If you’d seen him at a December press conference, you would have noticed something odd about Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti.
Even though you, the readers, weren’t there, try to imagine yourself sitting beneath the Casanova Center next to Autzen Stadium. Envision Bellotti sitting next to Oregon athletic director Bill Moos at the front of a room filled with media and television cameras.
Via speaker phone, Bellotti accepts the Ducks’ invitation to the Culligan Holiday Bowl.
The atmosphere is electric and jovial, but there’s more.
To kill rumors that Bellotti might sign a $7.5 million dollar contract and become Southern California’s head coach, Moos announces that he and Bellotti have agreed upon a contract extension that would keep “The Mustache” at Oregon until 2007.
A reporter then asks Bellotti about the USC job.
Bellotti pauses, then answers, saying he has always been happy at Oregon and that he always will be.
And that’s what caught my attention the most. Not the answer, but the pause.
A long pause, followed by a well-planned answer.
That’s funny to me. While it was happening, Bellotti constantly downplayed the Trojans’ efforts to lure him to Los Angeles. He said it was nothing big. He told players and fans that he was only listening.
But that was such a long, thoughtful pause for someone who hadn’t seriously considered leaving Oregon, wasn’t it?
He had good reasons to stay with the Ducks, he said. There was his family — not the football team, but his literal family — and he didn’t want to haul his clan from Eugene to Los Angeles, a busy city not known for its nurturing characteristics.
And, of course, there was his football team. There was a remarkable nine-win season, soon to be 10. He almost took his team to the Rose Bowl. He became a personal hero to players and fans. He was the most important influence on cornerback Rashad Bauman’s decision to stay with the team one more season.
No doubt USC offered Bellotti far more than the $600,000 annual salary he receives now.
Unfortunately for the land of Troy, Los Angeles would have been a big adjustment for a family so used to Eugene.
But what about Ohio State?
Columbus, Ohio, is far from Los Angeles. Good area to raise a family? Check.
How about the Ohio State Buckeyes? They have a decent football tradition, don’t they? Check.
And money.
Money, money, money. Would Ohio State pay more than $600,000 annually? You’d better believe it, so … check.
And really, that’s all there is to it.
If Ohio State offers Bellotti a job and a higher salary — or if it already has — then he will take it.
You’d have sensed how unsure Bellotti was about staying in Eugene if you’d seen him try to answer a question about the USC job, pausing, as if reminding himself why he turned down the Trojans’ multi-million dollar contract.
Who knows, maybe his pauses were well-timed efforts to make for a more dramatic interview.
Or maybe the great Bellotti is human, just like the rest of us.
After all, who wouldn’t want to raise a family in a pleasant Midwest city, coach one of the best football traditions anywhere and earn a couple million dollars per year?
Scott Pesznecker is the assistant sports editor of the Emerald. He can be reached at [email protected].