Mike Bellotti – Gone And Nearly Forgotten

Mike Bellotti is a hall of famer.

That’s right, as of last week, the former University of Oregon head football coach was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame by the National Football Foundation.  He left Oregon as the winningest coach in school history, the first coach in program history to win 10 games in a season, and led them to their most successful season to date in 2001, when they dismantled Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and finished the year ranked 2^nd in both major polls.  While notably known for guiding the program to the next step in national prominence following the Rose Bowl year of 1995, the once iconic front-man in Eugene has become an afterthought in the wake of the unprecedented success of Chip Kelly, and most of you don’t even know it.

Yep, you forgot him.

Oregon fans still talk about Chip Kelly, and while they wish the present-day Philadelphia Eagle head coach well in his endeavor in the “City Of Brotherly Love,” they openly lament his departure and speak glowingly about the man responsible for the street cred bestowed a program undoubtedly on the national map.  But, while deserving of the credit for elevating the Oregon program, without Bellotti and his predecessor, Rich Brooks, there’d have been no foundation for “the house Chip built,” and hopefully now the man behind the mustache and mysterious dark sunglasses will garn the recognition lost on this new age Oregon fan.

I remember the Rose Bowl run leading-up to that New Year’s game in 1995.  Rich Brooks had ground-out 2 decades of slug-like progress en route to a magical run ending with his departure to the St. Louis Rams.  It was a workmanlike process which energized a long-suffering fan base and ultimately ignited a meteoric rise with the help of Phil Knight, who previously had been disinterested.  Mike Bellotti took the baton from the departed Brooks and spent the next 14 seasons amassing a 116-55 overall record, leading the Ducks to 12 bowl games, collecting 2 Pac-10 championships, and setting the table for Chip Kelly’s eventual ascension beyond.  It was his tenure that was responsible for the Autzen Stadium expansion, the space-aged locker rooms, the Jaqua Academic Center, and really everything prior to last year’s football operations building, which likely goes on Mr. Kelly’s resume.  But lost in the glow of 4 straight BCS games, a national title game appearance, and a perennial top-5 preseason ranking, was a coach who took a little engine that could, and made it an annual conference contender.  A program with legitimate talent and the ability to compete with anyone on a given day.  Rich Brooks couldn’t say that, and Mike Bellotti couldn’t say it when he took the reins in 1995.

Mike Bellotti wasn’t Joe Paterno, “Bear” Bryant, or Bo Schembechler.  He also wasn’t Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, or even Chip Kelly.  But he was a very good coach who took a burgeoning program and walked it to the table of the national elite.  True, he came-up short of a consistent seat at the aforementioned table, but he did have the talent and the acumen to make an occasional run at the big prize, against the big boys of a game Oregon had previously been forced to watch from a distance.  That may not make him the greatest of all time, but it does make him a hall of famer … whether you forgot about him or not.