Mike Bellotti’s $2.3 mil check a bonus or buyout? Oregon won’t say…

The University of Oregon released a letter from general counsel Melinda Grier on Wednesday night to further explain the $2.3 million the school will give to athletic director Mike Bellotti, who has resigned his position after nine months to take a job with ESPN. But the letter, written by Grier to George Pernsteiner, chancellor of the Oregon University System, and Paul Kelly Jr., president of the State Board of Higher Education, raises as many questions as it answers. She left unclear whether the $2.3 million payment is a severance package for an employee who is being terminated with time remaining, or a goodbye bonus for years of service to the university. – Oregonian

Did Mike Bellotti want to leave coaching?

The most interesting secondary news item from Mike Bellotti’s decision to leave Oregon for ESPN is be best explained in this column Saturday from George Schroeder of the Eugene Register-Guard. Not only will Bellotti get a $2.3 million golden parachute from Oregon, there’s also reason to retroactively wonder if he was “encouraged” a year ago to hand off the Ducks head football coaching job to Chip Kelly and move into the athletic director’s office… It’s likely Bellotti’s situation was nuanced. At the time he stepped aside for Kelly, recall that he said it was for family reasons, but he rejected the idea that he was burned out and he refused to say he was done with coaching. And then-athletic director Pat Kilkenny made no secret of his enthusiasm for Kelly. It’s not unreasonable to speculate that Bellotti might have planted a seed for the end of his tenure coaching the Ducks with higher-ups, and that seed sprouted into reality perhaps faster than he wanted it to. – ESPN.com

Chip Kelly, Jeremiah Masoli to meet next week

Oregon coach Chip Kelly said he does not know whether suspended quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will take part in spring practice, which begins next Tuesday. Masoli, suspended for the 2010 season after a second-degree burglary conviction earlier this month, has wrapped up the winter term and will meet with Kelly on Monday, March 29. The two will then “determine kind of where we are,” Kelly said. Kelly spoke Monday with local reporters about the state of his team going into spring practice after the tumultuous offseason. Much of the discussion, of course, centered about the most important and most newsworthy position on the field, but there will be other areas of interest in those 15 practice sessions. – Oregonian

Mike Bellotti leaving Oregon for ESPN

More than a strong whisper floating around that the 11:30 AM PST conference being held at Oregon today is Mike Bellotti stepping down as AD. The news comes on the heels of a string of tough news to break at Oregon over the last month. For some time most have wondered “if” not when Mike would step away and look for something else. He always seemed to have that passion to coach as he often paced the sidelines in the Fall. He would be walking away from a program that he most certainly had a big hand in building. Bellotti was one of the most respected and winningest coaches in Oregon history. The speculation right now is that he would move into TV with a role on ESPN as an analyst. Nothing is certain until a formal announcement is made. If he were to move into TV, it would make a later transition into coaching far easier, and far more likely. – DuckTerritory.com

A source has confirmed to The Oregonian that Ducks athletic director Mike Bellotti will step down this morning at a hastily arranged press conference to take a position with ESPN. – Oregonian

Anyone else think Mike Bellotti misses coaching?

Keep an eye on University of Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti. The guy did good things as the Ducks football coach, and has had to deal with a couple of real headaches recently. Reliable source tells me Bellotti is going to make an announcement today, and it could have him stepping down as the AD. The troubles have been the kind of stuff that makes you long for coaching, I’m thinking. Bellotti had to oversee the recent cluster of activity around the football team, and also, the firing of a close colleague (basketball coach Ernie Kent). Felt during both of those cases that Bellotti must have been thinking about how wonderful it would be to simply worry about your own program, rather than clean up the messes in other ones… Bellotti has to be thinking, “I left the stresses of coaching for this?!?!?” I felt from the start that there was a possibility that Oregon could have Bellotti both as football coach Chip Kelly’s predecessor and successor. Is this just a break to catch his breath while Kelly coaches the Ducks for a good spell? Would Bellotti join Kelly as an assistant coach? Wouldn’t be shocked. I don’t think Kelly is going anywhere soon, and the setbacks inside the program have certainly hurt him nationally, but keep an eye on Bellotti as this all moves forward. – The Oregonian

