Desert Duck

"I don't think that even back then Santa Clara was considered D1 level" I was wrong about this. Santa Clara was considered the equivalent of a D1 level program back then.

Sheesh... I was just a bit outside on that one. I was off a year on my first game... I was at that 1974 66-0 loss. Unfortunately, I missed our 1973 58-0 win. That must have been wonderful.

"Casanova beat Bear Bryant's Kentucky in the 1950 Orange Bowl, they were a top program under Cas" Great catch, and I stand corrected. Santa Clara was considered the equivalent of a D1 program during that period. Cas was definitely well respected and he had an overall winning record during his 16 years at Oregon. And as I mentioned previously, prior to Oregon, his head coaching experience was 4 years at Santa Clara, and 1 year at Pitt.

It's sometimes easy for us to get "blinded by the light." Okay... I know that's just bad and I'll stop now. I definitely took that a bridge too far.

Excellent comments. However, I respectfully disagree regarding your Chris Peterson assessment while he was HC at UW. If I look at the bigger picture, in the 10 years prior to his arrival at UW, their program had a horrific 57-76 / 43% winning record, and not a single BCS bowl (and who can forget those wonderful Husky seasons during this period of 1-10, 2-9, and 0-12... not that I'm bitter or anything ). Under Peterson's tenure, from 2014-2019, they were 55-26 / 68% winning record, won 2 PAC12 Championships, and went to 2 BCS bowl games (albeit, losing both games). To me it appears Peterson stopped the bleeding and, based upon where the Husky program had been the previous 10 years, was quite successful.

MC is going to get that new stadium right about at the same time pigs fly out of a very unlikely place

Yikes... great point. But given the incredible lack of resources (read: "Money") our program had back then, I'm not sure anyone was going to be very successful coaching at Oregon.

Joe Brady would be another total roll of the dice. I'm not a fan of those kind of odds.

"Would either man leave their present situation for Oregon?" If I was Aranda, I wouldn't. Baylor is an excellent school with huge support for their sports programs (and they have great colors). They're located in the heart of Texas which makes recruiting much easier. They have amazing facilities. They have money. And like their 2021 NCAA Championship Men's basketball team, they have one goal in mind... a College Football National Championship. I'd love it if he made the move, and it's interesting that he apparently hasn't yet signed his new lucrative contract, but I just don't see him making the jump.

I'm certainly open to it.

Q2. What would Kelly had been able to do with a field goal kicker. 4 NC games? That question alone is simply painful . Ouch.

"But instead of that Oregon thought they could keep the momentum going with Helfrich." I still like the heart of the decision to hire Helfrich. Plus, with both Bellotti and Kelly, we had experienced back-to-back exceptional success by promoting our previous OC's to the HC role. I appreciate the decision to hire Helfrich, but it was also very risky.

"Cas was 21-13-3 at Santa Clara from 1946-49" True. But I don't think that even back then Santa Clara was considered D1 level. He then went 1-8 at Pittsburg, and as you pointed out, the Korean War decimated his team.

"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.