Mike Bellotti gets out While the Getting is Good and Leaves Oregon -- Joins ESPN

[Dirty]

Bellotti quits as Ducks AD, joins ESPN




Former Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti has resigned as the Ducks' athletic director and will join ESPN as a college football analyst.
Bellotti, who assumed the position of athletic director in July, will provide studio and game analysis among several ESPN platforms, making his debut April 17 on ESPNU's telecast of Auburn's spring football game.
"I am really excited to join the best team in college football broadcasting," Bellotti said in a statement Friday. "Working as an analyst for ESPN is a dream come true and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I will bring the insight, experience and expertise I have gathered from 36 years of coaching college football to the studio and telecast booth. Spring ball is in full swing, I can't wait to start."

Bellotti
In 14 seasons, Bellotti's Ducks went 116-55 as he became the school's winningest football coach. In 2001, Oregon won 11 games, including a 38-16 victory over Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl to finish ranked No. 2.
"Coach Bellotti ranks as one of the most successful head coaches in the perennial power Pac-10 Conference," Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production, said in a statement. "His knowledge and experience will deepen our roster of analysts and provide us with a unique perspective of someone who recently coached in the game."
A UC Davis graduate in 1973, Bellotti joined Oregon in 1989 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Rich Brooks.
"He wanted to get back in football. That's the impression I got," current Oregon football coach Chip Kelly told ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel on Friday. "He's really, genuinely excited about the opportunity. I'm happy for him. I'm sad. I had one of the best situations. When your AD actually understands what it's like to be football coach, it's great."

Maisel: Power of the pigskin

Mike Bellotti left football to be an athletic director, but football never left him. That's why he's now at ESPN instead of Oregon, as Ivan Maisel notes. Story


Bellotti's tenure as AD had been tumultuous. Earlier this week, he dismissed men's basketball coach Ernie Kent because of losses and dropping attendance.
He's also seen a spate of player misconduct on the football team. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, mentioned as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, was suspended for the upcoming season last week after pleading guilty to a second-degree burglary charge.
Masoli was the biggest name atop a list of incidents involving nine players, five of whom were kicked off the team or suspended for 2010.
Running back LaMichael James, who set the Pac-10 freshman rushing record last season, pleaded guilty to an unrelated harassment charge and was suspended by Kelly last week for the season opener Sept. 4.
"I want everyone to know I'm not running from anything at all," said Bellotti, who said he will continue to make Eugene his home.
Information from The Associated Press and ESPN.com's Ted Miller was used in this report.

Oregon's Mike Bellotti resigns as AD; will join ESPN - ESPN

[Dirty]

Bellotti misses coaching, hates being an AD

Posted on: March 19, 2010 1:48 pm
Edited on: March 19, 2010 4:27 pm

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Just what the world needs, another talking head.
Just what Mike Bellotti needs, time to sort out his career.
It's certain that ESPN isn't hiring Bellotti to spin stories about his 8 1/2 months on the job as Oregon's athletic director. When the Ducks' coaching legend abruptly resigned Friday to take an analyst's job with ESPN, he descended into a sort of purgatory.
He hates being an AD, but there aren't any coaching jobs available, at least for 2010. He probably isn't sure he even wants a coaching job. But the possibility is out there and will remain out there. Meanwhile, he gets to keep Lou Holtz and Lee Corso in line.
And he thought the Jeremiah Masoli situation was a nightmare?
It's been done before and it's been done often. Former coach goes to the TV to talk some ball while simultaneously marketing himself to some interested AD. That's not to say Bellotti will ever coach again but does anyone doubt that he misses it? The man himself still talks fondly about missing Friday nights and Saturday game days with the team. What he didn't particularly care for was the recruiting. But do any of them? It's a drug, like sports writing, that gets in your DNA and doesn't let go.
It impacts your family, it impacts your health. Coaches and hacks share the same job view: No matter detrimental it is, you keep realizing you can't live without it.
There was something that seemed too soon about Bellotti stepping down as coach last year when Chip Kelly took over. The vibe I got was that he had more to give. Then and now. The AD thing sure didn't satisfy his career goals. His brief tenure has been, well, a mess . Bellotti had to deal with the football program's off-field problems as well as fire coach Ernie Kent.
He was probably thinking, "Who needs the aggravation?"

As a coach, he was a mini-Paterno or Bowden, a guy whose touch had made the school a national brand. All Bellotti had to do was blow a whistle, recruit and take Phil Knight's calls. Oregon football was on cruise football. It seems to me Bellotti is jonesing for that good life again, at least a different life.
Maybe he will re-invent himself as a TV guy. ESPN certainly could use some youth in its college football coverage. Lee and Lou not only are flat-out old, their shtick has worn thin.
Maybe in Bellotti's mind he checked out too soon. This move keeps him close to the game while figuring out what to do with the rest of his life.
As I said, none of this means Bellotti will actually get back into coaching. There aren't any jobs available. In a year there might not be any jobs that fit him. Example: You're not going to see Bellotti taking the Utah State job.
It does give him time to think, to plan, to re-emerge. I do know that a lot of schools would hire him in a heartbeat. When he was coaching, his name would come up all the time, most famously at USC before it hired Pete Carroll and Ohio State before it hired Jim Tressel.
No matter what happened Friday, we still don't know for sure if Mike Bellotti is resigning from college athletics. We do know he's transitioning. To what, we're not quite sure but it's clear he still prefers calling plays more than shuffling paper.



Bellotti misses coaching, hates being an AD - CBSSports.com

[66Days]

Yea I would hate it too if I had to take the heat for a bunch of jailbirds who cant stay out of the news.

[Dirty]

NCAA did away with Athletic Dorms and you can't watch these kids like you need to... not worth the risk