Chip Kelly guaranteed $1.25 million a year

Chip Kelly’s first contract as a head football coach will pay him an annual guaranteed salary of $1.25 million this season and next, plus a share of Oregon’s season ticket sales, and offer a myriad of bonuses for performance on the field and in the classroom. The annual guaranteed salary would increase to $1.5 million beginning with the 2011 season. The five-year contract, through March 2014, requires Kelly to pay the university $1 million if he leaves for a college or pro football job during the first three years, and $750,000 thereafter. The contract is automatically extended by one year if the Ducks play in a bowl game. The agreement also gives Kelly the option of renegotiating the contract, or accepting an annual guaranteed salary of $2.3 million — or walking away from the deal without penalty — if the Ducks win 19 regular-season games, or win 20 games including bowl games, in any two-year period. – Register Guard

Blount may be reinstated today

When the Oregon Ducks resume practice Monday, after a rare 25-hour opportunity to enjoy their victory, they might learn about the return of a player who has yet to participate in an Oregon win this season. Pacific-10 Conference commissioner Larry Scott met Sunday with running back LeGarrette Blount, university president Richard Lariviere, university counsel, coach Chip Kelly and athletic director Mike Bellotti to discuss the possible return of Blount. Athletic director Mike Bellotti said he expects an announcement Monday on Blount’s status. – The Oregonian

Oregon coach Chip Kelly to reinstatement of LeGarette Blount?

University of Oregon football coach Chip Kelly has called a press conference for 11 a.m. Friday to discuss the possible reinstatement of LeGarette Blount to full participation with the Ducks’ football team. Blount, a senior running back, was suspended from play for the rest of the season after punching a Boise State player and attempting to go into the stands to confront hecklers after Oregon lost to the Broncos 19-8 on Sept. 3. – Statesman Journal

How will Oregon punish Blount for punch?

Oregon Athletic Director Mike Bellotti said the school is contemplating disciplinary action for running back LeGarrette Blount after he punched a Boise State player following the Ducks’ ugly loss on Thursday night. Blount struck the Boise linebacker Byron Hout with a violent right-handed punch to the jaw after No. 14 Boise beat No. 16 Oregon 19-8. The force was so strong that the 241-pound Hout, who was not wearing a helmet, tumbled to the ground. Blount had to literally be pulled off the field by teammates and security personnel. Replays also showed Blount striking one of his own his own players, Garrett Embry, who had his helmet on. “I’ll talk with our conference commissioner and our university president and I think, obviously we’re not very proud of that and I think it’s not something to be condoned and we’ll take steps to correct it,” Bellotti said. He added that since the incident happened after the game ended, the decision will be under the university’s purview. – New York Times

How far Oregon takes its punishment of LeGarrette Blount isn’t yet clear. Coach Chip Kelly said he did not see the incident, but he had been briefed. After carrying the ball 13 times for minus-five yards, Blount got an earful from some Broncos after the game. And when Hout touched Blount’s shoulder pads and had some words for the senior, Blount sucker-punched him. Blount was restrained by his teammates, but he also delivered a shot to teammate Garrett Embry, who was trying to be peacemaker. Then, when receivers coach Scott Frost and a police offer tried to wrestle an angry Blount to the locker room, he got into it again with some fans behind the end zone. – The Oregonian

Chip Kelly Looks to Keep Oregon Ducks Flying High

The rise of the University of Oregon athletics over the past decade and a half has been one that many could have never imagined.  The beauty for Duck fans is that the meteoric rise seems to be just getting underway.  When Oregon hired Mike Bellotti to lead the football program following the 1994 season, he continued the momentum built by Rich Brooks and became the most successful football coach in school history.  Coach Bellotti wasn’t the only coach brought in during that time frame as Ernie Kent came on board at his alma mater and became the most successful coach in Oregon history on the hardwood. As with any program or team that has great success after a long period of mediocrity, many new fans jump on the bandwagon and expect that success to be duplicated every year.  The problem for Oregon is that when this happened after the 2001 year, fans got used to winning and anything less than the BCS or the elite eight was considered failure by many of the Johnny-come-lately fans.  What Mike Bellotti and Ernie Kent have accomplished at a school that was long considered an afterthought and a cellar dweller in the PAC-10 is nothing less than remarkable. – DuckTerritory.com

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