed. He was hired to keep continuity in the program and maintain what chip had built. That meant loyalty to guys, promoting from within etc. I know he tried to get kwiatkowski from Washington but I doubt he goes after Leavitt even if he had the budget. He also wasn’t leading the charge in recruiting.

I loved Greatwood, Campbell, Neal, Jimmy Radcliffe, Pellum as LB coach.

But recruiting is the lifeblood of the program, and buy-in/discipline are equally as important. You can’t sustain a top-10 program nowadays based solely on good tactical coaching. Helfrich didn’t jump through the (sometimes cringe worthy) hoops you have to jump through. He thought he could outsmart people. It works when you find recruits like Throckmorton, Dye, and Lemiuex. But you can’t miss 50% of the time. He did go after a big name: Hoke. But that was another buddy hire. And one who duplicated what we already had on staff.

Long story short: we needed fresh, young blood. Keith Heyward or Cort Dennison types, and Helf wasn’t willing to adapt. I liked the guy and really hoped he was our forever coach like a Bobby Bowden, but it was never going to work out with that conservative approach.

[Phalanx]

I think Helf would have inevitably failed. He was hired to keep continuity in the program and maintain what chip had built. That meant loyalty to guys, promoting from within etc. I know he tried to get kwiatkowski from Washington but I doubt he goes after Leavitt even if he had the budget. He also wasn’t leading the charge in recruiting.

I loved Greatwood, Campbell, Neal, Jimmy Radcliffe, Pellum as LB coach.

But recruiting is the lifeblood of the program, and buy-in/discipline are equally as important. You can’t sustain a top-10 program nowadays based solely on good tactical coaching. Helfrich didn’t jump through the (sometimes cringe worthy) hoops you have to jump through. He thought he could outsmart people. It works when you find recruits like Throckmorton, Dye, and Lemiuex. But you can’t miss 50% of the time. He did go after a big name: Hoke. But that was another buddy hire. And one who duplicated what we already had on staff.

Long story short: we needed fresh, young blood. Keith Heyward or Cort Dennison types, and Helf wasn’t willing to adapt. I liked the guy and really hoped he was our forever coach like a Bobby Bowden, but it was never going to work out with that conservative approach.

I am not a subscriber to this narrative. I think Helfrich was more or less stuck with those coaches until a bad season or two gave him the impetus to change, including to increase the budget to hire better coaches and better recruiters. Unfortunately for him, he was also a casualty of that house cleaning. I give credence to the team motivation argument because the team was clearly missing some discipline. Whether that was a function of weak leadership by Helfrich, or terrible DC hires in combination with coaches like Neal who were angry about not being promoted who started mailing it in, I don't know. I do know we are still starting mostly Helfrich recruits two and three years later, so that argument has no merit with me at all. He wasn't missing anywhere close to 50% of the time. In fact, Taggart had a way higher miss rate. Helfrich's recruits may have lacked the stars, but in terms of talent, there aren't many cases of them being passed up by Taggart/ Cristobal recruits. The coaching in terms of X's and O's was clearly better under Helfrich as well. Neal, Greatwood, Campbell, and Helfrich himself were all better coaches in terms of player development and game strategy than their current counterparts. The offense was certainly far more imaginative and fun to watch than what we have now.

I like the direction Cristobal has us in so far, and he and his team do seem to be doing a good job recruiting. I am not a fan of Cristobal being discussed every time an opening comes up in the SEC, and I suspect he will eventually leave Oregon, whereas Helfrich likely never would have. I can't help feeling like there was a solution that involved Helfrich staying and overseeing his own house-cleaning process. I think we are not yet done with the fallout from the perhaps premature decision to fire him. Time will tell.

[pezsez1]

Helfrich would have been a fine coach if given time. I agree he was never really given a "fair" shake, and he definitely wasn't given either the budget or the green light to hire the kind of talent that Taggart/Cristo did. That could have helped. We needed a high-end DC, and instead he got Hoke from the bargain bin. Agree that had he been able to clean his own house with a real budget then the program would have come out better than simply mediocre. Heck, had they not jumped the gun in firing Helfrich, they probably could have asked him to step back to OC and brought Chip back as our forever coach.

That said... as big of a defender of Helf as I used to be, he clearly wasn't the kind of coach who'd ever take us to the promised land. He's definitely not the kind of coach who'd build us into a perennial powerhouse. There were problems among his coaches and discipline issues in his locker rooms. He didn't recruit as well. Heck, maybe if he'd done a better job of selling his vision to boosters, maybe he'd have had a better budget for hiring coaches.

Bottom line, I like where we're at. I do miss Helf's Xs and Os -- definitely much better on offense than this staff has shown -- but I love our recruiting and am aware we're in a period of transition. MC is taking the Ferrari and turning it into a Hummer, and obviously, that's going to take a little time. Basically I feel like MC's ceiling is higher than Helf's, and I'm excited to see how high we climb before MC someday leaves for an SEC job.

[Alan]

The more I think about it the more I like it, any word on Neal being an analysis? Or still just a rumor?

