Bellotti officially stepped down at Oregon

OC Chip Kelly steps up; Bellotti goes to the AD office.

Back in the dark days of the post-Syracuse meltdown, I had a fairly reliable rumor that Charlie and/or Swarbrick had contacted Chip Kelly about coming to ND to become the offensive coordinator. A week later Oregon announced the Chip Kelly succession plan. Make of that what you will.

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I'm not at all unhappy with our staff shakeup, but landing Kelly would have been exactly the kind of bold and potentially masterful move that many were advocating after the way the season ended. Oregon's offense is a thing of beauty, but it's also such a radical departure from Weis' that any interest in Kelly must have been driven by Swarbrick.

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I thought, "If they're contacting Chip Kelly, they must be casting the net pretty wide." I wonder who else they reached out to.

Of all the offseason changes, the one I'm still unsure about is Charlie's decision to reinstall himself as the OC. I thought that a better strategy would have been to get a Chip Kelly type in there, a bona fide experienced playcaller (as opposed to a Haywood) who could challenge Weis and push him to evolve and improve his offense. I respect Charlie's acumen as an OC, but I also think it was the correct move for him before the 2008 season to assume the mantle of a true head coach for the team and exercise some head-coach-style leadership (something that was lacking the first three years, and something that Charlie himself had identified). I was really hoping he would then shitcan Haywood and replace him with either a crusty veteran offensive mind, like a Cutcliffe, or a hotshot up and comer, like a Chip Kelly; basically someone whom he could really entrust the offense to, and have it be in good hands.

Instead, he moved himself back in. I think it could pay dividends in terms of an improved offense, but I wonder if he'll go back to being an offensive hermit and not a true head coach, and I wonder if we'll go back to a leadership void for the whole team.

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He's got a REALLY solid group of coaches on defense, guys who have produced, are respected within the profession, and are guys that he trusts.

I think it makes sense for Charlie to think that "hey, if my career here comes down to one year then I'm going to trust those guys on defense and I sure as sh*t believe I am the answer on offense".

If we can get a Top 40 effort out of both sides of the ball (which actually isn't asking for much) then we will likely be in the BCS. It's not too fancy but:

Total when Combining rank in Total Offense/Defense:

2005 - 85 (10/75)

2006 - 88 (23/65)

2007 - 158 (119/39)

2008 - 104 (65/39)

2009 - ?

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It's a last-gasp, desperation move. It might work out for the short term, but over the long term a head coach still should spend his week being a head coach and not having to bury himself in the minutiae of offensive game preparation, don't you think? Hire someone qualified and competent to do that.

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If it worked out such that Charlie and/or Swarbrick were casting about looking for an OC, and couldn't find one that was definitely top-notch who was willing to join what appeared to be a sinking ship, we're probably better off this year with Charlie at the helm.

If things work out, he's got a more attractive position waiting for another high-caliber OC; if it doesn't, we'd have a new OC anyways, along with a new head coach. I think of it like the Brian Kelly situation on a micro-scale.

It's obviously not ideal for program continuity, but program continuity is waaaayyy down the priority list right now.

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Does offensive game prep take more time than defensive? I ask because I don't know.

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but I know Carroll has his staff watch all the tape, whittle down the scheme and plays, prepare the gameplan and present him the call sheet for game day. Carroll has input obviously and provides direction but he's not doing the grunt work.

From what we know, Charlie did all that grunt work himself until he realized that he was basically ignoring half his team. You've heard the stories. So he delegated to Haywood. Good idea, but bad choice.

One of the big reasons that Hawaii came off so beautifully is that Charlie did the whole gameplan himself with zero input from anyone. I'm sure the success of that was a big reason he's foregone hiring a true OC.

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Thanks for the info.

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or anything like that. But I think it bears watching as spring practice and the season unfold. I share BPH's skepticism on Corwin's title of elevated leadership -- how is that going to work, exactly? Especially if Charlie goes up to the booth? It should be interesting.

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It does deserve some attention.

And Hay, I'll never consider you a "doom and gloom" guy. You come to your conclusions - positive or negative - using kooky things like information and logic.

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When Tedford and Richt made the decision to give up OC duties to focus on being a head coach, you didn't see them reverse course a year later. If the coach they tapped as OC left for whatever reason, they simply found someone different and presumably better. My instinct is that Weis should have done the same thing, and Kelly would have been an outstanding choice (I also was a big fan of Mitch Browning).

None of this is to say that Weis' setup for 2009 won't work. I'm actually counting on it working. It's just that it seems wishy-washy and seems to place too much of a burden on Brown to fill the leadership/motivational vacuum (and what happens when Brown inevitably leaves?)

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the Polo Grounds

Bellotti officially stepped down at Oregon

Very interesting

exactly what I thought at the time

Different situation.

it's still not ideal

He still could.

agreed

How is it different than what Pete and Saban do?

can't speak for Saban (edited)

Gotcha.

to be clear, I don't think this "spells doom"

And that point is a good one.

Agree