Brady Hoke is returning the sidelines of a major Division 1 college football program, agreeing to take the defensive coordinator position at Oregon.
Oregon head football coach Mark Helfrich's staff has been in flux this offseason, with offensive coordinator Scott Frost's departure and defensive coordinator Don Pellum's reassignment to linebackers coach. Additionally, Helfrich hired Missouri offensive coordinator David Yost to coach his quarterbacks and coordinate the team's pass offense.
While Matt Lubick takes over an offense that averaged 43 points per game last season, Hoke is inheriting a unit that could not make many stops nor make many big plays, according to ESPN.
"As we've said many times, we're in the 'get better' business," Helfrich said in a news release. "We just felt as a program, and I just felt as leader of that program, that was the direction we needed to go, as far as a different voice, a different command over that unit.
"We needed just a different direction, and that will be schematic as well."
Hoke was most well known for his tenure and rocky exit as Michigan's head coach, but his new job allows him to go back to his coaching roots. Before taking over as head coach of his alma mater, Ball State, Hoke served as a defensive line and linebackers coach at various programs.
Hoke will transition the Ducks' defense from a 3-4 scheme back to a 4-3, which places more of an emphasis on larger defensive, rather than smaller, more athletic linebackers. Helfrich said the new scheme will not stop the Ducks from "standing up and moving around" his players on the field.
