Desert Duck

"Well after the last couple weeks you could also conclude Notre Dame and Oklahoma are stepping stone programs." I consider a "stepping stone program" to be one where a coach is coming in from a lower level, or lower tier program, to Oregon. Clearly, Taggert and Cristobal fit this definition. Riley was a OU for 6 years and departed for USC. Kelly was at ND for 11 years and departed for LSU. I consider both of these moves to be virtually lateral moves, and not a stepping stone.

"That is a hard piece of reality." I had the same take as you. I took time to look at this yesterday, and then again today going back further to Aiken, Casanova, Frei, & Enright. From what I can find, none of them had a previously winning D1 head coaching record -- except for Aiken. And further, most of our coaches never had previous college head coaching experience (Frei, Enright, Brooks, Kelly, & Helfrich), let alone D1 head coaching experience. *Casanova at least had a winning record at Santa Clara (23-13-3), but then went to Pittsburg for one season and was 1-8. And then onto Oregon. *Frei had never previously been a head coach prior to Oregon, and appears to never have been one after Oregon. *Enright also had never been a head coach prior to Oregon, and appears to never have been one after Oregon. In 1947, Oregon hired Jim Aiken who did have a winning record at Nevada - 38-26-4. So, we have to go back about 75 years to find an Oregon head coach who, prior to coming to Oregon, had a winning D1 record. If we were ever going to hire a marquee coach with a previously winning D1 record, I think it was going to come on the heels of Chip Kelly.

Going back at least 50 years, Oregon has never hired a coach with a previously winning D1 head coaching record.

In the immortal words of Mr. T: "I pity the fool" who would choose to coach at Miami.

Even back in 1996, the disgusting "Bob Sugar" had it right: "It's not show friends, it's show business." It's not a world I like, but it's the world we all too often live in.

Agreed. Plus Oregon resides in the P5 cellar known at the PAC12. But why can't we at least attract a head coach who has previously had a winning D1 record?

"When I remember her reaction to the infamous Auburn 'roll over the tackler and keep running'" Oh man... that one physically hurt for days. I was in the lower corner of the end zone where we scored the go ahead TD. And then that bizarre kickoff return happened. That felt like having my guts ripped out a bit.

After the words, "Urban Meyer," you lost me.

USC scored a major league home run with Riley. Unfortunately, once again we're basically left fighting for leftover table scraps.

Is this news actually a surprise to anyone? The kid literally holds a lottery ticket and the virtually meaningless Alamo Bowl could potentially cost him millions of dollars. He made the intelligent decision. End of story. Let's be grateful for having him at Oregon for three years.

Is anyone asking the obvious question? After all of the money, all of the investment, Nike, an incredible national brand, etc, why is Oregon viewed by coaches as a stepping-stone program?

You are correct. But this is big business and that phone call often no longer comes. Plus, it's Miami and I'm pretty sure they sort of live in a world where no rules exist. What a nasty place to try and coach a football team.

Great article, Darren. I will forever be grateful for the four-year ride Chip Kelly took us on from 2009-2012. As a kid, having been to my first Oregon game in 1973 only to watch the UW trash us 58-0, like many fans, the wounds of year in and year out losing seasons seemed like they’d never end. In 1989, when we begged, borrowed, lobbied, and bought our way into the Independence Bowl and our first bowl game in over a quarter-century, and then completed an 8-4 season, we were riding high. Our expectations were very meager at the time. Coach Brooks, who over 18 seasons had an overall Oregon losing record, in 1994-95 had hung in there and finally led us to a PAC12 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl for about the first time since dinosaurs roamed the Willamette Valley. In 1995, enter Coach Bellotti – and arguably much more importantly, the major league Phil & Penny Knight money began to follow shortly after that. Bellotti coached us through some excellent seasons. The 2, 3, & 4 win season debacles seemed to be in our rearview mirror. The ROI on the Knight’s investment was paying off. In 2009, the table could not have been set better for Chip Kelly to take over. However, what he did this opportunity was off the charts phenomenal. In the realm of football (grade school through the NFL), he effectively did “split the atom.” Quite often, it was nothing short of total jaw-dropping to watch. I told anyone who would listen to enjoy every minute of it because we might likely never see anything like this again. Chip was absolutely the right guy at the right time and place in college football history. I will be forever grateful for the ride he took us on. And with all of this being said, Chip is absolutely, 100%, the wrong guy for Oregon today. I believe that Chip was built for a specific football place in time, greatness followed, and that time has now passed. Ten years later, in many ways, Chip is a college football dinosaur. To further play on Darren’s excellent AC/DC music analogy, as Boston once said, “Don’t look back… a new day is breakin.”

