Best Duck Head Coach of My Era

[Alan]

Just to kill time between games……I became a Duck fan during the Rich Brooks time. Vote for who you think was the best Head coach during my time as a fan, no criteria just your opinion.

[OregonFan4Life]

I’m projecting out into the future and voting Lanning.

[Everythingsducky]

Loved where Brooks got them in ‘90-‘91. But for most of my younger life, how Belotti always seemed to field competitive teams, great upsets, and basically taking the handoff from Brooks, AND WHAT HE DID WITH IT for many years, prompted me to go with him. Chip and those after him, took that baton and ran with it. But I believe the long term renaissance began, and was fostered by Belotti. It probably prompted Phil to dig deeper into his pockets.

[Zyme]

I was tempted to put Willie just for the anarchist vote.But for real. I was torn between Chip and Bellotti. To me the question came down to either recruiting and on field coaching or just coaching. I think Bellotti was the best on field coach on this list, i think Lanning can get there in time, but both Coaching and Recruiting to me the answer is easily chip. Id rank it as: Chip, Bellotti, Lanning, Christobol

[greenyellow]

I was tempted to put Willie just for the anarchist vote.But for real. I was torn between Chip and Bellotti. To me the question came down to either recruiting and on field coaching or just coaching. I think Bellotti was the best on field coach on this list, i think Lanning can get there in time, but both Coaching and Recruiting to me the answer is easily chip. Id rank it as: Chip, Bellotti, Lanning, Christobol

I think your rankings are probably about where I'd lean as well for very similar reasons. I think Lanning could easily surpass Bellotti if he makes a CFP title game and would likely be #1 if he wins a national title.

[Duck07]

I've got Chip for the highs of where he had us and the way that style changed football.

Dan's trajectory and longevity will surpass Chip, question is how long will that take on the current path?

[duckpoint]

Best is a very difficult question. Right now I'd be between Bellotti & Chip with Dan closing rapidly. Honorable mention has to go to Brooks.

Each (excluding the three between Chip & Dan) has played a role in elevating the progrum in different ways.

Bellotti - Teams elevated to consistently top tier of the PAC & gaining national relevance. Started the big time facilities improvements.

Chip - 'Changed the game', cemented national relevance. On track for Natty until...

Dan - Creating Chip like success on the field and excelling recruiting and adapting to the new era of CFB (NIL, transfer portal, etc...). A few more years on this trajectory, a Natty and/or another Heisman and he will be the GOAT!

[UOducksTK1]

I've got Chip for the highs of where he had us and the way that style changed football.

Dan's trajectory and longevity will surpass Chip, question is how long will that take on the current path?

Chip for now, agreed.

[Phalanx]

I chose Lanning because he is going to end up with the best record and probably the biggest wins, but really, all of the coaches contributed something. One also wonders how much of the rise from the 'Duck Soup' days of the early 80's to now is rightfully credited to Phil Knight and Nike. Maybe the best coach in Oregon football history is actually Bill Bowerman.

If I am rating coaches for their contribution to the program, it would go something like this:

1. Chip Kelly - took a decent program under Bellotti and turned it into the Oregon we know today, the one that is still winning recruits for us, the one that they make college football documentaries about.

2. Rich Brooks - made a crazy run to the Rose Bowl that inspired Phil Knight to get involved. Much of the rest of our rise might be the inevitable result of that association with Nike.

3. Mike Bellotti - OC in the Brooks years where they started making bowl games, the guy who had the conversation with Uncle Phil that led to the facilities upgrade, the first coach to take the team national in the Joey years, and he hired Chip and then got out of his way. He's more than just a coach, he's like the all-time GM.

4. Dan Lanning - he's still young, but what he did last season will set the tone for Oregon for many years I think. Winning the Big 10 in the first year, still undefeated in Big 10 play, and beating Penn State in the Big Ten Championship. Sticking with Oregon despite being wooed by Alabama and others. Releasing the Ducks vs Them PR campaign. He will move up the list quickly as soon as he starts winning in the playoffs, which I think will absolutely happen.

5. Mark Helfrich - still the only coach of a Heisman winner and coach of the biggest single win in Oregon history, the Rose Bowl/playoff victory vs Florida State.

semi-honorable mention to Mario, who had the most boring teams in all of my duck-watching history and nearly undid everything Chip built, but who proved Scott Frost wrong that Oregon can't get the best recruits, particularly linemen. Plus he beat Ohio State for the first time, a huge statement given what unfolded afterward with Oregon joining the Big Ten.

[whosyourwally]

I was looking at this through the lens of how each performed in their highest profile, prove-it sort of games. Obviously subjective criteria, but it makes the conversation more complicated:

Games against top 10 opponents:

Bellotti: 8-12
Kelly: 6-4
Helfrich: 4-3
Cristobal: 4-1
Lanning: 4-4

So much context missing in the above records…
Bellotti broke through. Kelly inherited a loaded roaster. Helfrich left the program in shambles. Cristobal inherited a dumpster fire (and Justin Herbert). Lanning opened against UGA and the close losses to UW sting more than most.