[buckmarkduck]

Helfrich would have been a fine coach if given time. I agree he was never really given a "fair" shake, and he definitely wasn't given either the budget or the green light to hire the kind of talent that Taggart/Cristo did. That could have helped. We needed a high-end DC, and instead he got Hoke from the bargain bin. Agree that had he been able to clean his own house with a real budget then the program would have come out better than simply mediocre. Heck, had they not jumped the gun in firing Helfrich, they probably could have asked him to step back to OC and brought Chip back as our forever coach.

That said... as big of a defender of Helf as I used to be, he clearly wasn't the kind of coach who'd ever take us to the promised land. He's definitely not the kind of coach who'd build us into a perennial powerhouse. There were problems among his coaches and discipline issues in his locker rooms. He didn't recruit as well. Heck, maybe if he'd done a better job of selling his vision to boosters, maybe he'd have had a better budget for hiring coaches.

Bottom line, I like where we're at. I do miss Helf's Xs and Os -- definitely much better on offense than this staff has shown -- but I love our recruiting and am aware we're in a period of transition. MC is taking the Ferrari and turning it into a Hummer, and obviously, that's going to take a little time. Basically I feel like MC's ceiling is higher than Helf's, and I'm excited to see how high we climb before MC someday leaves for an SEC job.

The only way Helfrich could ever succeed is if he had the balls and self esteem to hire a DC that wasn't going to be a yes man. Aliotti and Helf butted heads, and Helf got him to retire. He should have taken a page out of Leach book, and hired a great DC, and get out of his way and let him take full control. Only worry about the O.

[rsbgduck]

^^^ I agree with this. The downside is, if they are successful you’ll have to replace them every couple years. Not that we haven’t been doing that too lol

[greenyellow]

Cristobal officially confirmed that Neal has been added to the staff as an analyst:

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[GrantDuck]

Since Helfie came up.

-Great offensive mind. The best Oregon offenses were under him as OC or HC, and we have not had that level of offense since he left.
-Great at finding under the radar recruits. Mariota, Dye, half our current line, etc.
-Horrible recruiter in terms of closing big recruits. You don't think Juju Smith-Schuster or Buddha Baker could have made a difference against Ohio State in the NCG? Let a lot of guys get away.
-Pellum is the reason he's gone. Pellum got wrecked by Urban Meyer with a 3rd string QB. He had freakin' Defo and Armstead and the defense was still awful for half the season. If we win the NC that year, even with an awful 2016, he's still around.

[FlDuckFan]

Since Helfie came up.

-Great offensive mind. The best Oregon offenses were under him as OC or HC, and we have not had that level of offense since he left.
-Great at finding under the radar recruits. Mariota, Dye, half our current line, etc.
-Horrible recruiter in terms of closing big recruits. You don't think Juju Smith-Schuster or Buddha Baker could have made a difference against Ohio State in the NCG? Let a lot of guys get away.
-Pellum is the reason he's gone. Pellum got wrecked by Urban Meyer with a 3rd string QB. He had freakin' Defo and Armstead and the defense was still awful for half the season. If we win the NC that year, even with an awful 2016, he's still around.

As a big Mark fan you have to remember he has never called plays. Chip did it and then when he left it was given to Frost, and now in Chicago it's the HC.

[DuckMastaFunk]

Since Helfie came up.

-Great offensive mind. The best Oregon offenses were under him as OC or HC, and we have not had that level of offense since he left.
-Great at finding under the radar recruits. Mariota, Dye, half our current line, etc.
-Horrible recruiter in terms of closing big recruits. You don't think Juju Smith-Schuster or Buddha Baker could have made a difference against Ohio State in the NCG? Let a lot of guys get away.
-Pellum is the reason he's gone. Pellum got wrecked by Urban Meyer with a 3rd string QB. He had freakin' Defo and Armstead and the defense was still awful for half the season. If we win the NC that year, even with an awful 2016, he's still around.

As a big Mark fan you have to remember he has never called plays. Chip did it and then when he left it was given to Frost, and now in Chicago it's the HC.

Imagine the interview... “As OC and HC, my offenses really excelled when I was not involved in play calling.” Lol!

[greenyellow]

Haven't we had enough talk about Helf already? It's been 3 years, move on and stay on topic about Neal or the thread will be closed.

[pezsez1]

Nice seeing one of the longtime coaches back in the fold.

[greenyellow]

Nice seeing one of the longtime coaches back in the fold.

I think Neal did get kind of a bad rap at the end of Helf's time for being difficult and a bit of a malconent but I imagine that was mainly because of how bad things got with Hoke and Pellum as DCs. I think it should be better for him without the responsibilities and typical long hours of a full-time D1 assistant.

[StevensTechU]

Nice seeing one of the longtime coaches back in the fold.

I think Neal did get kind of a bad rap at the end of Helf's time for being difficult and a bit of a malconent but I imagine that was mainly because of how bad things got with Hoke and Pellum as DCs. I think it should be better for him without the responsibilities and typical long hours of a full-time D1 assistant.

Eghhhh. I don't think completely giving up and sewing seeds of dissent in the locker room are things you can blame on the other guys. Neal could've kept doing his own job as well as he could, but he didn't. He mailed it in.

Time has passed, and he's being hired as an analyst rather than coach, so no hard feelings. I'm just not willing to go so far as to blame other people for his actions.