Typically, a house goes on the market, a For Sale sign gets planted in the front yard and the listing agent hosts open houses and private tours until the place is sold or, after months of no interest, is taken off the market.

Occasionally, a transaction takes place without fanfare.

Such is the case of the mansion built by former University of Oregon football head coach Mark Helfrich.

Helfrich was fired by the Ducks in November 2016, a year after signing a five-year, $17.5 million extension. In January 2018, he accepted a job as the offensive coordinator with the NFL's Chicago Bears.

The coach and his wife, Megan, then quietly put their Oregon dream house up for sale. The 7,179-square-foot, Craftsman-style residence is in a gated community in the Coburg Hills just north of Eugene.

On March 1, it sold for just under $2.4 million.

Josh Bidwell of Keller Williams/Eugene-Springfield handled the private sale, representing the sellers and buyers. Bidwell, a former NFL punter, says "Mark and I had been friends since his days as a graduate assistant at Oregon in 1997 during my junior year as a player."

The 10-acre property in the secluded area of Diamond Ridge includes the house with an indoor sports court plus a covered patio and swimming pool for outdoor entertaining. There's also a large workshop, chicken coop and guest quarters, according to real estate database Redfin.

The final sale was $2,388,165. With 20 percent down of almost half a million dollars, the payment for the mortgage, interest, insurance and property tax could be about $11,000 a month. Taxes are $14,677 a year.

The Helfrichs bought the vacant lot for $425,000 in 2014 when they were living in a two-story house with a claw-foot tub and an outdoor hot tub on a cul-de-sac in Eugene's North Gilham.

They listed that house for $649,000 a month after the coach was fired. The sale -- a bump up to $656,000 -- was finalized in February 2017, according to public records.

Public records also show that the couple lived in the exclusive Brasada Ranch community in Powell Butte.

After Helfrich was fired, the Ducks brought in former University of South Florida head coach Willie Taggart to lead the football program.

Taggart, who returned to Florida after a year on the Ducks job, put his gated, half-acre Eugene property with a Colonial-style custom house on the market in January 2018 at $935,000.

The price dropped on March 6 to $885,000.

It's also located in the North Gilham area, which is close to downtown, Willamette River bike trails, golf courses and the University of Oregon campus.

-- Janet Eastman



jeastman@oregonian.com

503-799-8739

@janeteastman



