Mike Riley does not deserve Pac-10 coach of the year
by jtlight on Dec 8, 2008 5:36 PM PST
in Oregon Ducks Football
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PrintTthe Pac-10 all conference awards were announced today. And, not all that surprisingly, Mike Riley was named Pac-10 coach of the year.
This is wrong in my opinion, for many reasons, but the #1 reason is the Civil War. The sheer magnitude of this game should have disqualified him for this honor.
This was the most important game in Mike Riley's career. It was at home. It was a game in which OSU was favored.
But in this game, the OSU defense gave up 694 yards. Let that sink in: 694 yards. It was one of the worst defensive performances in the history of the OSU program, even in their worst years. It was the most yards ever gained by an Oregon team. It was the most points ever given up by an OSU team. OSU came out lifeless, and did not play like they wanted the game.
This performance was turned in during the most important game of the decade for OSU. As far as coaching goes, there is no defending this. Good coaches make their teams competitive on the biggest stages. Yet, in 2 of the 3 biggest games this season, OSU was thoroughly dominated. Yes, they had a great win over USC. But they were also run off the field in their two other big games.
Now, Mike Riley did a very good job this year. OSU had few "returning starters," though as many Beaver fans would remind us, many coming back had ample experience.
But, despite the successes that Mike Riley had this season, his failures were of pretty epic proportions. And, especially in the Civil War, coaching can take a good share of the blame. The number one most important job of the coach is motivation, and OSU did not come out on fire. While Oregon came out determined and confident, OSU did not have that same energy or attitude. On top of this, the OSU defenders failed to play disciplined on defense, while the coaching staff seemed to make absolutely no adjustments on defense, especially after half time.
While I will be the first to admit the Mike Riley is a very good football coach, the magnitude of these failures should disqualify him from this honor.
Who should have won the Pac-10 Coach of the year? I would say Mike Bellotti or Pete Carroll. While USC "underachieved" by having one loss, they also fielded one of the best defenses under Carroll, and is an example of the defensive coaching abilities. Oregon overcame early adversity and improved the entire season. The coaching staff brought up the offensive players, while after the USC debacle, the coaching staff adjusted on the defensive side of the ball, which greatly improved the defense from the Boise State and USC losses. On top of this, niether coach has multiple black marks to the degree that Riley does.
As I said, Mike Riley is a very good coach, and he'll be in the running for many more coach of the year honors, but he did not deserve it this year.
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Fight! Fight! Fight!
This newfound comity with BtDers felt a little awkward anyway.
If you’re referring to the post being whiny, yes, that is whining you hear. Otherwise I think Beavers will all agree with the following:
1-Riley and Co were outcoached vs. UO. So what? Big whoop? Ya wanna fight about it? (Family Guy anyone?)
2-Looking at the season as a whole and comparing it to other PAC 10 teams, Riley did the best job. Apparently his peers agree here.
3-It’s a cool award but it really doesn’t matter that much in the long haul. Does it change the record? Does it change our bowl game? It will probably help with recruiting a bit but other than give Riley a bonus come paycheck time it’s a nice nod for a nice season.
You do remember where we were picked, right? I think we were tabbed for wins against UW, WSU and that’s about it… Either way, bitch if you will. You guys had a fun year too and shouldn’t be so pissy about this award. The dude deserved it and I would agree that Bellotti and Harbaugh had to be up there as well—both had good seasons and staffs that have continued to get better from year to year.
At the end of the day, I like to just look at it like this: thank god I’m not a Husky or Cougar.
A team that was picked to finish 6th, 7th in the conference
Loses everybody on defense, has the fewest starters returning in the Pac10, and leads them to 2nd in the league, and he doesn’t deserve it?
He may not have been the best candidate OF ALL TIME, but tell me what coach deserves it over Riley?
Mike Stoops- Laugh. The most talented team he’s had in 5 years at Arizona, and he manages only a 7-5 season
Dennis Erickson- took a big step back going from a 10 win season last year to a 5 win season this year
Tedford- 7-5 with alllll that talent, no sir
Mike Bellotti- maybe, but what about that Boise State or USC game. Or how about the 150 turnovers in 2 games against Stanford and Cal. Just using the same 1 game logic that you used. Over 4 games.
Pete Carroll- You know, using your same logic, what about his monumental collapse against Oregon State? A team starting a true freshman running back, a mediocre QB (I’ve said it all year long, he’s mediocre, but we love his leadership) and a defense that had been shredded by Stanford and Penn State, and he loses to them. Doesn’t losing to an unranked team when you’re #1 in the country and favored by 25 points mean a little more then losing to a ranked team only favored by 3?
