Mike Bellotti
{{For|the Massachusetts politician|Michael G. Bellotti}}
{{short description|American college football analyst}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Mike Bellotti
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|12|21|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Sacramento, California, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater =
| player_years1 = 1970–1972
| player_team1 = UC Davis
| player_positions = Tight end, wide receiver
| coach_years1 = 1973–1976
| coach_team1 = UC Davis (assistant)
| coach_years2 = 1977–1978
| coach_team2 = Cal State Hayward (OC)
| coach_years3 = 1979
| coach_team3 = Weber State (OC)
| coach_years4 = 1980–1983
| coach_team4 = Cal State Hayward (OC)
| coach_years5 = 1984–1988
| coach_team5 = Chico State
| coach_years6 = 1989–1994
| coach_team6 = Oregon (OC)
| coach_years7 = 1995–2008
| coach_team7 = Oregon
| admin_years1 = 2009–2010
| admin_team1 = Oregon
| overall_record = 137–80–2
| bowl_record = 6–6
| tournament_record =
| championships = 2 Pac-10 (2000–2001)
| awards =
| coaching_records =
| CFBHOF_year = 2014
| CFBHOF_id = 2358
}}
Robert Michael Bellotti (born December 21, 1950) is an American college football analyst for ESPN and ABC.{{Cite web | url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=5009981 | title=Oregon's Bellotti resigns as AD; will join ESPN| date=March 19, 2010}} He was with the University of Oregon's football program for over 20 years serving as offensive coordinator for six years, head coach for 14 years, and athletic director for one year. Bellotti is the winningest coach in Oregon football history and is credited with building the program into a major football power.{{Cite web | url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=3977901 | title=Bellotti hands off title of Oregon coach to Kelly| date=March 13, 2009}} He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.{{cite web|title=NFF Proudly Announces Impressive 2014 College Football Hall of Fame Class|author=National Football Foundation|publisher=FootballFoundation.org|date=May 22, 2014|access-date=May 22, 2014|url=https://footballfoundation.org/news/2014/5/21/_54778.aspx?path=football}}
Early life
Bellotti attended Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, California, where he played football, basketball and baseball and graduated in 1969.{{cite web|title=Mike Bellotti Biography |publisher=GoDucks.com |url=http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3376&SPID=233&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22667&Q_SEASON=2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205535/http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3376&SPID=233&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22667&Q_SEASON=2007 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }} After high school, he went to the University of California, Davis and played football at the positions of tight end and wide receiver. He started at tight end as a sophomore and junior, then earned second-team all-Far Western Conference honors at wide receiver as senior. Bellotti graduated from UC Davis with a B.A. in Physical Education in 1973. He completed the teaching credential program at UC Davis in 1974. In 1982, Bellotti earned his Master of Science degree in Physical Education at California State University, East Bay (then known as Cal State-Hayward).{{cite news |url=http://www20.csueastbay.edu/news/blog/2010/03/mike-bellotti-csueb-alumnus-new-espn-analyst.html|title=New ESPN football analyst is CSUEB alumnus and former offensive coordinator |date=March 23, 2010}} He is an alumnus of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.
Coaching career
=UC Davis=
In 1973, Bellotti started his career in football coaching at his alma mater as an assistant coach under College Football Hall of Fame coach Jim Sochor.{{cite web | title = UC Davis: UC Davis To Kick Off 2008 At San Jose State | publisher = NCAA | url = https://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082608afx.html }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The next season, he worked as the JV team's offensive coordinator, and during the 1975 and 1976 seasons he was the JV team's head coach. Also at that time, he served as the receivers coach for the varsity team and as a coach for UC Davis' JV baseball team.
=Cal State Hayward=
Bellotti was hired at California State University, Hayward (Cal State Hayward or CSU-Hayward; now California State University, East Bay) in 1977 and worked as the offensive coordinator for two seasons. He returned to the school as offensive coordinator in 1980, and remained until 1983. In 1982, he earned a master's degree from the school in physical education.
=Weber State=
In 1979, Bellotti served as offensive coordinator at Weber State University, returning to CSU-Hayward after just one season.
=Chico State=
California State University, Chico (Chico State) hired Bellotti to serve as their head football coach in 1984. He remained head coach until 1988 and compiled a record of 21–25–2. His record in the Northern California Athletic Conference was 15–9–2.{{cite web|url=http://michigan-football.com/ncaa/f/chichost.htm|title=Chico State Wildcats -- College Football (NCAA)}}
=Oregon=
University of Oregon head coach Rich Brooks hired Bellotti as offensive coordinator in 1989. Bellotti remained in that position through the 1994 season, when Brooks left to coach in the National Football League, and Bellotti was promoted to head coach starting with the 1995 season.
