Brooks faces challenge with Rams
Trevor Kearney
Otgon Umfy
As Rich Brooks takes over ns hood coach of the
Lot Angulos Rnms. hu faces more than the chal
lenge of taking over a mediae re National Football
league team that hasn't been to the playoffs in the
1990*.
Mu fat.us having to move a mountain
The team is moving to St Louis, Mo With that
move. Brooks fat us not only coaching a new and
unfamiliar team, hut coaching a team that is play
ing in an unfamiliar city and on a strange field
With a dismal 23-57 record over the last five sea
sons in Los Angeles, the Rams scraped up a 4-12
record last year under coach Chuck Knox That
record, however, is deceiving because the Rams
i ouldn't uvun muster up a win in thuir own divi
sion, the NFC West
The Rams offense was led last season by former
Oregon star quarterback Chris Miller, who has
Iwen plagued with injuries throughout his NFL
career. Brooks has two other former f)«< ks to work
with, Emeet (one* and Anthony Now man. and also
gets to utilize running back Jerome Betti*
While a solid player would help the Rams'
offense, the move and several financially disap
pointing seasons will prevent the team from dip
ping deeply into a free agency So Brooks is
probably stuck — for the time lieing. at least —
working with what he has
"With five losing seasons in a row* — it is defi
nitely a building proems that needs to be achieved
here,' Brooks said.
While Brooks fared much of the same thing
when he look over a downtrodden Oregon team in
1077, he knows that with the Rams he doesn't
have the tune that it took him to guide Oregon to
the Rose Bowl.
“I've been in the business long enough to know
that you better get the job done. Brooks said,
adding that time was n key factor
"If 1 don't do it. they will have someone else
there doing it. so I think it is important that I get
it done quickly."
METZ
Continued from Page 7 A
Hrooks bn* seen at Oregon
speaks volume* of bis nbility to
evaluate talent and make the
most of what bo wai given
As surprising as Friday's
announcement was, though, it
fits right in with one ol the
wildest years that Oregon s]w>ri*
has over seen Nothing that
■ ould possibly happen this year
lould surprise mo
After a disappointing \ 'i start
to the football season, all hopes
of another trip to n postseason
bowl looked to be lost Hut. |ust
like everything else in this
strange year, things just foil Ore
gon's way for once Thanks in
large part to Kit h Brooks. I had
something fun to do over Christ
mas break
It seem* like it was just yes
terday that Hrooks stepped
down ns the school's athletic
director When the announce
ment was made in Johnson Malt,
the Rich f)rooks l saw was a
quiet, almost nervous man who
knew he had something to
prove in his lHth season at Ore
gon I'd be lying if l didn't say
that skepticism was pretty high,
that dropping the extra respon
sibilities would make o differ
ence on the Held
Throughout the season.
Brooks remained his quiet,
reserved self The lackluster l-2
start made the press conferem es
a hit uneasy, and uncomfortable
for the 53-year-old As the wins
started to mount. Brooks contin
ued to he reserved, hut with
every win the veteran coach
exuded more and more confi
dence We'll never know (list
how satisfying it must have
been for this man to finally
achieve the unthinkable at Ore
gon No matter what the Ducks
did, it just wasn't good enough
At the livginning of fall prac
lice, member* of the media gath
ered to qui* Brooks on the "tug
senson fust like every year
since he took over as head coach
of the thicks. Brooks was.asked
whet hi* goal* for the season
were And I'm sure every year,
the mild-mannered r oach hint
ed that representing the Far 10
in the Rose Bowl would be the
ultimate goal. This season, as rt
appeared that tin- Dm ks were
doomed to another ft-5 or 5-fi
season, the question was almost
never asked It was almost like
nobody wanted to risk it. maybe
for fear of an angry answer or
maybe out of respect for the
man that had put up with so
mtiti) as the head coach. But out
it tame.
Brooks' answer' Now that f
look hack at it. the way he put it
was so perfect Brooks sat hark
in his chair n little bit. look a
deep breath and once again
announced he would very much
like to make it to a Rose Bowl
So there it was The camera peo
ple got their 10-second season
goal clip, the reporters got their
quote, but in the end, Brooks got
his with. It was like he knew
something the rest of us didn’t
That sounds kind of easy to say
in hindsight, hut there really
was kind of a strange confidence
in Brooks' voic e that day
So now the <k hoot is officially
Brooks-less It's going *° &*-'
strange not seeing Brooks at bas
ketball games and around the
campus in general It’s going to
Ih» strange reading Hon Bel
lamy's columns on another head
coach at the University of Ore
gon. lake him or not. Brooks has
been around almost as long as
most of us have been alive.
