EUGENE — Oregon has hired Minnesota’s Rod Chance, a former UO analyst, as its new cornerbacks coach, a source confirmed.

Chance spent last season at Minnesota, where the pass defense saw dramatic improvements in a number of statistics. The Gophers went from No. 51 in passing yards allowed in 2018 to No. 9 last season, from No. 77 to No. 26 in passes defended, No. 69 to No. 10 in passing touchdowns allowed and No. 63 to No. 17 in interceptions. Minnesota’s secondary featured safety Antoine Winfield Jr., the Big Ten’s defensive back of the year.

He also participated in the AFCA’s 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute, a program aimed at identifying and developing future football coaches.

Chance was the primary recruiter for four of Minnesota’s 2020 signees, all of whom were from Georgia and Florida.

Prior to his year at Minnesota, Chance was a defensive analyst at Oregon in 2018 and he’s familiar with the Ducks’ veteran personnel in the secondary, including senior corners Thomas Graham Jr. and Deommodore Lenoir.

Chance inherits an Oregon cornerbacks group that saw big individual improvements from Graham Jr. and Lenoir, as well as the first seasons from Mykael Wright and DJ James in 2019. Oregon ranked 53rd in pass defense, up from 82nd in 2018, and 14th in pass efficiency defense, up from 49th, but was also susceptible to giving up passes of 20-plus yards, ranking 75th (43) compared to Minnesota’s 8th (30).

Bruce Feldman first reported the hire of Chance, who was previously the defensive coordinator at Southern Utah (2016-17), a defensive quality control assistant at Vanderbilt (2014-15) and coached corners at his alma mater, Rhode Island, and spent four seasons at Alpharetta High School outside Atlanta.