BELLOTTI STEPPING DOWN AS A.D. Will join ESPN.

Shocker!!!!!
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Updated: March 19, 2010, 4:52 PM ET


Bellotti quits as Ducks AD, joins ESPN


Former Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti has resigned as the Ducks' athletic director and will join ESPN as a college football analyst.


Bellotti, who assumed the position of athletic director in July, will provide studio and game analysis among several ESPN platforms, making his debut April 17 on ESPNU's telecast of Auburn's spring football game.


"I am really excited to join the best team in college football broadcasting," Bellotti said in a statement Friday. "Working as an analyst for ESPN is a dream come true and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I will bring the insight, experience and expertise I have gathered from 36 years of coaching college football to the studio and telecast booth. Spring ball is in full swing, I can't wait to start."


In 14 seasons, Bellotti's Ducks went 116-55 as he became the school's winningest football coach. In 2001, Oregon won 11 games, including a 38-16 victory over Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl to finish ranked No. 2.


"Coach Bellotti ranks as one of the most successful head coaches in the perennial power Pac-10 Conference," Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production said in a statement. "His knowledge and experience will deepen our roster of analysts and provide us with a unique perspective of someone who recently coached in the game."

Mike Bellotti left football to be an athletic director, but football never left him. That's why he's now at ESPN instead of Oregon, as Ivan Maisel notes. Story

A UC Davis graduate in 1973, Bellotti joined Oregon in 1989 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Rich Brooks.
"He wanted to get back in football. That's the impression I got," current Oregon football coach Chip Kelly told ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel on Friday. "He's really, genuinely excited about the opportunity. I'm happy for him. I'm sad. I had one of the best situations. When your AD actually understands what it's like to be football coach, it's great."
Bellotti's tenure as AD had been tumultuous. Earlier this week, he dismissed men's basketball coach Ernie Kent because of losses and dropping attendance.

He's also seen a spate of player misconduct on the football team. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, mentioned as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, was suspended for the upcoming season last week after pleading guilty to a second-degree burglary charge.

Masoli was the biggest name atop a list of incidents involving nine players, five of whom were kicked off the team or suspended for 2010.

Running back LaMichael James, who set the Pac-10 freshman rushing record last season, pleaded guilty to an unrelated harassment charge and was suspended by Kelly last week for the season opener Sept. 4.

"I want everyone to know I'm not running from anything at all," said Bellotti, who said he will continue to make Eugene his home.

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN.com's Ted Miller was used in this report.

[When Bellotti was in the booth doing color for the USC game last Halloween, you could tell he was having a ball. But the timing of this just  adds to the topsy turvy rocking of the ship.
Some bloggers commented that Ernie Kent would make a better AD than Bellotti. Perhaps now that deserves more serious consideration.

Well, best of luck to you, Bellotti. But your timing sucks. You totally pulled a Sarah Palin.  --kb

Bellotti resigns

Top ten things Ernie Kent said to Mike Bellotti before he was officially fired.

10. O.K. Mike, before you say anything, let me tell you my great idea for next season. Are you ready?  Four words: HALF COURT SPREAD OPTION !!!

9.  I told Tajuan Porter he needed to drop a dozen three's every night. How is it my fault he couldn't do that?

8.  No Mike, I did not spray paint 'Kiss my ass, M. B.' all over the walls of the new arena.

7.  O.K. maybe I did. But I had nothing to do with drawing a swoosh with a slash through it and the letters 'F.U.P.K'. on Phil Knight's helipad.

6. O.K., O.K maybe I did that too. But the guy who mooned the Knight Arena construction webcam with the words, "You'll miss me when I'm gone. --E.K." written on his butt, . . . . that wasn't me.

5. I must say that I am proud of my kids going to class, graduating, staying out of trouble . . . . By the way Mike, how's that goin' with your recruits?

4. Hey Mike, Jordan says "Hi . . . .dopey backstabbing royal bullshitter. "  . . . . What? . . . . I said, Jordan says "Hi. Hope we get back to the Rose Bowl soon- . . . er . . . . "

3. The scoreboard in your new arena will NEVER swing. I WAS. I AM. I ALWAYS WILL BE . . . THE SCOREBOARD SWINGER!!!

2. You can take away my Oregon dream job; but you'll never take away my fine New York suits.

And the number one thing Kent said to Bellotti before he was fired . . .

1. I'll sue you for discrimination. You can't fire me just because I'm not Obama's brother-in-law!

Ha ha. Ho ho.  Look at me, I'm David Freakin' Letterman. But to get serious, I must talk about what brought Ernie back to Oregon 13 years ago.

Back then our coach was Jerry Green, a Kansas guy. He was going to turn Oregon into Kansas. He brought in the preseason 'Midnight Madness' scrimmages. He changed the font on the uni's to that familiar Kansas Riverboat style. And for his entire tenure at Oregon, he complained about Mac Court. He convinced himself after a year that he could NEVER make a Kansas out of Oregon. He grew to resent Oregon. In Green's final season, as fans questioned his recruiting and coaching, he kept saying, "I've got the toughest job in all of basketball," meaning he stopped believing in the product. He couldn't convince kids to play here because he hated it himself.

