A decision in the making for nearly four months ended Friday with Mike Bellotti stepping down as head football coach at Oregon after 14 seasons to become athletic director.
Bellotti, 58, will immediately serve as senior counselor to current athletic director Pat Kilkenny until July 1, when Bellotti takes over. The agreement is based on the succession plan for Kelly to replace Bellotti when he would take over the athletic director’s job that was announced in December.
Bellotti said Saturday, “Probably in the last month or so when I sort of felt like I was ready to (retire),” but the decision came during discussions with his family on Wednesday and talks with University President Dave Frohnmayer and his future successor Richard Lariviere on Thursday.
The announcement was also driven by the schedule of the team, which met Friday at its last all-team meeting before finals and spring practices on March 30. He said he and Kelly would talk with all the incoming recruits.
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Before he notified his team at its 10 a.m. meeting Friday morning, Bellotti began to inform those closest to him of his decision.
“I met first with my staff at 8:30 and wasn’t sure I’d make it through that. I did. I felt good about that,” Bellotti said. “I called about 10 or 15 people between 8:30 and 10 o’clock and let them know and each time I got better about it. Then I talked to my team and broke down about halfway through, but recovered, and finished.”
Kelly, the offensive coordinator the past two seasons who led Oregon’s offense to unprecedented success, called the moment “bittersweet.”
“If you watched the reactions and the emotions that were in the room, it really validated why I was here and why I want to be a part of it,” Kelly said.
Quarterback Nate Costa said despite a close relationship with Kelly, he wasn’t aware of a possible change this offseason until the moments before the meeting.
“I kind of got a sense from Coach Kelly before the meeting,” Costa said. “He made a comment to me that suggested something might happen.”
Bellotti leaves a program he guided for 14 seasons after joining the Oregon coaching staff in 1989 as Rich Brooks’ offensive coordinator. After Brooks left for the St. Louis Rams of the NFL after the 1994 season that took the Ducks to the Rose Bowl, Bellotti was named head coach at age 44. He went on to win the third-most games in Pacific-10 Conference history, with 72 wins, and his 116 wins are the most in Oregon history. He remains the only Oregon football coach to coach a team to a 10-win season, something he has done three times, including the 2008 season.
The 2008 team that finished No. 9 in the USA Today poll and No. 10 in The Associated Press poll marked the third time the Ducks have finished the season ranked in the top ten since 2000.
Asked about his legacy at Oregon as football coach, Bellotti said he was glad Oregon won its last game, a 42-31 victory over Oklahoma State in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30. He tried to put his legacy on a larger scale, as well, wanting to be remembered by his players as well as former Oregon coach Len Casanova was by his. Casanova, the head football coach from 1951-66, would occasionally check in with Bellotti often on the team’s progress before his death in 2002.
“My goal and desire was to hopefully be as important in people’s lives as Cas was,” Bellotti said.
In the immediate future, Kelly wants to hire a new offensive coordinator in time for spring practice, which he believes can be done. He also didn’t stop himself from saying he could call plays next year.
The future for Kilkenny and Bellotti has little to do with football. Kilkenny said he will meet with women’s basketball head coach Bev Smith early this week to discuss her contract, which expires on June 30, and many expect Smith to be fired after a 9-21 season, the program’s worst since 1992-93.
Kilkenny will also meet with men’s basketball head coach Ernie Kent within the next two weeks to decide his future at the University after an 8-23 season, the worst of his 13-year career.
Bellotti’s involvement in those discussions seems to be blurry at best.
He said he wants to be “in the loop” on those discussions, but avoided saying he will be the one to make the final choice, saying, “I will not be involved with that” and, “I don’t have the experience or expertise to evaluate other programs.” Then, a minute later, he said. “If we are involved in an interview or hiring mode, I’d assume I’ll be involved in that. But again, the other part of the decision-making, I have no involvement in.”
For Kilkenny, it means a chance to return to his previous – and more comfortable – position as full-time booster and fan. Kilkenny, who has stated numerous times his level of discomfort around the media, will keep a house in Eugene, but seemed to point toward a return to San Diego, where he built Arrowhead Insurance into a billion-dollar company before helping to buy out former athletic director Bill Moos’ contract in 2006 and become the boss at the Casanova Center himself a month later.
Kilkenny, who called into the press conference, was willing to stay for another year but is relieved the transition will happen sooner rather than later.
“Yeah, I guess given a preference, all things being equal, which they never are, I’m very happy with the outcome,” he said. “I’m glad to stick my head in the Cas Center (after he leaves). If there are not opportunities for that, I have a lot of things that I’m interested in doing. I’m excited about the opportunity to, quite frankly, get my life back.”
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