When the announcement came Tuesday afternoon that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly would be the next head coach of the Oregon Ducks, and current head coach Mike Bellotti would be promoted to athletic director, many were surprised.
Bellotti said himself that when he called his other coaches to fill them in on the decision the most common response was shock.
Me? I’d been hip to this scenario for some time.
Several times this season Bellotti has hinted at his being a little “long in the tooth.” Last season, he never once mentioned how old he was or how long he’d been coaching. This time around, comments about how long he’s been at this or how old he is have become an almost standard way for him preface a response to any question.
The writing was on the wall if you were listening closely.
I was. And not to toot my own horn, but a month or so ago when a certain hair-deficient columnist at Oregon’s largest newspaper started questioning if it wasn’t time for Bellotti to move on, I posted on our sports blog that I thought Bellotti was getting close to that point anyway based on the comments I referenced above, and that there was no way in hell he should be forced out after all he has done for the program.
In the same entry, I said I thought Bellotti had his eye on the athletic director position as a next step and would likely turn the reins over to Kelly should that opportunity come to fruition.
So Tuesday afternoon while talking heads up and down the Willamette Valley were flabbergasted by Oregon’s bold move to retain Kelly and promote Bellotti, I was decidedly not shocked.
And let me go on the record as one who wholeheartedly supports this move: It’s the perfect move at the perfect time for all parties involved.
Bellotti will get the chance to go out on his own terms, a rare thing in today’s college sports landscape. He will get the chance to see his youngest son participate in high school athletics more than he did with his older children. He will also get the chance to progress professionally. Many people question whether A.D. is a step up, down, or sideways from head coach, but let me remind you: When the football program stumbles, or has any sort of prolonged or glaring misfortune, who gets fired? Who does the firing?
Kelly gets the chance to be a head coach at the Division I level and, maybe more importantly, in a program with cupboards full to bursting with offensive talent. This isn’t Syracuse, a program that has set back the careers of a few ex-coordinators recently, and it isn’t Mississippi State, perennial doormat of the Southeastern Conference. This is Oregon, a top-25 team season after season now, and a consistent contender for the Pac-10 title.
The program gets one of the best offensive minds in college football on the upswing of his coaching trajectory. It also gets continuity and the recruiting benefits that come from being able to assure incoming players of the stability of the situation they are committing to.
And that has to be the main reason behind the timing of this whole deal. Sure the other jobs Kelly was being considered for must have brought the fear of losing Kelly into play, but you can bet that the schools Oregon has been competing with for recruits have been slipping doubt into young men’s minds based on those possibilities. This, more than the fear of losing him to any one of a number of lower-profile jobs, brought the situation to a head.
Bellotti said Friday that he wanted to leave full cupboards for his successor. My guess is, in today’s recruiting climate, pulling the trigger on Kelly was the only way to ensure that those cupboards got restocked this spring.
So as surprised as everyone was by the announcement, I hope to be even more pleasantly shocked when the next recruiting class gets inked in February.
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