Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens' Overlooked Contract Extension Key To Continued Success

Overlooked in the five-year, $17.5 million dollar contract extension the Oregon Ducks gave to football coach Mark Helfrich was the also five-year extension given to athletic director Rob Mullens, which ups his annual salary to $700,000 a year — about average for Pac-12 AD’s and still significantly below Helfrich’s $3.5 million per year. The Mullens extension didn’t get the headlines, but it means at least as much, if not more, than Helfrich’s deal, because Mullens is Helfrich’s guy as much as Helfrich is Mullens’.

Among college athletics, it’s pretty much a given that when a new athletic director arrives, coaching changes will soon start taking place. Since Mullens took over in July of 2010, Oregon is no different. Oregon’s men’s basketball coach Dana Altman was hired just months before Mullens was, and he’s still there. Baseball coach George Horton was signed to build the program from scratch in 2008 and he’s still there (although there were rumors about a possible departure when his contract came up). Nearly every other coach has changed — new football head coach, new women’s basketball head coach, new track and field and cross country coach; you get the idea.

Is there lots of turnover every five years in a college athletic department? Of course there is. But this amount of turnover is more common when a new athletic director comes to town. From Helfrich to Kelly Graves and so on across the Oregon sports landscape, those newer coaches are there because Mullens hired them. And Mullens is still there because those coaches have been successful. So it only makes sense to keep the Oregon machine rolling along with Mullens at the helm. If he leaves, then Helfrich will wonder what his future holds at his alma mater, even if he keeps winning.

This clears up the future for both men. Helfrich can coach and Mullens can be athletic director. It’s a good sign for Oregon athletics. It also certainly doesn’t hurt that Mullens appears to be well-liked by certain alum famous for making shoes and athletic apparel.

Extending Mullens was unheralded compared to the Helfrich deal, but it really was a no-brainer. In fact, one can easily imagine Oregon brass saying, “Just do it.”

Alex Drude is a Pac-12 writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Alex_Drude. “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google+.