Mike Bellotti - U of O Head Football Coach

When Mike Bellotti was elevated to head football coach at the University of Oregon on Feb. 13, 1995, few people could have envisioned the impact the former UC Davis honors student would have on a university, as well as a community, which was coming off its first conference championship in 37 years. In the 11 seasons that followed, all he accomplished would be the navigation of a program through its most successful era in school history.

Standing on the verge of becoming the Ducks’ winningest football coach of all time, Bellotti has guided Oregon to the No. 2 ranking in the country and a Fiesta Bowl win following the 2001 season, led the school to nine bowl appearances in his 11 years at the helm, tallied eight or more wins in a single season seven times, accumulated the second-most victories (90) of any program in the Pac-10 during his tenure and has overseen a team that has finished among the nation’s Top-20 four times in the past seven seasons.

None of his 29 Oregon predecessors can match his timetable for success as well as few in the Pacific-10 Conference. The “dean of the Pac-10” is tied for ninth all time in conference wins (56-32) while only four former league mentors (John Robinson, Don James, Terry Donahue and Larry Smith) were able to post more conference triumphs than Bellotti in their first 10 years in the Pac-10. His 90-42 ledger as the Ducks’ head coach (111-67-2 overall) begins the 2006 campaign only one victory shy of Rich Brooks (1977-94) as the winningest football coach in school history, while his winning percentage of 68.2 percent trails only Hugo Bezdek (72.7%—1906, 1913-17) among Oregon’s all-time mentors who coached the Ducks a minimum of three seasons.

Guiding the Ducks to an unprecedented seventh-consecutive bowl appearance in 2003, the Northern California native has played a vital role in assembling more than 24 percent (129 wins) of the University’s all-time triumphs (532) since assuming the role as the school’s offensive coordinator prior to the 1989 season. In addition, only six active Division I coaches in the country have guided their current schools to more postseason appearances than Bellotti has at Oregon while he ranks 16th on the list of winningest active Division I-A coaches in the country.

In 2001, Bellotti coached the Ducks to their first-ever 11-win season as Oregon crushed Colorado, 38-16, in the Fiesta Bowl to finish with an all-time high national ranking of second in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls. For his efforts, Bellotti was one of seven finalists for the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coach of the Year Award. Victories in the Fiesta Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Sun Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl have established him as the school’s only mentor to coach the Ducks to four postseason wins. Oregon’s 10-2 mark in 2000 gave the University its first 10-win season in its history, and seventh- and ninth-place rankings in the year-end AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls. Last year’s 10 wins matched the program’s second-best ledger ever and its greatest single-season turnaround in 77 years.

The former California State Chico head coach wasted little time leaving his mark on an Oregon program which snapped a 25-year postseason drought in his first season as an assistant in Eugene, with the Ducks surpassing all previous team scoring records in 1989. But not even his initial six-year association with the university, which resulted in the establishment or equivalency of no less than 40 team and individual single-game and season UO records, could prepare Oregon for what was to follow.

Assuming control over a program which had just won its first undisputed Pacific-10 Conference title in school history and received its first Rose Bowl invitation in four decades, it would have been easier to take a moment to reflect on past accomplishments while breaking in a pair of coordinators new to the program. What resulted was a second-consecutive New Year’s Day appearance for the first time in school history as the Ducks equaled the previous season’s effort with a nine-win season in 1995. Simply put, no first-year coach in the history of Oregon football had ever won as many games (9-3). No other Oregon coach has equalled the number of single-season school-record victories (9) and then raised the bar to 10 and 11 wins. No other football coach has ever posted winning records in his first nine years of his Oregon tenure. It’s obvious that Robert Michael Bellotti has Oregon football well in hand.

The Ducks have averaged better than 400 yards total offense in eight of the past 11 seasons. In addition, Bellotti’s teams ranked in the top 25 in the country in three major offensive categories five of the past 10 years, completing his first six years ranked among the nation’s top-25 in passing offense (15th in 1995; 12th in ’96; 20th in ’97; 11th in ’98; 19th in ’99; 25th in ’00). Oregon also finished seventh in the country in scoring offense (39.1 ppg) and 10th in total offense (478.2 avg.) in 1998, eighth in the nation in passing (304.5 avg.) and 12th in scoring (34.5 avg.) in 2005, as well as 11th in scoring (35.1 avg.) in ’99, 19th in ’01 (34.0) and 23rd in ’02 (32.1).

Oregon has scored 30 or more points 100 times during Bellotti’s tenure (eight of 12 games in 2005) and his offenses have accumulated close to 79,000 yards (78,901)—the most productive period of its length in school history. Bellotti’s teams also have averaged 418.1 yards (3,763) and 27.6 points (248) during their last nine bowl appearances. In addition, only nine quarterbacks have thrown for more than 8,000 yards and pitched for more than 60 touchdowns in Pacific-10 Conference history. Bellotti has coached two of them.Bellotti’s contingents also have gained the reputation for getting better as the season wears on, with the school accumulating a record of 25-10 in regular-season games after Oct. 31.

