NCAA football- Bellotti stepped out from Oregon’s head Coach Position

By Audrey Nolan

The head coach of 58 years-old, Mike Bellotti, announced this Friday that he was stepping out of the position of Oregon’s head coach to become the school’s athletic director. This decision was already announced by the Ducks in December but there wasn’t an official date to make the transition; he will take the position officially on July 1st by replacing Pat Kilkenny.

In the coaching position, Belotti will be replaced by Chip Kelly, who was the offensive coordinator and has been with the Oregon team for the last two seasons; Kelly could become the third coach in 33 years for Oregon. Moreover, Kelly was actually suggested by Bellotti for the position because of the great job that he has been doing with the team; he actually designed the team’s spread option-offense since last year, and the reason for that was to adjust the offense due to some injuries of the quarterbacks. At the beginning the starter quarterback, Nate Costa was sidelined early in the season and replaced by Justin Roper who got injured also, so they have to opt for other options like the junior college transfer Jeremiah Masoli and the true freshmen Chris Harper and Darron Thomas.

"I feel like I've been put in a great situation. Basically a lot of this was at my suggestion, because of Chip's popularity and the job he's done for us," Bellotti said back in December and for the position that he was taking he expressed "I have an understanding to a degree but I really don't know some of the inner workings”.

Bellotti was the head coach for the Oregon team for 14 years and the announcement of this move was a surprise for every one since they thought he will be coaching at least for one more season, but it didn’t happened that way. He said at the beginning of the year that he haven’t made a decision yet, but apparently it was not completely true since he has already been talking with Kilkenny and Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer to discuss his new role in the school.

Bellotti came to the Ducks in 1989 as an offensive coordinator and stayed in that position until 1994, when Coach Rich Brooks was offered a coaching position in the NFL, Brooks then offered the head coach position of Oregon to Bellotti. So Belloti started as Oregon’s head coach in 1995 and he has been one of the most stable coaches in the NCAA; he has also the title of the most winningest football coach in the history of Oregon; he owns the 10+ more productive seasons in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2008.

Belloti’s final record in the University of Oregon is of 116-55. His best season was in 2001 when he led the Ducks to an 11 win record and to a victory in the Fiesta Bowl in where they finished second in the two major polls. He led Oregon to the second position again in the 2007-2008 season. In The 2008 season they recovered from a mediocre half season, after a three game loosing streak and the Dixon’s injury. However even with those difficulties during the season, Oregon won the Sun Bowl by defeating University of South Florida.

Oregon University last season was ranked second in the nation in rushing, averaging 280.1 yards a game, and seventh in both total offense 484.9 yards per game and scoring 41.9 points per game.

About the Author

Audrey Nolan has been a prominent writer on daily College Football Season reviews, sports news and sports betting industry updates for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.