Now that Steve Sarkisian is moving on from Alabama to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, who takes over as offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide?
Fox senior college football writer Bruce Feldman tweeted Tuesday that he was told of three candidates who could get consideration, two of whom are very familiar to Oregon Ducks fans: Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich.
Names I’m told could get consideration for #Alabama OC: Mark Helfrich, Chip Kelly & George Godsey who is tight with OL coach Brent Key.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 7, 2017
Michael Casagrande, the Crimson Tide beat reporter for AL.com, has a list of four potential candidates for the OC job, and it includes Kelly and Helfrich. And he notes that the last three Alabama OCs came from the Pac-12.
Kelly was wildly successful with the Oregon Ducks, first as the offensive coordinator and then as the head coach. He took the team to the 2011 BCS national title game, where they lost to Auburn by a field goal.
From there, Kelly went to the NFL as a head coach, and he’s had an uneven time of it. He spent three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before being fired. And he is coming off a one-and-done season as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
Helfrich served as Kelly’s offensive coordinator and took over as the Ducks’ head coach when Kelly left for the NFL. He took Oregon to the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2015, where the Ducks lost to Ohio State.
The Ducks unraveled from there. Last season, Oregon finished 4-8 (2-7 Pac-12) and lost the annual Civil War rivalry game against Oregon State.
Helfrich was fired in late November after four seasons.
George Godsey, the other potential candidate mentioned by Feldman, most recently was the offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Houston Texans. The team and Godsey agreed to part ways in January.
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