Yet throughout all the winning and record-setting, the one quality which remains constant for the 55-year-old offensive architect is poise. As a result of the infectious composure filtering down from the top, the Ducks have prevailed in 41 of the 50 games decided by a touchdown or less in Bellotti’s first 132 Oregon head coaching assignments. Serving on the Board of Trustees for the American Football Coaches Association, his passions run much deeper than just the game of football. He sponsors an annual golf tournament, the Mike Bellotti Golf Classic—which raised a record $98,000 in 2003 in its ninth year.

In addition, he donated $25,000 to the university’s library system in 2002 to kick off the establishment of the Bellotti Family Fund. He carries with him experience as a head coach in one of the nation’s most difficult situations -- a Division II football program that granted no scholarships. In five years at Chico State, the Wildcats finished second in the Northern California Conference four straight years, competing against the tradition-steeped national power UC Davis. That was a task made no easier by the fact that he played for the Aggies and is a graduate of the school.

The opportunity to be judged in the Pacific-10 Conference has showcased his coaching ability. In the 1995 Rose Bowl with more people watching the Ducks than at any time in the school’s heritage, Oregon gained more yards than the highly publicized offense of Penn State that had emphatically led the nation in total offense in 1994 and boasted three first-round NFL draft selections. Oregon, led by the game’s co-MVP Danny O’Neil, set or tied 15 Rose Bowl records and the Ducks finished the day with 501 yards in total offense. Its sophisticated game plan kept the unbeaten Nittany Lions off balance all afternoon.

Born in Sacramento, Calif., he became the eighth head coach at Oregon since World War II almost six years to the day after assuming the role as the University’s offensive coordinator in 1989. He was the fourth offensive coordinator under Rich Brooks and easily the most productive. The Ducks gained more than 4,000 yards in total offense three times in Bellotti’s tenure as coordinator, averaging 4,044 yards per year and posting a 39-32-0 record during his six-year assistant coaching stint.

It’s to the head coach’s credit too, that the 1995 offense averaged more than 400 yards of offensive firepower for the first time since Bellotti’s first season as coordinator in 1989. His influence proved to be even more successful in 1998 as the Ducks’ 5,795 yards and 59 scores eclipsed the school’s standards for total offense and touchdowns for the third time in as many years.

During his Oregon tenure, Bellotti has been influential in the development of four Pacific-10 all-conference quarterbacks—Bill Musgrave in 1990, O’Neil in 1994 (who completed his career as the Rose Bowl co-MVP), Akili Smith in 1998 (Oregon’s first Pac-10 offensive player of the year in league history) and Joey Harrington in 2001 (Pac-10 offensive player of the year and a Heisman Trophy finalist). In addition, his system has been conducive to two quarterbacks each passing for over 1,000 yards in the same season on three separate occasions (1996, 1997 and 1999) — a feat that had never been accomplished in school history prior to Bellotti’s arrival. While the faces have changed, Bellotti’s system has been responsible for Oregon ranking among the nation’s top-20 in passing offense seven of the last 13 years under nine different quarterbacks as well as five different coordinators. Oregon led the Pacific-10 Conference in scoring his initial year as offensive coordinator in 1989 as well as atop the league in passing in his first year as head coach. Following Oregon’s 1989 Independence Bowl trip, Bellotti coached the North offense in the Blue-Gray all-star classic in Montgomery, Ala., on Christmas Day. It was an honor that was duplicated in December 1996 when he was chosen to head the North’s defense. He was an assistant coach in the East-West Shine Game in January 1999 and head coach of the West squad for the 2002 game. He also was selected as head coach of the West squad in the 2005 Hula Bowl.

Bellotti’s indoctrination as a head coach took place in five seasons at Chico State (1984-88), where he posted a 21-25-2 overall record and a 15-9-2 mark in the Northern California Athletic Conference. He was selected as the league’s coach of the year in 1986 when the Wildcats ranked nationally in total offense and finished 7-3-0 with a No. 10 national rating.

A native of Concord, Calif., Bellotti was a 1973 graduate of UC Davis as an honors student majoring in physical education with a combined minor in math and chemistry. He was a second-team all-Far West Conference tight end as a junior and at wide receiver as a senior. He also began his coaching career at Davis as head coach of the JV and receivers coach in addition to coaching the JV baseball squad.

After four years, he moved to Cal State-Hayward as offensive coordinator for two seasons before a one-year stint in the same capacity at Weber State. He returned to Hayward the next year and obtained his master’s degree in physical education during a four-year stay before being selected head coach at Chico State in 1984.

Bellotti (12-21-50) has three children; Luke (3-16-85), Keri (10-29-86) and Sean (3-31-94). His oldest son, Luke, is a walk-on junior kicker for the Ducks.

Return to Celebrities Page