Posted by: Pete Roussel on January 17, 2012

According to my early Tuesday morning research, only two programs in the country have the same assistant coaches right now as they did at the start of the 2009 season.

Of the 120 major college programs, only Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and Army head coach Rich Ellerson maintained the same assistant coaching staff over this 3-year stretch.

There's no way to explain it, but to it's the world of college coaching.

Since the start of the 2009 season, Kelly's staff has included Mark Helfrich, Nick Aliotti, Steve Greatwood, Tom Osborne, Gary Campbell, Scott Frost, Jerry Azzinaro, Don Pellum, and John Neal.

Azzinaro was added to staff just before Kelly was promoted to head coach.  Kelly then added Scott Frost to the staff as wide receivers coach.  Both were in place for the 2009 season.

Unless you are a service academy, the NCAA allows 9 full-time assistant coaches.  Service academies are allowed extra full-time coaches, which makes it even more remarkable that Rich Ellerson has maintained his entire staff over this 3-year stretch.

Ellerson's staff includes Ian Shields, Payam Saadat, Chris Smeland, Joe Ross, Tucker Waugh, Bill Tripp, Gene McKeehan, Andy Guyader, John Mumford, Clarence Holmes, Tony Coaxum, Robert Lyles, and John Brock.

Once again, we have seen a number of coaching changes throughout the country this off-season.  In fact, only 26 programs have remained completely intact this off-season.  Here's the list: Air Force, Baylor, Bowling Green, BYU,  Colorado, FSU, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LA Tech, UL-Lafayette, Miami (FL), Miami (OH), Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Navy, Northwestern, Oregon, San Diego State, USC, Texas, UNLV, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

Continue to follow my reporting on the Coaching Search Ticker for breaking news on coaching changes.

-----------------

You can follow me on twitter @CoachingSearch