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Oregon linebackers coach Don Pellum (center) will be named UO's next defensive coordinator.

(Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- Don Pellum, the former Oregon linebacker who has coached Duck defenders for 21 years, will be named the next Oregon defensive coordinator, sources have told The Oregonian.

Pellum will succeed

, Oregon's defensive coordinator for 17 years and a coach at UO for 24 who announced his retirement before the Alamo Bowl. The hiring process has not officially finished and the school is not expected to announce the move until after the weekend, a source inside the program said.

Erik Chinander, 34, is expected to take over Aliotti's duties coaching outside linebackers, as well, three sources said Saturday. Chinander spent 2013 as the assistant defensive line coach for the

but worked at Oregon the three previous seasons as a defensive intern in 2010 and defensive graduate assistant from 2011-12.

Many Oregon coaches will be attending the American Football Coaches Association annual convention in Indianapolis from Sunday to Wednesday, and Pellum said Friday afternoon that he will be attending. Coaches can contact recruits again starting Jan. 16.

An Oregon spokesman said he could not comment on Pellum's expected move Saturday morning, reserving comment until the hiring was made official. A source close to the program indicated that head coach Mark Helfrich mulled within recent days whether to look outside or stay in-house with the hire before choosing Pellum.

Pellum's ties are deep at Oregon, where he graduated from in 1985 after a four-year career with the Ducks. He currently coordinates recruiting on the defensive side, and has experience coaching defensive line. The only time he has not been in Eugene since arriving to play for the Ducks as a teenager was from 1990-92, when he was California's assistant athletic director for student services.

"I think he's a good choice because he's coached several positions on the defense," a fourth source within the athletic department said Saturday morning. "The only thing he hasn't coached is the secondary, and I think he's a student of the game and he's a hard working guy who really knows what the defense is all about. I'm sure he's got a flavor he'd like to add to it, too, and he's a smart guy.

"He's a player's coach. I think the guys like him. He's got a good personality and he knows how to handle guys. I think defenders will rally around him."

Chinander's ties to the current staff go beyond his three seasons around the program. He played offensive line at Iowa, graduating in 2002, when current UO defensive line coach Ron Aiken was on staff in the same role. Chinander then spent 2004-09 coaching tight ends and helping on defense at Northern Iowa, where his tenure overlapped with current UO offensive coordinator Scott Frost. Chinander joined UO's staff one season after Frost.

Earlier in the week, a source indicated that secondary coach John Neal was another top internal candidate for the job. Neal is a former defensive coordinator at Alabama-Birmingham and was linked to that university's opening for head coach in 2011. That job is now vacant after Garrick McGee resigned to become Louisville's offensive coordinator.

All-American cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu said on Monday his decision to return for his senior season, instead of declare early for the NFL,

to coach him.