Bellotti bails on UO

Really? What is going on up there that is that bad?

It seems like the football team should be a top five team, Chip Kelly is a good coach - why would he bail on that ship now? I mean - I get it, the Nike thing - but are things really that haywire behind the scenes?

 

Top 5? Didn't they just suspend Masoli for the entire season (of course, we know what that could mean...)?

 

I guess I didn't even think about that to be honest.

 

They were being picked 3rd or 4th in the nation a couple of months ago. Then the team imploded. Yeah, Masoli's suspended for a year. LaMichael James is only suspended for a game, so things could be worse.

The Ducks could be OK at QB - they've got Nate Costa, who was going to start ahead of Masoli before he got hurt two years ago, and a kid who redshirted last year who looks pretty damn good (in his one college appearance he played a half against Boise State in 2008 and put up 210 yards and 3 TDs). But without Masoli that ranking goes out the window.

And ucacm, don't look for another suspension to get shortened here. Masoli can redshirt the year. He'll miss the whole season.

Incredibly disappointing offseason. I expected them to kick Masoli out of school, and frankly he deserved it.

 

I realize UO owes Knight a ton - but with the football stadium expanded, the baseball program up and running and the new basketball arena completed - do they really need him that much any more? I've got to think a lot of the kowtowing was due to wanting his cash for the upgrades.

One other thing - Bellotti and Kent have been two of the most visible, if not the two most visible, people in the state of Oregon, sports, business, politics whatever for the last 15 years. Going to be really weird not having them around.

 

It seems like all major conference college sports are a total arms race. There will always be a school that builds something new to show that they have the best facilities.

A good example, IMO, is the invention of the basketball practice facility. Really? I get the indoor football practice facility. But with hoops, why can't you just practice in a small gym or in the arena where you play?

I recently saw a clip on the local news of Arkansas' baseball coach, Dave Van Horn, saying the team desperately needed an indoor practice facility. There's always something.

 

The basketball thing makes sense because college arenas are used for events other than basketball. Plus you have men's & women's teams that have to share the court for practice and games.

And it's cheaper to run the HVAC/electric, etc. at a small practice gym instead of firing up the lights, etc. in a 15,000 seat arena just for a practice.

I can see the logic in having a separate practice gym.

 

I know at UMass, the Mullin Center is run by a private management company and I remember hearing once that the team had to pay rent to practice in it.

 

There has to be more to this.

 

I don't think Bellotti hired him.

 

It sometimes tough to find convenient practice times for the volleyball, MBB and WBB teams when their seasons overlap.

Pat Kilkenny killed the wrestling program, established a competitive cheerleading team and overpayed to hire Horton, not Bellotti.