Jim Harbaugh- maybe also, has taken a bunch of rag tag guys and put together a competitive team. He actually would have gotten my vote
Rick N- NO. UCLA was a laughing stock all year long
The Washington coaches- a combined 2-23 record doesn’t exactly scream “Coach of the Year”
So you’re going to base what Mike Riley accomplished on one game without the Pac10 Offensive Player of the Year, against a team with arguably one of the most prolific offenses in the country, because of 1 stat? Yards?
What about what he did on offense against that same team? Only 2 teams scored as many points as we did against Oregon’s D: USC and Arizona. 450 yards of offense ain’t bad either.
I’m not saying this year he was the best year for a coaching candidate, but it’s a slap in the face to say he isn’t deserving because of ONE GAME
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:03 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
You mean needing a last second touchdown at home to win?
Oh, you were talking our loss the first game of the season, my bad
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:07 PM PST up reply actions
Well I'm just a little bummed that an article was written about Riley being UNdeserving of Coach of the Year
Cause I’m assuming that another article will be coming up talking about why Jeremiah Johnson should be Offensive Player of the Year and not Quizz because well Johnson ran for 120.2 yards per carry and had 1,234 yards against OSU
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:16 PM PST up reply actions
UPDATE
Jeremiah Johnson just scored another touchdown in the 2008 Civil War.
It's spelled "M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G-B-A-N-D."
I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by Takimoto on Dec 8, 2008 8:29 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
You're right
Oregon fans never give Quizz any respect.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
And yes, I do
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:17 PM PST up reply actions
Finals my brother
Less of a turn on then dinner with the folks
IT SUCKS
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:45 PM PST up reply actions
I thought you learned the cure!
It's spelled "S-H-U-C-F-A-D-O-D-N-C-S"
Please, ask me about CFADODNCS.
You correctly point out that they were both ugly,
but in the end:
Us v Stanford = W
You v. Stanford = L
Coaches get more dessert than anyone for end game rally possessions.
I heart taxes.
But we had an end of the game rally
That was cut short by a fumble/touchback
Does Riley get no credit for that??
Yes, wins and losses are cool. But the fact is, both games were ugly, and the only thing that separates them is 1. Your game was at Autzen, ours at Stanford. 2. We could only throw the ball into the end zone, whereas you guys carried it there.
Oh also, our game was at the beginning of the year on the road. Think that outcome is the same if it’s at Reser, any time of the year?
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:20 PM PST up reply actions
I'm not saying it's better or worse
I’m saying the actual games themselves are comparable
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:45 PM PST up reply actions
One stat huh?
Maybe you didn’t notice the the OSU defense was totally and completely inept against Oregon. Maybe not one stat as much as, one entire phase of the game. And it wasn’t just that they got beat. It was that they were utterly and totally dominated.
And it wasn’t just one game. It was 4 losses, two in spectacular fashion.
To me, those show a massive breakdown in coaching. That is why I can’t consider him.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
So the game against USC doesn't count?
What about Mike Belloti’s utter ineptitude against SC on offense AND defense. Even UCLA gave up fewer points. Only 4 teams gave up as many points to USC as UO did: both Washington schools (which we have determined to be a non-factor in any stats this year) and Stanford, who gave up 45. How about all those turnovers against Cal and Stanford? And even still, UO had a +2 TOs against Cal and still lost. I’m not trying to say Riley’s black marks aren’t deserved, but Belloti has his own
It’s good to be back to hating each other. grimc was right, this niceness was feeling a bit awkward
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 7:37 PM PST up reply actions
I said the USC game counted...
I also think that growth over the season is important. The mistakes made against BSU and USC were addressed and more or less corrected (as well as possible with the players). That growth is important.
OSU didn’t show that same growth through the end of the season.
It’s not about specific results, but about coaching. We can nitpick results all day. Some of what happens on the field can be addressed to coaches, some not.
Oregon had their black marks, but I saw the problems correct as Oregon moved along with the season, while in the most important game of Riley’s coaching career, it was one of poorest coaching performances he’s delivered.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
Since when is going 6-1 after going 2-3 not growth?