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); they had only won nine games on three occasions in the 100 years before Bellotti took over. 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.
Bellotti also led Oregon to a regular season #2 ranking in the 2007 season, albeit very briefly. After achieving that ranking, the Ducks lost Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Dennis Dixon to a season-ending knee injury, and Oregon proceeded to lose three straight games to Arizona, UCLA, and arch-rival Oregon State to close out the regular season. Earlier that season, Bellotti had led Oregon to a resounding 39–7 victory over Michigan at "The Big House", earning the Ducks and Dixon much national attention. Oregon also defeated #9 USC and #6 Arizona State in back-to-back games at Autzen Stadium earlier that season. Oregon recovered from their three-game losing streak following the Dixon injury by defeating South Florida in the Sun Bowl in dominating fashion (56–21), thus ending a streak of four straight bowl losses for the Ducks. In 2008, the Ducks recovered strongly from a mid-season lull to win their last four games against solid competition, including a Holiday Bowl win over 13th-ranked Oklahoma State.{{cite web|title =Oregon 2008 Schedule/Results|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/schedule/_/id/2483/oregon-ducks}} Although he only won two Pac-10 titles due to the latter half of his tenure being occupied by USC's dominance of the conference, Bellotti is still credited with building Oregon into a major football power nonetheless.
Oregon athletic director
On December 2, 2008, shortly after defeating the Oregon State Beavers in the Civil War to prevent them from clinching a Rose Bowl berth, the university announced that Bellotti would pass the head coaching position on to offensive coordinator Chip Kelly at some undetermined point in the future and take over as the university's athletic director at that time.{{cite web | title = UO President Announces Succession Plan for Athletics Department | date = December 2, 2008 | publisher = GoDucks.com | url = http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3626601 | access-date = December 3, 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090204025208/http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3626601 | archive-date = February 4, 2009 }}{{cite web | first = Bob | last = Clark | title = Ducks set succession line | publisher = The Eugene Register Guard | date = December 3, 2008 | url = http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/3564958-41/story.csp | access-date = December 3, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081205043110/http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/3564958-41/story.csp | archive-date = December 5, 2008 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}{{cite web | title = Bellotti To Step Aside; No Timetable Set | publisher = KPTV | date = December 2, 2008 | url = http://www.kptv.com/sports/18190153/detail.html# | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081205032351/http://www.kptv.com/sports/18190153/detail.html | archive-date = December 5, 2008 }}
During his tenure as athletic director, Bellotti dealt with a number of disciplinary issues involving members of the football program, including LeGarrette Blount, LaMichael James, and Jeremiah Masoli, and fired long-time basketball coach Ernie Kent, whose teams had performed poorly in recent seasons.{{cite news|url=http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/archives/198725.asp?from=blog_last3|title=Oregon AD Bellotti steps down|date=March 19, 2010|access-date=March 19, 2010|work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer}} After just nine months on the job, Bellotti announced his resignation March 19, 2010 to join ESPN as a college football analyst. Bellotti had agreed to terms with UO officials, but there was no written contract. The resignation agreement, including the payout terms, was placed on paper and signed by Bellotti on March 16, with university president Richard Lariviere signing it on March 19. Because of the lack of an initial written contract, the Oregon Justice Department reviewed the $2.3 million severance payment from the University of Oregon to the former athletic director.{{Cite web | url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=5040095 | title=Oregon's $2.3M payout to Bellotti under scrutiny| date=March 30, 2010}} In addition to the buyout{{Cite news|url=http://mailtribune.com/sports/college/oregon-hires-rob-mullens-as-ad|title=Oregon hires Rob Mullens as AD|last=Group|first=Sinclair Broadcast|work=Mail Tribune|access-date=May 26, 2018|language=en-US}} Bellotti draws a $559,000 yearly pension from the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System.{{Cite news|url=https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/04/15/former-oregon-coach-mike-bellotti-drawing-559000-a-year-pension-from-state/|title=Former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti drawing $559,000 a year pension from state|date=April 15, 2018|work=CollegeFootballTalk|access-date=May 26, 2018|language=en-US}}
In 2009, Bellotti was named third vice president of the American Football Coaches Association. According to AFCA tradition, he would move up to second vice president in 2010, first vice president in 2011 and president in 2012.[http://www.rgj.com/article/20090113/SPORTS/90113056&OAS_sitepage=news.rgj.com%2Fbreakingnews SJSU's Tomey is named president of American Football Coaches Association - Associated Press - January 13, 2009]
ESPN analyst