His 91-109-4 record doesn't
indicate the stuff of legends, but
Brooks offered more to the
school than just 91 wins on the
football field On Friday. Brooks
took time to reflect on his tareer
and life at Oregon. He's right
when he void he leave* an Qry
gon (ingrain that i* much better
than it was when he took over
in 1977 Coming from a different
part of the t ountrv. I can hon
estly *oy that even hard-core
football fans had probably never
heard of Oregon football until
the late 19HOs And now, the
Ducks are known as a team to be
reckoned with after an unbe
lievable season and a
resjM* table showing in the most
tradition-filled post *««a ton IhjvvI
in college football
People tan complain all they
want about supposed under
achieving Oregon teams from
the past and the Independence
Howl appearances that went
with them. But the plain and
simple fat t is that those things
didn't happen until Brooks
came here It took a while, hut
the late infills up to this year's
trip to the Rose Bowl tan be
considered a highly successful
time in Oregon football history.
And Brooks managed to do it
ail at a school that, while it has
had a modest amount of football
success, really has a recruiting
disadvantage to Pac-10 perenni
als like Washington, UCLA and
use
What a year it ha* been for
Rich Brooks If you would have
been told at the Beginning of the
season that the Ducks would
win the Pac-10 Championship,
play arguably the best team in
the nation in the Rose Bowl and
that Brooks would win three
national coach of the year
awards, you would have had the
person that told you that com
mitted Add to that a $2.5 mil
lion deal that gives Brooks the
chance to show his stuff at the
highest level of coaching, and a
guy that would normally be
catching up on some sleep and
doing a little fly-fishing finds
himself right back at work, evi
dently doing what he loves most
— looking a challenge right in
the eye and attacking it
Gary Or*m. t m*rȣ
Oregon dafanslv* coordinator Nick Allottl Is |ust ona of a list of
coach** that axpraasad intarast In th# haad coaching position
that was laft vacant attar Rich Brooks stappad down Friday.
COACH
Continued from Page 7 A
A* for the current < oaching
staff. Williams said a timely
decision was essential for the
sake of coaches
"We have a very competent
and loyal coaching staff, and
their futures could hinge
upon what kind of coach will
he hired." Williams said.
Schuler, currently Califor
nia's offensive coordinator,
was replaced by Aliotti ns
Oregon’s defensive coordina
tor two years ago. while Tole
do was the Ducks' offensive
coordinator before Bellotti
and is currently the offensive
coordinator at UCLA. Shea is
a former Oregon football
player who has worked as
offensive coordinator at Stan
ford and was going to be head
coach at San Jose State.
Brook* has expressed his
desire for a i.oach from with
in the Oregon staff to be
named. When asked specifi
cally about Bellotli during a
press conference on Friday.
Brooks said he thought the
offensive coordinator would
be a good coach, and has
expressed to Williams per
sonally that Bellotti would be
his choice for the |ob.
“1 think that Mike Bellotti.
with five years of head coach
ing experience, is obviously
an outstanding choice."
Brooks said.
"I think there are a lot of
people that would be general
ly interested in coaching at
//
We have a very
competent and
loyal coaching sta ff,
and their futures could
hinge upon what kind of
coach will be hired.
- DAN WILLIAMS
Oregon. Hit! young men play
ing at Orttgon ore outstanding
young men and great football
players."
Bellotti just finished up his
sixth season with the Ducks.
He was head coach at Califor
nia State-Chico from 1984
through 1988. and earned the
Northern California Athletic
Conference coach of the year
award in 198fi. Aliotti served
as offensive coordinator at
California State-Chico for
four years with Bellotti.
atfitetic director
Zoumboukos is in his fifth
season as assistant head
coach, and has coached at the
University of San Francisco
as well as his alma matter.
University of California
Davis.
The Rains’ hiring of Brooks
was not a surprise to
Williams, but how fast the
Rams reacted to Brooks’
anticipation was
"They acted pretty quick
ly." Williams said. “They
essentially hired a coach in
24 hours."
Eric Englund
Scholarship
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University of Oregon
graduate to pursue
graduate studies at the
U of O or elsewhere in
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