Former longtime Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti announced he will step down from his athletic director post at the school and will take a job with ESPN. The network says he will begin work as a college football analyst for them on April 17th.Bellotti has endured a tough 2010, terminating basketball coach Ernie Kent and having to put out the fires of a football program under scrutiny after several players were suspended or removed from the team for various antisocial misdeeds. Inevitably this is fueling speculation that Bellotti is looking towards a return to coaching in 2011 or 2012.
Care to venture any guesses where Bellotti might end up if that is how things work out? USC did court him in 2001 before landing on Pete Carroll although the Trojans are likely set for at least the next few years with Lane Kiffin.
Anyway, ESPN's laying it on pretty thick, quoting Bellotti in its official release that 'working as an analyst for ESPN is a dream come true', which may be true for people who haven't been head coaches at prominent football programs but is non-credible coming from Bellotti.
ESPN also called the Pac-10 a 'perennial power' which is a strain given the Pac-10's overall reputation with several of their analysts. No harm though, as landing Bellotti could work out well and gives a platform to someone with a longtime background in the overlooked conference.
Meanwhile, Oregon must now find its third athletic director this decade, always an interesting situation given the well-known influence and financial backing Nike has on the program.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
"I want everyone understand that I'm not running from anything at all." Bellotti was quoted as saying.
Sorry Bellotti, you incompetent coward, but that's exactly what you're doing.