"or you're from Florida" For sure no more coaches from Florida

Because it is a beyond stunning beauty. As is most of Oregon. If it was a beauty contest, Oregon wins hands down pretty much every time.

It's still a classic... with a lot of truth.

Mullen's is trying to act like he was blindsided. I don't buy it for a second.

Please... Mullens pretending to have been caught with his pants down is not a good look. 10:1 he's been hearing about this possibility for at least 3 weeks. If he was actually blindsided, shame on him. Deals like this are always leaked. Perhaps Mullens needs to wake up to the fact that "We live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors." - Jerry Maguire 1996

We'd like to think we are the new blue-blood. We came close with Kelly. But the proof is in the winning.

Well... our head coach was already checked out when we played Utah 3 1/2 weeks ago, and we have one of the youngest teams in the nation. I'm certainly not going to start blaming the kids given given the crap-show that they've just endured... and are enduring.

Oregon needs to land a new head coach in the next week or say goodbye to the entire recruiting season. I’m very glad Mike is willing to step in, but we need this problem solved long term, and ASAP. The program has known for at least three weeks that there was a good chance MC was gone.

When was the last time Oregon hired a proven, successful, head football coach with a winning D1 record? (I emphasize D1 because Don Read squeaked out a 20-19 record at Portland State before becoming an assistant coach at Oregon, and then the HC 1974). At least in the last 50 years, the answer is a stone, cold-hearted, “NEVER.” Not Enright, Read, Brooks, Bellotti, Kelly, Helfrich, Taggert, and certainly not Cristobal. I feel like if Oregon were ever going to attract a proven, marquee-level coach, it would have come on the heels of Chip Kelly. When Chip departed in 2012, Oregon had amassed a record over the previous six years of 65-14, concluding with one National Championship game, two Rose Bowls, and a Fiesta Bowl. In addition, thanks to the unprecedented generosity of Phil & Penny Knight, we arguably had (and still have) the most outstanding facilities in all of college football. We also have the major athlete attraction of basically being “Team Nike.” And finally, the program essentially has more football money than God to throw out to potential hires. Given all of this, my question is: Is the Oregon head coaching job attractive to proven, marquee-level, coaching talent? At the end of the day, when I look at the facts and history, the University of Oregon football head coaching gig is simply not as attractive to proven head coaching talent as some of us might like to believe. Look no further than our last three hires – Helfrich (no previous HC experience), Taggert (losing HC record before & after Oregon), and Cristobal (‘nuff said). And if we recall, Kelly was also a bit of a wild-card hire as he had no previous head coaching experience. In light of all of this, unless we can do what we have not done in at least a half-century and hire a proven marquee coach, and I don’t see that on the horizon, I’ve reconsidered my Justin Wilcox take. Why not give the guy a shot? Maybe it’s time to go old-school, bring the guy home, and let him attempt to build something more than flash.

Is it just me, or does Chip's UCLA record of 18-25 get anybody's attention?

Anyone who thought guys like Chip, Taggert, & MC were going to stay in Eugene for more than 4-ish years were/are just kidding themselves (thankfully, Taggert was much less time than that. Talk about a horrid HC). Part of the problem is when D1 HC's are paid as much money as they are today, and even paid huge money to leave, money becomes less of a motivator or controlling factor with them. You have a lot of options available when you have $10-20 million in the bank.

I'm guessing MC is going to share the least greatest kept secret since about time began.