That’s a ridiculous statement to make that we didn’t “grow”
Our defense went from being one of the worst to one of the best over the course of the year
One bad game against a rival with everything on the line (a FIRST for Mike Riley, mind you) doesn’t mean he wasn’t deserving
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 10:31 PM PST up reply actions
2-3 after five games in is acceptable?
it seems like it is annual. the beavers tank the begining of the season just as the sun rises daily in the east. yes, they charge their way back at the end, but why can’t riley ever have his team ready to begin the season? starts like that are the reason why the beavers dont get much attention in the eyes of the national media until it’s too late to make real progress into the polls, mean a ranking of 15th or higher. and im not bringing this up just becasue i am a duck fan. i know that it frustrates alot of beaver fans as well (i hear it annually from my father’s college friends, osu class of ’72.) just my two cents.
as for being one of the best defenses at the end of the year… that is a laughable statement (refer to the reser scoreboard, 8 pm, 29 November, 2008.)
by Chris in JC on Dec 9, 2008 4:00 AM PST up reply actions
Schedule...
4 of those 6 wins were against the dredges of the conference…so, I don’t really think you can call that growth.
While the Cal and Arizona wins were impressive, Oregon State was outplayed and outcoached in the final game of the season. This is typically when you see all that growth from the season. This was not seen.
And…I mean, we may just disagree on this, but when it is the BIGGEST GAME THAT YOU HAVE EVER COACHED, and you and your team crap the bed….well, in my mind, you do not deserve the coach of the year, in that year. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad coach. Riley is a very good coach. But when you lose 4 times, and are thoroughly outcoached in the most important game of your life…well, in my mind that disqualifies you from.
I will also point out that it’s not just the results on the field. It’s not JUST the stats, and it’s not JUST the final score. Mike Riley was thoroughly outcoached by Mike Bellotti. OSU was not focused, they did not play disciplined. They had a very poor defensive gameplan, and their offense was sucked into a game they could not win. This was coaching domination.
If the game would have been close, and the coaching would have been closer, Mike Riley would deserve it. But when you turn in such a poor performance on the biggest stage…well, I don’t think you deserve it.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
I guess my point remains is still, who was better or more deserving?
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 9, 2008 8:48 AM PST up reply actions
I don't know...
Well, I would say that the most deserving coach is the one that did the best job over the entire season, taking into account the successes, as well as the failures.
I would not take into account expectations at all.
And, I don’t think that Mike Riley did the best coaching job in the Pac-10 this year. He did a very good job for some of the games. As good a job as he did, his mistakes were pretty massive, and cancel those out.
Other coaches (Bellotti and Carroll) had their faults as well, but they seemed to grow from those, and corrected those.
And I’ll just state this again. Coaching is very tough to evaluate. There’s player talent, etc. And for that reason, failures by coaches IMO show much more than there successes. Teams lose, teams win. It’s how the coaching staff reacts to that, what they do to learn and correct their mistakes. How they teach up the talent that they have.
The coaching failures of Mike Riley this season are fairly clear. The failures of Bellotti and Carroll are a bit more ambiguous, IMO. They had their bad games, for sure, but they were never outcoached to the degree that Mike Riley was, and that’s very important.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
I think the coaching staff was out coached against Boise State, at a Mike Riley Civil War level myself. The smartest thing they did was put in Darron Thomas, but they were about 1 quarter too late.
I like Bellotti, but he shouldn’t get the nod either.
Oregon was out of the Boise State game by the end of the 3rd quarter.
OSU was out of the Civil war game with 5 minutes left in the 4th.
It's spelled "S-H-U-C-F-A-D-O-D-N-C-S"
Please, ask me about CFADODNCS.
I would disagree...
Only because I don’t think that Oregon was out coached when they had the ball. It was a very bad situation that they found themselves in in the 2nd quarter offensively. The defense performed terribly the entire game.
But I also look at that, and to the end of the season, the defense obviously learned and made adjustments from those mistakes. That is the sign of good coaching, rather than how one game goes.
Does Riley get penalized because the Civil War was the last game? Yes, but he had also seen a spread offense before, and did not learn from the mistakes of the Penn State game. Maybe he’ll learn next year.
I also don’t think the time that teams were “out” of games is a reflection on coaching either.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
Meh. I think Boise State was the worst called game from CK, and in turn, MB.
I know they were limited, but they took too long to bring out Darron Thomas. That was one of the hardest choices they made all year, and it was the right call, albeit, too late.
While I agree being “out” of games isn’t exactly a reflection on coaching, I believe, in the case of Boise State, coaching, from the offensive side, absolutely had an influence on the game. It wasn’t just poor execution from the players. It was having a QB with poor throwing motion, run the zone read, over, and over, and over again.
It's spelled "S-H-U-C-F-A-D-O-D-N-C-S"
Please, ask me about CFADODNCS.
Yeah...
And when they did throw, they had Harper throw the out route.
