Oregon Ducks Name Mark Helfrich New Head Coach

The Oregon Ducks reportedly have a new head football coach, as they are promoting offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. According to Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports, the Ducks will officially make the announcement on Sunday. 

UPDATE: Sunday, Jan. 20 at 4:19 p.m. ET by Brandon Galvin

Pac-12 Digital's Bryan D. Fischer reported details of Mark Helfrich's new contract with Oregon:

"

Five year contract, $9 million for Helfrich

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) January 20, 2013"

---End of Update---

Helfrich started his coaching career at the University of Oregon as a graduate assistant before spending time at Arizona State and Colorado. Helfrich returned to Eugene when Chip Kelly was appointed head coach in 2009. 

Helfrich was long considered the front-runner for the job by many, after working closely and being groomed under Kelly the past few years.

The news of Helfrich's promotion could be most valuable to quarterback Marcus Mariota. The former quarterbacks coach has done a fabulous job with the young QB out of Hawaii. Mariota improved throughout the past season and looks to be a real strength for the Ducks moving forward.

And by staying in-house with the coaching decision, Oregon looks likely to avoid a significant letdown with its offense.

The biggest question mark for Mark Helfrich will be his ability to recruit and be the face of a program. Kelly built quite the culture at Oregon and benefited from his the strong recruiting base. With the wealthy boosters and famous relationship with Nike Oregon can rely on, Helfrich will likely have opportunity to successfully follow in Chip Kelly's footsteps.