Oregon football spring practice media availability

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich takes questions from media after a spring football practice on April 21.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- The burgeoning college football competition between Mark Helfrich and Chris Petersen will be a friendly rivalry.

Emphasis on "friend."

The link between Helfrich, Oregon's second-year head coach, and Petersen, who recently finished his first spring at Washington's helm, dates to the UO staff in 1997 when Petersen was a receivers coach and Helfrich a graduate assistant who'd just turned down medical school.

In

former UO coach Mike Bellotti after Petersen's hiring in Seattle, the young coaches were "

two very likeable, very approachable, very even-keel guys."

They overlapped for just one more season, in 2000 at Boise State, but speak often. Last fall in Helfrich's debut, those conversations sometimes became unofficial consulting calls on the rigors of head coaching.

Now they're each head coaches in the Pac-12's North division and for universities whose rivalry still simmers with distaste despite Oregon's 10-year winning streak in the series.

Their friendship will supersede the school rivalry for all but one day each year.

"I will still be a friend of his most days, the majority of days, 364 days," Helfrich said Thursday on a conference call of Pac-12 football coaches. "He's a great friend of mine and that will certainly endure."

"We used to be friends," Petersen joked later on the conference call. "No, I'm just kidding. … I think Mark's a great guy."

The main obstacle in their friendship lately has had nothing to do with school affiliations and everything to do with the daily obligations of being the top Dawg and Duck.

Each said they've had little time to write, speak or text message one another since Petersen's hiring Dec. 6. Helfrich went 11-2 in his head coaching debut, which Petersen called a "seamless" transition.

"This is such a competitive business that we live in, it's such a hard job and I think coming out of the gate he did a great job, I really do think that," Petersen said.

Washington expects him to do the same after arriving with an 88.4 winning percentage that is the highest in FBS history for a coach with at least eight seasons. At $3.2 million, his salary in 2014 is believed to be the highest among his conference peers and is nearly double Helfrich's $1.8 million pay.

But as their staffs hit the road next week to recruit during the spring evaluation period, Petersen and Helfrich will have the chance to catch up in person at the Pac-12 meetings in Arizona.

Here's another date to remember for their relationship: Oct. 18, in Autzen Stadium.

"He's one of the guys I'm excited to go down there and talk with," Petersen said. "Everybody's so busy, that's one of the problems with coaching college football and being a head coach is everybody's so busy sometimes we don't have time for the important things like staying connected to the guys we need to."

-- Andrew Greif | @andrewgreif