There is a different kind of bracketology going on inside Erik Chinander’s new office.

On the grease board, names of 2015 recruiting targets have been written down for possible invitations to dance with Oregon. On the television screen, a prospect’s “One Shining Moment” highlight reel is paused.

Outside Chinander’s window at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, the practice fields beckon with the Ducks’ spring football looming after the March Madness.

“I’m just looking forward to getting back out there,” Chinander said during a recent interview.

“That’s why we do this job. It’s not sitting around watching film, although that is a huge part of it. The reason why we do it is to get out on the field and try and make these guys better players.”

In typical Oregon fashion, the program went back to the future to hire its new outside linebackers coach.

After Don Pellum was elevated to defensive coordinator, Mark Helfrich gave Chinander, who was an intern and graduate assistant with the Ducks from 2010-12, a chance to return to Eugene as a full-time assistant.

It was a difficult choice for the 34-year-old to make after one successful season in the NFL.

Chinander was happy working as Jerry Azzinaro’s assistant defensive line coach on Chip Kelly’s staff with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013.

“You’re always excited when somebody wants you, that’s always good. If you’re asking a girl to prom, she’s got to like you, too,” Chinander said. “It’s flattering when someone wants to hire you back. The decision was hard. I loved being with Chip and (Azzinaro) and the staff there. I really loved all the guys here.

“It was heavy on my heart to decide which place to go.”

Deep down, Chinander’s ability to recruit and passion for molding younger players won out.

“Chins is awesome. He’s a smart guy, a sharp guy, a really good coach, a really good person. He fits right in,” Helfrich said. “He wants to be a college football coach. I think he sees, as all of us do on some level, the builder-of-men type of mentality.

“He likes that process of recruiting a guy, developing a guy and seeing him go off being hopefully a better man, a better person, a better player.”

The saying goes: Recruiting is the life blood of any program. Chinander has added some youthful exuberance to Oregon’s recruiting.

At his signing day press conference Feb. 5, Helfrich noted his new hire had already visited about 50 high schools and was “killing it” on the 2015 trail.

“I’ve always enjoyed recruiting,” Chinander said. “I enjoy meeting the young men, meeting their families, developing relationships with high school coaches, principals and everyone involved. There’s no getting around it, the travel becomes strenuous, but that’s part of the game.”

Chinander will bring his own style to the practice field, but admits “stealing” aspects of the approaches that have worked at the highest level for Kelly and Azzinaro, the former defensive line coach for the Ducks.

Oregon’s returning outside linebackers, who were coached by Nick Aliotti last season, may experience some deja vu.

“He was sitting in that same room when we built it,” longtime secondary coach John Neal said of Chinander. “He’s not here because we like him, he’s here because we like him and he’s a very good coach. He took on a lot of full-time responsibilities even as a graduate assistant, and that’s why we brought him in here.”

Aliotti’s passion for the job was palpable to the staff and players grinding away behind the scenes. Chinander will do his best to help replace some of the energy the retired defensive coordinator brought to work every day.

“There’s nobody better,” Chinander said of Aliotti. “When you go out to Eugene Country Club to play golf, Nick’s the one you want to be around because he’s a great person and he knows a tremendous amount about football.

“He knows how to game plan people, he knows how to call a game. I got to be in the booth with him, so just being side by side with him on game day was a good experience.”

Chinander, who played at Iowa and was an assistant at Northern Iowa with Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost, aspires to be a defensive coordinator some day. Right now, he’s excited to be a part of Pellum’s staff, along with Neal and second-year defensive line coach Ron Aiken.

“(Pellum) loves Oregon,” Chinander said. “There’s no place he would rather be, and we’ve talked about that many times. He loves this place. He played here, he’s coached here, he has spent the better half of his life here, so he’s going to put his heart and soul into this program.

“The thing I know about him, we’ll get the X’s and O’s, we’ll get that right. But these guys are going to play with great effort, they’re going to be a disciplined unit and they’re going to be good people outside this building.

“That’s what I know about his groups from when I was here before.

“He’s going to develop good men when they exit our program or are just in the community.”

Chinander will be reunited with older players like Tony Washington, who led the Ducks with 7 1/2 sacks and 12 tackles for loss last season, and in charge of grooming the next generation of hybrid outside linebackers/defensive ends in Oregon’s 3-4 scheme.

“Our players, the guys who were influenced by him when he was here, were excited to have him back,” Helfrich said. “Not because he’s a players’ coach or an easy guy, but because he’s here for all the right reasons. He’s here to make them better and he’s a really good coach.”