EUGENE -- Wearing slacks and a sweater, Mark Banker paced out of bounds Friday morning inside Oregon's Moshofsky Center.



Come fall, the longtime college football assistant prefers to be working on another sideline -- this time wearing official team gear.

"I do know I'm going to get back into coaching," Banker told The Oregonian/OregonLive.



Banker, fired in January by longtime boss and friend Mike Riley as Nebraska's defensive coordinator after two seasons in Lincoln, was in Eugene on Friday to watch Oregon's second practice of spring football at the invitation of UO defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt.



In April, the NCAA's Division I Council will vote to approve the addition of a 10th assistant to football staffs across the country, though the Mid-American Conference has proposed that the rule, if approved, not take effect until the end of next season.



Banker, who served as an Oregon State assistant for 14 seasons, including as defensive coordinator from 2003-14, is eyeing the approval and start date of that rule closely.



"I've talked with some people and programs have talked to me," he said.



Until that happens, he used Friday to catch up with former player and colleague Keith Heyward, the former Oregon State safety and assistant, and study up on Leavitt's 3-4 defense Banker still owns a house in Corvallis and two daughters still live in the city, too, so he dropped by while visiting the state. He began his career coaching a "50" defense before later running a 4-3.



"So many teams have adapted the 3-4, getting away a little bit from the 4-3 and I'm just trying to broaden my background also in the 3-4," he said.



Heyward came to Oregon to coach safeties from Louisville, where he'd coached one season. Prior to his job with the Cardinals, he coached four seasons at USC and Washington after breaking into coaching in 2008 with Banker and the Beavers.



Oregon's media policy prohibits interviews with non-coordinator assistant coaches including Heyward. But Banker, who watched practice alongside former Arizona coach Dick Tomey, praised Heyward, who was his first recruit at OSU and whose ability changed the way Banker said he coached press coverage in the secondary.





Mark Banker coached at Oregon State from 1997-98 and 2003-14 before joining Mike Riley at Nebraska for two seasons.

"I can't say enough about him," Banker said. "He's always been someone who's been very goal oriented and driven."

And Banker said he's driven to rejoin college football's coaching ranks. The last time he'd been this close to the Ducks, it was Sept. 17 in Lincoln, Nebraska, when the Ducks lost to Nebraska when Banker's defense made a last stand against UO at midfield in the waning seconds.

Banker and Riley had lost seven consecutive games to Oregon at the time, with the defenses allowing an average of 45.6 points. The win was cathartic; Banker celebrated by leaping into chest-bumps with at least one player. A few months later, Banker was out and so was Oregon's staff, halfway across the country.

"I don't pretend to know anything otherwise I wouldn't be here talking to you, either," Banker said of the big changes in Oregon's offseason. "I think probably it had been a cumulative effect. Anytime there's money involved in what's being put into college programs now a days, administrators act differently all the time."

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com