Mike Bellotti Does the Right Thing: Resigns as Ducks Football Coach

Mike Bellotti is no longer the head football coach for the Oregon Ducks football team. It's about time too, considering that the University of Oregon does not like firing its coaches. Just take a look at Ernie Kent for the men's basketball team he's worn out his welcome as well.

Luckily for the Ducks football team Bellotti had a succession plan for when he left and another job at the school. This time Bellotti will be the athletic director for the school. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly takes the reigns as coach for the Ducks.

Bellotti did have an outstanding record at 116-55 for the Ducks and helped put them on the national radar, specifically when the Ducks had Joey Harrington running the show and the Ducks proved they could win the big games they needed to. As well as winning the Holiday and the Fiesta Bowls respectively in 2000 and 2001 and claiming either a tie or outright Pac-10 conference championship in those years.

From 2002-2004, the Ducks football team struggled. Their highest finish in that time in the conference was a tie for third and the lowest finish was eighth. During the time, the Ducks had 20 wins and 17 losses and went 12 wins and 12 losses in the conference.

During that time as well, the Ducks went to two bowl games and one was a thorough dismantling given by Wake Forest. The end result for the Ducks was a 35-17 loss at the Seattle Bowl. 

The second bowl game was the Sun Bowl in 2003, which also resulted in a loss. This time the Ducks played much better and lost 31-30 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Ducks began to rise again and from 2005-2008, the Ducks had 36 wins to 15 losses and in the conference the Ducks had 23 wins to 12 losses.

The record since 2005 has been solid with the Ducks finishing second twice, fourth once, and fifth once. Yet, during this time there has been one constant from Bellotti's teams. That is they can't win the big game they need to get over the hump, such as beating USC at home in Autzen or winning bowl games.

Sure they beat some other ranked teams during the process, but it wasn't as if the Ducks thoroughly dominated those teams the way USC did to Oregon.

In the three wins over ranked teams in 2005, the Ducks margin of victory was by eight points. In the two losses to the ranked teams, the Ducks average margin of loss was by 18 points.

The Ducks lost to No. 1 USC 45-13 in Autzen Stadium and lost to No. 23 Oklahoma 17-14 in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, CA.

For the 2006 season, the Ducks only won one game against a ranked opponent. It was against the Oklahoma Sooners and that was the game that caused the replay controversy. Anyways, the Ducks came up with a 34-33 victory over the Sooners in Autzen Stadium

The Ducks losses included a 45-24 loss to No. 20 California at Memorial Stadium. Here's an example of how sloppy Oregon gets in its losses. Desean Jackson Punt Return and Jackson's Easy TD Reception.

The Ducks next ranked opponent were the No. 7 USC Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Ducks had no chance, losing 35-10. From that point on the Ducks lost to unranked Arizona at Autzen 37-10, lost to Oregon State in Reser Stadium 30-28, and lost their bowl game to #20 BYU 38-8.  

For the 2007 season, the Ducks again lost to a ranked California team. This time the score wasn't too bad, but it was another loss to a ranked team in Autzen. California was ranked No. 6 and beat the Ducks 31-24.

This was the game where Marcus Ezeff made up for a stupid penalty which allowed the Ducks to get points. Ezeff caught Cameron Colvin from behind causing him to fumble the ball out of the end zone and Cal got the ball for the touchback.

The Ducks finally beat No. 9 USC in Autzen 24-17 and beat No. 6 Arizona State in Autzen as well 35-23, but lost to Arizona in Tucson 34-24. That was the game when the Ducks lost quite possibly the best player in the country to injury and were well on their way to being the Pac-10 champions.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, there was no succession plan in case of an injury to Dennis Dixon and from that point on the Ducks season which was full of promise, evaporated. The Ducks lost 16-0 to UCLA, did fight their way against Oregon State, but lost in double overtime 31-28. The Ducks did manage to annihilate the University of South Florida ranked No. 23 at the time in the Sun Bowl 56-21.

For the 2008 season, the Ducks had a solid season. They did beat ranked teams rather handily including Oregon State 65-38 and their bowl game against Oklahoma State 42-31. Yet, just like years before when playing USC or California the Ducks didn't show up. The Ducks lost to No. 9 USC 44-10 and lost to not ranked California, 26-16.

With the latest bowl victory for Mike Bellotti who ended his career at Oregon in bowl games with a .500 record at 6-6, it was a perfect time for him to step down. The Ducks have had some solid teams under Bellotti, but unfortunately for Bellotti he could never get past USC to put the Ducks at the next level.

It was a good choice by Bellotti to step down because he realized that he could pretty much stay in Oregon as long as he wanted to because no one at Oregon would fire him. So, he did the correct thing and resigned to become the Athletic Director.

Hopefully Bellotti will be able to realize when a coach has worn out their welcome or the team can go only be able to so far with that coach.