Another subjective measurement I started to look into: How each did against the blue bloods… but alas, it’s bed time.

[Phalanx]

I was looking at this through the lens of how each performed in their highest profile, prove-it sort of games. Obviously subjective criteria, but it makes the conversation more complicated:

Games against top 10 opponents:

Bellotti: 8-12
Kelly: 6-4
Helfrich: 4-3
Cristobal: 4-1
Lanning: 4-4

So much context missing in the above records…
Bellotti broke through. Kelly inherited a loaded roaster. Helfrich left the program in shambles. Cristobal inherited a dumpster fire (and Justin Herbert). Lanning opened against UGA and the close losses to UW sting more than most.

Another subjective measurement I started to look into: How each did against the blue bloods… but alas, it’s bed time.

I know this is the common view of Oregon history, but it seems so inconsistent to me logically. On one hand, you say Kelly inherited a loaded roster. Wasn't he the OC when they were doing the loading? Didn't his offense bring in a lot of those recruits? Then you say Helfrich left the program in shambles. What happened to the 'inherited roster' argument? How in shambles is a team with Justin Herbert in the fold? Any winning Mario did was largely with Helfrich's recruits, and Helfrich left a better roster than Mario did. Most of the Mario recruits exited stage left when Lanning came on board.

I continue to believe that Helf gets a raw deal in the eyes of Oregon fans. He was operating on a shoestring budget with legacy coaches that he didn't pick and who had largely lost motivation as they prepared for retirement. The Oregon AD only opened up the pocketbook to hire top coaches after he was fired. He not only recruited and coached our only Heisman winner, but also Herbert, who is probably our biggest ambassador in the NFL to this day. That's two wildly successful home-grown qb's on a team that hasn't had any to speak of since then. Give the man his due.

[UOducksTK1]

I’m projecting out into the future and voting Lanning.

If he gets us to four playoffs in four years (already got one in the bag), then I'm all for this.

[whosyourwally]

I was looking at this through the lens of how each performed in their highest profile, prove-it sort of games. Obviously subjective criteria, but it makes the conversation more complicated:

Games against top 10 opponents:

Bellotti: 8-12
Kelly: 6-4
Helfrich: 4-3
Cristobal: 4-1
Lanning: 4-4

So much context missing in the above records…
Bellotti broke through. Kelly inherited a loaded roaster. Helfrich left the program in shambles. Cristobal inherited a dumpster fire (and Justin Herbert). Lanning opened against UGA and the close losses to UW sting more than most.

Another subjective measurement I started to look into: How each did against the blue bloods… but alas, it’s bed time.

I know this is the common view of Oregon history, but it seems so inconsistent to me logically. On one hand, you say Kelly inherited a loaded roster. Wasn't he the OC when they were doing the loading? Didn't his offense bring in a lot of those recruits? Then you say Helfrich left the program in shambles. What happened to the 'inherited roster' argument? How in shambles is a team with Justin Herbert in the fold? Any winning Mario did was largely with Helfrich's recruits, and Helfrich left a better roster than Mario did. Most of the Mario recruits exited stage left when Lanning came on board.

I continue to believe that Helf gets a raw deal in the eyes of Oregon fans. He was operating on a shoestring budget with legacy coaches that he didn't pick and who had largely lost motivation as they prepared for retirement. The Oregon AD only opened up the pocketbook to hire top coaches after he was fired. He not only recruited and coached our only Heisman winner, but also Herbert, who is probably our biggest ambassador in the NFL to this day. That's two wildly successful home-grown qb's on a team that hasn't had any to speak of since then. Give the man his due.

All fair points. My list was more a few shots from the hip to illustrate my point that the records I listed against top 10 teams needed qualified. Helf also inherited a loaded roster, but both he and CK played major roles in shaping the rosters they inherited.

Also, in going back through their records, I left feeling both Helf and Mario were deserving of more credit for their success on the field here.

[Greenblood]

Hard to argue with Chip and then Bellotti, though I hope there's reason within a couple of years that most all of us will say Lanning. But as soon as I say Chip, I imagine him on Bellotti's shoulders, who in turn is on Brooks's shoulders.

Regarding Helfrich, I would think that the vast majority of us agree that he needed to go after that ugly 2016 season (though without Vernon Adams, I wonder how ugly 2015 could have been. There were clearly signs, especially on defense, such as the 62-20 loss to Utah at Autzen early that season.). Still, I think people often forget that win late in the 2016 season at #11 Utah. That told me that that team was not bereft of ability, but just couldn't put it together consistently -- such as when they then went on to lose vs. the Beavers the next week!

I also want to say something about Willie. I know there's lots of bad feelings about him from many of us -- including me -- and I was probably about as happy as anyone that he "failed" at Florida State. Still, after the horror of 2016, things really did get turned in the right direction in 2017. The 7-5 regular season record doesn't really tell the story because Herbert was out a number of games. There was a nice return to real demonstrations of dominance against lesser teams in the S. Utah, at Wyoming and Oregon State games (instead of, e.g., beating E. Washington at Autzen 61-42 in 2015). Assuredly glad he's gone, but I think he deserves some credit for getting the football program turned in the right direction.