There isn’t a lot to feel good about in Eugene, Oregon these days. After firing coach Mark Helfrich over the teams historically poor performance, the Ducks have lost commitments from two of their top recruits.
That, along with the fact that nobody seems to be crazy about taking the job despite it being in a Power 5 conference and potentially leading to a huge payday has to be concerning to Ducks Nation.
Add Florida Gators coach Jim McElwain, who says he has no interest in coaching in the pacific northwest next season. Several media outlets have been linking McElwain to Oregon for some time now, finally prompting the coach to address the issue directly.
“I’ve got a heck of a job,” McElwain told Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel. “In case anybody checked, this is the University of Florida. We’re playing in what they call the SEC Championship game. It really hasn’t crossed my mind.”
With McElwain already holding the top post at a major university in a Power 5 conference, there is little Oregon can offer him that he doesn’t already have. Well, except a huge raise. Super-booster Phil Knight is allegedly willing to make the next head coach at Oregon the highest paid in the country, an offer that would be hard to pass up if it is even partially true.
It isn’t time to hit the panic button on the coaching search just yet, we aren’t even through conference championship week yet. But with Chip Kelly not interested, and now McElwain not interested, the Ducks are running out of options.
They could go after Les Miles, perhaps the only coach on the market who could justifiably command a salary the upwards of $5 million.
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