After showing Green the door, in walks Ernie Kent. A Kamikaze Kid who LOVES Oregon. He loves the old barn that is Mac Court. He changed everything back to reflect and show off and mean OREGON. And then he did better than any other Oregon basketball coach to introduce the rest of the nation to the Oregon Ducks. Pac-10 tournament champs. Two Elite Eight appearances in the NCAA's. I recorded that Sweet 16 trouncing of UNLV. What a glorious game. I consider that the brightest moment of the Kent era.

Still I was one of those who said Ernie had to go. Why? Honestly, I don't know. I can't tell you exactly why it wasn't working. It was likely a whole lot of factors. All we know is it just wasn't.

Nobody likes to see a good coach get fired. It's not like Jerry Green. That was a situation where Oregon had to fire him fast so as not to give him the satisfaction of quitting. He couldn't get out of Eugene fast enough for him or us.

But this is a sad move, even though it's the right move. One person was reported to have said, "Ernie Kent doesn't deserve to be fired; but Oregon deserves a change."

I suppose its appropriate that Ernie Kent goes out with Mac Court. He helped to bring a respectable end to a rich historic era. When the basketballs and towels are loaded up into the moving van, ready to go to their new gleaming home; when the popcorn machines and soda fountains are disassembled; when the doors are swung shut for the final time at the old barn, and somebody yells, "Last man out, turn off the lights." . . . . 

Let that man be Ernie Kent.

Why? Let him explain it in the following video, the press conference of his firing . . .

Ernie Kent reflects on his time at Oregon

Meanwhile, LeGarrette Blount has been a perfect boyscout!

Message on Chip Kelly's answering machine.

"Mr. Kelly? I'm the facilities manager at the Rose Bowl here in Pasadena.  We just found your football players' brains. They're here in a duffel bag marked 'jock straps'. Sorry about that. I hope you weren't missing them."

That is the only way I can figure how this group of guys went from brilliant to stupid faster than the fans could take down their Rose Bowl decorations and carefully put them in the attic for another 15 years.

Let us recap:

Jeremiah Masoli and Garrett Embry are accused of entering the SAE's house and stealing stuff. (Holy Moly! Is that my laptop, Masoli?)  Garrett Embry has been kicked off the team because that was just the latest of a series of stupids he's committed. Up til now, the investigation was ongoing.

Meanwhile, just literally around the corner the Ducks' poor kicker Rob Beard nearly got his head kicked in by a couple of thugs for no apparent reason. Funny story . . . turns out there was an apparent reason. These thugs were responding to a very drunk Beard forearming a 19-year old, 90-pound girl and knocking her to the ground. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, but maintains he was too drunk to remember pushing her.

Defensive end Matt Simms got some revenge on the guy who beat up Beard. Too bad he pummelled an innocent person. He's off the team.

Sophomore linebacker Kiko Alonso was charged with DUI. Rumor spread that Kelly kicked him off the team. But it wasn't true. He just suspended him from playing for a season.

But that didn't stop wide receiver Jamere Holland from believing it was true.  And he decided his Facebook Page was called Facebook because it was the perfect forum to FACE his football coach. He called Coach Kelly's decision "Weak, weak, (bathroom word) (bathroom word)". My favorite line -- and unfortunately I can't find the exact quote now -- was when Holland said something like, "Look at me. I made some bad decisions and I'm still on the team."

I was envisioning Chip Kelly's Facebook Page the following day (assuming he had one) where at the very top it always asks, "What are you doing right now?"
Kelly:  "Kicking Jamere Holland's stupid ass off the team."

Then just in time for Valentines Day, Springfield police arrested Oregon starting running back LaMichael James on Feb. 17 on suspicion of strangulation, fourth degree assault and menacing of his alleged girlfriend. He was then required to wear an electronic bracelet, prompting laughing OSU fans to send me this:

New part of Duck uniforms

and this . . .

Oregon 2010 Media Guide

That brings us to today. The Eugene DA annouced they will charge Jeremiah Masoli and Garrett Embry with 2nd degree robbery -- a felony.

Also, LaMichael James will change his plea. He had earlier pled 'not guilty'. Word is he will change it to 'no contest' and get probation, battering spouse counseling, etc.

All three, coincidentally, will appear in court on Friday. Kelly said he will have a decision on Masoli and LaM. J. Friday -- probably after their court appearances.

What will happen to Masoli and LaM. J.?  The blog and twitter talk (which is about as reliable as trying to hold water in your hands) suggests the following:

LaM. J. will get a multiple game suspension.

Masoli? He's gone, not just for allegedly committing this crime, but also for lying to Coach Kelly about it afterwards.

The following is an interview by Kelly on ESPN's Outside the Lines February 23rd. I'll leave you with it while we wait for the other shoe or hammer or whatever to come down on Friday.