It wasn’t a great game on the offensive side of the ball. Though, I don’t fault Bellotti or Kelly for it. Would I have done anything different? Not really. Bring Thomas in earlier? Yeah, maybe. But I don’t expect any coach to make that decision in the game.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
Don’t forget the burned redshirt consequence of bringing in Thomas. You might be singing a different tune in 3 years if he is the starter. “Damn, why did we have to burn his redshirt in that game. We could have had him a whole nother year!”. Even if they brought him in a quarter before, there is no guarantee that we win that game. To me, we got the worst outcome possible. A burned redshirt and a loss.
On the upside, we knew that Harper was not going to be a QB for us
--Dominic
Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die." - J. Brady McCullough, The Michigan Daily.
I am suspsecting that he'll redshirt next year...
That’s the rumor at least. Much like Costa.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
I keep saying this..
Despite the poor defensive showing, we still had one our finest OFFENSIVE showings all year. We still put up 38 points and 450 yards. And the Civil War was Oregon’s ONLY quality win all year, meaning Riley should still win over Belloti
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 10, 2008 10:50 AM PST up reply actions
The offensive production means very little...
for a few reasons:
1) The game OSU got sucked into was exactly what the Oregon coaching staff wanted. They made OSU one-dimensional. Made Lyle Moevao (who still hasn’t won a game that was put on his shoulders) make mistakes. There were 4 games this year where the OSU rushing offense had less than 100 rushing yards. Guess what happened in those 4 games.
2) The offensive performance wasn’t that good. Sure, it was good, but OSU still only averaged 5.6 yards per play. They had fairly high numbers due to the amount of plays run. Oregon ran 13 less plays and had about 230 more yards. The lowish ypp was due to a crappy running game, as well as the fact that Moevao only averaged 7.3 yards per attempt. This is far from the spectacular performance many Beaver fans would claim.
As far as quality wins, it’s most definitely not the only metric. I would say this really doesn’t matter a whole lot, considering that while OSU had two wins that Oregon did not (USC and Cal), they also failed to beat Oregon, and lost to Stanford. On top of this, some of these wins and losses fell on the coaches. The Oregon loss lies in large part on the OSU coaching staff.
And I will again say, you have to look at the actual coaching. You can talk all you want about this win or that win, but you must relate that to the actual coaching job.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
VD brought up good points but JT, I agree with you. At first, I thought that the BSU and USC losses (especially the BSU one) should disqualify MB. That BSU loss was extremely frustrating as many of us were wondering what took him so long to pull the trigger and bring in DT. But I give MB all the credit in the world by sticking to his plan and settling on one QB for the rest of the season, showing confidence in his transfer QB, Masoli. The amount of improvement that Masoli has demonstrated over the last month has been remarkable. Now I’m not sure if MB should’ve won over Carroll but I think Riley should come in third in this list, especially after his team was obliterated at home in the Civil War.
I'm going to have to correct you on point
Cal is 8-4 not 7-5. We are re-building. We have a young team. Soon we will be 9-4 after we beat Thug U.
But I do agree that Riley is COTY
In other words, Go Bears!
Lo siento, mis "apologies"
I was just saying, a senior QB in Longshore, talented RBs in Best and Vereen, and a solid defensive unit, I expected more.
I fear for Tedford. I fear that he has raised expectations and changed the “culture” at Cal that we will get the ol’ force out in a few years, unless he starts producing more 10 win seasons
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 9, 2008 12:51 AM PST up reply actions
We started the year with Kevin Riley at QB, who had little to no game experience. Plus, no WRs with ANY game experience. there were MAJOR questions on the offense. Longshore was destroyed mentally from 07.
Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
Jeremiah Masoli
had even less experience than Riley. :)
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
hate to say it
For me it was a toss up between Harbaugh and Riley. Harbaugh has made Stanford into a respectible team that has been getting better the past two years. While I do not like the beavers I watched alot of there games this year and after the first few I thought that they would finish 4-8. I think that Riley did a great job turning his team around after they got spanked at Penn st. OSU lost their biggest game of the decade because we were the better team.
Interesting Take JT
But I’m not sure I agree with your take that Riley is “undeserving”. I think VD does a good job of breaking it out above but really the only folks that should be in the running are Mike Riley, Mike Bellotti, Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll. I base my “Coach of the Year” thoughts on who has exceeded expectations from the beginning of the year and made great strides in moving the program forward in positive ways.