In March 2010, Bellotti announced that he was resigning as athletic director to become a college football television analyst on ESPN, with his first appearance on ESPN to occur in April.{{Cite news|url=http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/03/mike-bellotti-joins-espn-for-college-football-studio-game-analysis/ |title=Mike Bellotti Joins ESPN for College Football Studio & Game Analysis |work=ESPN.com |date=March 19, 2010 |access-date=March 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601043433/http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/03/mike-bellotti-joins-espn-for-college-football-studio-game-analysis/ |archive-date=June 1, 2010 }}
Head coaching record
{{CFB Yearly Record Start|type=coach|poll=both|team=|bowl=|conf}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Chico State Wildcats
| conf = Northern California Athletic Conference
| startyear = 1984
| endyear = 1988
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1984
| name = Chico State
| overall = 4–5–1
| conference = 2–3–1
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1985
| name = Chico State
| overall = 4–4–1
| conference = 3–1–1
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1986
| name = Chico State
| overall = 7–3
| conference = 4–1
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1987
| name = Chico State
| overall = 3–6
| conference = 3–2
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1988
| name = Chico State
| overall = 3–7
| conference = 3–2
| confstanding = T–2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Chico State
| overall = 21–25–2
| confrecord = 15–9–2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Oregon Ducks
| conf = Pacific-10 Conference
| startyear = 1995
| endyear = 2008
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 1995
| name = Oregon
| overall = 9–3
| conference = 6–2
| confstanding = 3rd
| bowlname = Cotton
| bowloutcome = L
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 18
| ranking2 = 18
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 1996
| name = Oregon
| overall = 6–5
| conference = 3–5
| confstanding = T–5th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 1997
| name = Oregon
| overall = 7–5
| conference = 3–5
| confstanding = T–7th
| bowlname = Las Vegas
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 1998
| name = Oregon
| overall = 8–4
| conference = 5–3
| confstanding = T–3rd
| bowlname = Aloha
| bowloutcome = L
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 1999
| name = Oregon
| overall = 9–3
| conference = 6–2
| confstanding = T–2nd
| bowlname = Sun
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 18
| ranking2 = 19
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2000
| name = Oregon
| overall = 10–2
| conference = 7–1
| confstanding = T–1st
| bowlname = Holiday
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 9
| ranking2 = 7
| championship = conference
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2001
| name = Oregon
| overall = 11–1
| conference = 7–1
| confstanding = 1st
| bowlname = Fiesta
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl = yes
| ranking = 2
| ranking2 = 2
| championship = conference
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2002
| name = Oregon
| overall = 7–6
| conference = 3–5
| confstanding = 8th
| bowlname = Seattle
| bowloutcome = L
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2003
| name = Oregon
| overall = 8–5
| conference = 5–3
| confstanding = T–3rd
| bowlname = Sun
| bowloutcome = L
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2004
| name = Oregon
| overall = 5–6
| conference = 4–4
| confstanding = T–5th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2005
| name = Oregon
| overall = 10–2
| conference = 7–1
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname = Holiday
| bowloutcome = L
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 12
| ranking2 = 12
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2006
| name = Oregon
| overall = 7–6
| conference = 4–5
| confstanding = T–5th
| bowlname = Las Vegas
| bowloutcome = L
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 =
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2007
| name = Oregon
| overall = 9–4
| conference = 5–4
| confstanding = T–4th
| bowlname = Sun
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 23
| ranking2 = 24
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| year = 2008
| name = Oregon
| overall = 10–3
| conference = 7–2
| confstanding = T–2nd
| bowlname = Holiday
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 9
| ranking2 = 10
| championship =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Oregon
| overall = 116–55
| confrecord = 72–43
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| overall = 137–80–2
| yearstart = 2001
| yearend = 2001
| poll = two
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{College Football HoF|2358}}
{{Chico State Wildcats football coach navbox}}
{{Oregon Ducks football coach navbox}}
{{Oregon Ducks athletic director navbox}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellotti, Mike}}
Category:American football tight ends
Category:American football wide receivers
Category:College football announcers
Category:Cal State Hayward Pioneers football coaches
Category:Chico State Wildcats football coaches
Category:Oregon Ducks athletic directors
Category:Oregon Ducks football coaches
Category:UC Davis Aggies football coaches
Category:UC Davis Aggies football players
Category:Weber State Wildcats football coaches
Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:California State University, East Bay alumni
Category:Players of American football from Sacramento, California