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Mike Bellotti: 2012 Colorado Coaching search profile

absinthe

absinthe

Ambitious but rubbish.
Club Member
Junta Member
Mike Bellotti - Former Oregon head coach

mikebellotti.jpg


Born: December 21st, 1950 Sacramento, CA
Alma Mater: UC-Davis 1973

COACHING CAREER

1973-1976 UC Davis (assistant)
1977-1978 Cal State Hayward (OC)
1979 Weber State (OC)
1980-1983 Cal State Hayward (OC)
1984-1988 Chico State
1989-1994 Oregon (OC)
1995-2008 Oregon

Experience/Bio: Bellotti's record at Oregon stands at 116–55. In 2006, he passed his former boss, Rich Brooks, as the winningest football coach in Oregon's history. He led the Ducks to their first four ten-win seasons in school history (2000, 2001, 2005, 2008). He led the Ducks to 12 bowl games, three more than they had attended in their entire history before his arrival. His best season was 2001, when he led the Ducks to an 11-1 record and a victory in the Fiesta Bowl. They finished second in both major polls, the highest final ranking in school history. The 11 wins would remain a school record until the 2010 team's 12-win season.


Question marks:
- Age, Mike would be one of the oldest candidates CU would consider which could impact the length of his stay as head coach
- Time away from the game, Mike's been out of the recruiting circles for roughly 4 years and completely out of college athletics for 2 years since retiring as AD.
- Resources, it was noted last time round that CU's support structure and facilities were a sticking point for Mike, but more importantly, can he do it with out Phil Night's check book?

Strengths:
- 14 years as an HC
- Major conference coach
- Knows what it like to build a program
- Heavy west coast and pac-12 ties.
- Understands AD politics

These threads unlike recruiting threads are open to Pro/Con discussions, but please keep it civil.
 
Another possible pro is that he's still had national exposure through his work with ESPN. His name recognition with recruits is probably still out there, and since he's been breaking down college offenses and defenses as an analyst, it might mitigate his time away.
 
BuffClass90 said:
Didn't we talk to him after Hawk was fired?
Click to expand...

Yes. He even came out to Boulder, but turned us down when he saw how bad the facilities were (at least compared to Oregon) and had a sense that we weren't fully committed to building a better program. The fact that JE got the boot suggests that donors stepped up financially, and this could also mean that the committment to getting the entire program turned around could be stronger now than it was back then.
 
I liked Bellotti to be hired after Hawk. I thought it would have immediately got other P12 coaches attention. But for some reason I guess the situation wasn't right for him. Money? Facilities? No Uncle Phil? Not sure about him now. Anyone with experience will be an instant upgrade but is he up to the monumental task?
 
krom said:
I liked Bellotti to be hired after Hawk. I thought it would have immediately got other P12 coaches attention. But for some reason I guess the situation wasn't right for him. Money? Facilities? No Uncle Phil? Not sure about him now. Anyone with experience will be an instant upgrade but is he up to the monumental task?
Click to expand...
I don't see the task as monumental, just difficult. IMO...a competent coaching staff should have won 4 games this year. A good coach will win 4-6 next year. With that momentum, a better recruiting class will come.
 
Hes 61 but could come in and right the ship and leave an aire apparent in place... I would not protest.
 
He also has a history of identifying talented assistants. Both Tedford and Kelly were OC's under Bellotti. Definitely a safe hire, may not take you to the promise land but he would certainly get us to a much more stable place. He is also savvy enough, and has enough juice to get the facilities improvements written into his contract.
 
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The only thing that scares me about Belotti is the time away from the game. Although he was at ESPN doing games 4 years seems like an eternity to me for some reason. But his resume is stellar. I am on record as wanting Tedford but I don't think we would be losing a thing if we landed Mike Belotti.
 
BuffClass90 said:
I don't see the task as monumental, just difficult. IMO...a competent coaching staff should have won 4 games this year. A good coach will win 4-6 next year. With that momentum, a better recruiting class will come.
Click to expand...

120/120 for both offense and defense. Record setting poor performance. No facilities ugrades. Aging stadium. Little to no admin support. Difficult admissions. Few long term contracts for assistants.

All reasons why I think this is a monumental rebuild. I think anyone with experience is an instant upgrade and winning 4-6 in each of the first 2 seasons is huge progress but it is no small task.
 
krom said:
120/120 for both offense and defense. Record setting poor performance. No facilities ugrades. Aging stadium. Little to no admin support. Difficult admissions. Few long term contracts for assistants.

All reasons why I think this is a monumental rebuild. I think anyone with experience is an instant upgrade and winning 4-6 in each of the first 2 seasons is huge progress but it is no small task.
Click to expand...
I can see your point, it's just a lot of the items you mention aren't his responsibility. The only thing he has to do is win on the field, and I think a competent coaching staff would have won 4 games this year.
 
After watching this 12 minute interview, which largely focuses on the role of facilities and committing to an athletic department in building a competitive D-1 program, I'm convinced Bellotti should be CU's next HC:

[video=youtube;M1QiU6WwwAY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QiU6WwwAY[/video]

He starts talking about conditions in Oregon in the beginning. He goes more in-depth on facilities at 2.20, first talking about an indoor practice facility, the importance of reinvesting in facilities in general, practice fields, treatment center, and interesting he says investing in the football locker room led to the biggest jump in recruiting.
 
SuperD said:
He also has a history of identifying talented assistants. Both Tedford and Kelly were OC's under Bellotti. Definitely a safe hire, may not take you to the promise land but he would certainly get us to a much more stable place. He is also savvy enough, and has enough juice to get the facilities improvements written into his contract.
Click to expand...
I don't think this can be emphasized enough.

I'd only question if he's got the drive & desire to go through another building job, but if he comes here, I'd assume he at least feels like he's got the drive to do it and given his ability to spot & groom talented ACs, I'd think we'd be in good position going forward if Bellotti burns out.
 
SuperD said:
He also has a history of identifying talented assistants. Both Tedford and Kelly were OC's under Bellotti. Definitely a safe hire, may not take you to the promise land but he would certainly get us to a much more stable place. He is also savvy enough, and has enough juice to get the facilities improvements written into his contract.
Click to expand...

Good point. He could probably put a staff together in pretty short order.

Hes also a big name. Knows the Pac10 footprint in terms of recruiting. Knows Phil Knight so that could help. Wore the AD hat so knows a bit about that job and the politics of it as well.

My only concern is his age and wether he has the fire for a rebuilding program. Otherwise he gets a thumbs up from me.
 
C(U)3PO said:
[video=youtube;M1QiU6WwwAY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QiU6WwwAY[/video]
Click to expand...

Around ten-minute mark Bellotti outlines his requirements:

- Has to be the "right fit"
- Chance to win
- Keep good staff
- Opening this year (2012) -- this interview was January 2011 when his youngest child was a junior in high school at the time and he wanted to watch him play
- Overall, he "loves college football"

In response to the assistants question, he says that he basically hired every single person on the Oregon staff in 2011.
 
krom said:
I liked Bellotti to be hired after Hawk. I thought it would have immediately got other P12 coaches attention. But for some reason I guess the situation wasn't right for him. Money? Facilities? No Uncle Phil? Not sure about him now. Anyone with experience will be an instant upgrade but is he up to the monumental task?
Click to expand...
The CU job is a monumental task, worst facilities in the PAC 12, and an administration that doesn't give a rat's @$$.
 
krom said:
120/120 for both offense and defense. Record setting poor performance. No facilities ugrades. Aging stadium. Little to no admin support. Difficult admissions. Few long term contracts for assistants.

All reasons why I think this is a monumental rebuild. I think anyone with experience is an instant upgrade and winning 4-6 in each of the first 2 seasons is huge progress but it is no small task.
Click to expand...

A competent staff should have won 5 games this year. Those rankings are a direct cause of awful fundamentals, schemes, play calling, and preparation.
 
Jeff Tedford, Chris Peterson, Nick Alioti, & Chip Kelly all have 1 thing in common. They were hired by Bellotti. Do we even need to argue who is most qualified. That guy will almost all but guarantee we are in better position whenever he leaves by mere fact he will probably leave us with some offensive guru, he has groomed to be HC.
 
116-55 record as Oregon's coach, went to a bowl game 13 of the 14 years he was there, won 9 or more games in 7 different seasons, and did this all in the conference we're currently in. He may not be interested in the job, but regardless I don't understand how he couldn't be the #1 choice both of Bohn and people on here.
 
J-R-K said:
116-55 record as Oregon's coach, went to a bowl game 13 of the 14 years he was there, won 9 or more games in 7 different seasons, and did this all in the conference we're currently in. He may not be interested in the job, but regardless I don't understand how he couldn't be the #1 choice both of Bohn and people on here.
Click to expand...

Think it was posted in another thread that Bellotti was actually discussing the CU opening on the ESPN show "Experts" and didn't really sound that interested or consider it to be an attractive option.

However, much of his hesitance back in 2010 seemed to be based on his belief that the administration was not committed to the football program. In the past few days, we've seen articles about facility upgrades being included in the new coach's contract and we've also heard the news today about a possible offer of $3.2M per year for the coach. The message the admin seems to be sending is that they are now seriously committed to the program. Perhaps this message is intended for someone like a Bellotti? Not based on any insider knowledge, just throwing out possibilities.
 
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Thought I would drag his name back up.

CU basically announced the facilities during the Butch Jones pursuit. With this and the announced salary range do you think he would have any interest now?

Just throwing it out there.
 
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