For Bellotti and Carroll, they were both expected to do well this year in conference. USC won the Pac-10, going to the Rose Bowl and the Ducks are second at 9-3. They did what was expected by most folks, even if it was a struggle sometimes in both cases. For Riley, the Beavers were picked 7th in the conference to start the year and had a huge win against USC (some would call this an upset but who knows at this point). Oregon State was sniffing their first Rose Bowl berth since 1965. The downside to Oregon State is that they have been there before. There is nothing radically different in 2008 from the last decade. Top tier of the conference, going to a bowl game. Same old, same old.
Coach of the year, at least to me, goes to Jim Harbaugh and what he has done at Stanford. Even though they didn’t make it to a bowl game, he has changed the culture of losing at Stanford and has done well in recruiting. He has started the process of getting the Cardinal back in the Pac-10 and had some very good wins. Changing the culture of losing is a HUGE turnaround for the Stanford program even though the team is 5-7.
All 4 coaches above but here is where they would stand in my mind in points value
Harbaugh – 100
Riley – 98
Bellotti – 94
Carroll – 94
--Dominic
Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die." - J. Brady McCullough, The Michigan Daily.
Interesting way of ranking them
I’d say in terms of merit, I would award 8.5 out of 10 to Harbaugh, 7.5 of 10 to Riley, and 7 to both Bellotti and Carroll.
Kicker.
Very well put, much better then my emotional analysis
You’re absolutely right, in the end OSU ended up right where they have been. But it was the expectation of where they would be. And he had us sniffing a Rose Bowl, until the last game— that in itself is worth it’s weight.
I’ll give JT the fact that is was a monumental collapse. But honestly, at the beginning of the year, what was more expected: Oregon State beating USC or Oregon beating Oregon State?
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 6:39 PM PST up reply actions
And remember who is voting here....
it’s the coaches, not the media. Hate to say it, but this is partially a popularity contest. Mike Riley said today on the Canzano show that he voted for Harbaugh.
Do you really think the majority of coaches in the Pac-10 are going to vote for Bellotti?
Just sayin’.
--JB--
by Jake Bertalotto on Dec 8, 2008 7:23 PM PST up reply actions
I don't buy it...
Yes, there were successes. Mike Riley is a good coach. But I just can’t get over the massive breakdowns that happened. He did a very good (I would say not spectacular,but very good) job with the wins that happened. But the way the losses happened reflect very poorly on coaching.
And how bout this question, what was more like, OSU beating USC at home by a touchdown, or OSU losing by 27 at home to Oregon? I would say the latter.
And Jake is right. Mike Riley is very popular, he’s a really nice guy. Everyone wants him to succeed. But based on straight up coaching, I couldn’t give him the award based on breakdowns in the losses.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
Sure...
But I doubt these coaches are breaking down stats while making their pick. If this thing was purely based on wins and losses and the stats, you’ve gotta give it to Carroll or Bellotti. But I bet the coaches voted more on how much they respect each other as coaches, and what they’ve done with their programs.
--JB--
by Jake Bertalotto on Dec 8, 2008 7:34 PM PST up reply actions
I agree.
There’s no denying what Riley has done. I respect what he’s done great. I just don’t think he deserved it this year.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
And...
I wonder how much of it is “lifetime achievement award” type thinking. Kinda like in MLB…you rarely see a player get to the All Star Game the first year they are really good. A lot of the time they have to do it a few times in a row. Part of this could be the coaches saying, “man, Riley turns these teams around and exceeds expectations every year. Nobody really stands out this year.” Maybe they saw the 3 or 4 coaches mentioned as about the same and gave it to Riley based on previous years as well as this year. These things do happen. I have no evidence of this, I’m just saying it could have happened.
Death before Dishonor.
by MarineCorpsDuck on Dec 8, 2008 8:24 PM PST up reply actions
If preseason expectations
is the guage to be used in determining who will get post season honors rather than actual performance. Than let me say that I think the ducks will be aweful next year ( actually I expect them to be at or near the top again ). Isn’t this the problem with college football in general? We reward teams and people in ways that are often clouded by preseason (read guessing) expectations.
I agree
It’s one thing to do a lot with a little. But it’s clear the cupboard was not bare at OSU.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
Exactly
I always thought the rumors of OSU’s demise were unwarranted even after they came out of the gate and fell flat on their faces. Really I will be impressed when Riley doesn’t start slow then finish strong. By this metric Bellotti did a better job by finishing strong as opposed to what is somewhat typical in dropping a major deuce at the end.
It was clear after the USC game
Before that, we were right where everyone thought we would be, or worse
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 7:38 PM PST up reply actions
Expectations are overrated...
Expectations are almost always wrong.
I’m looking at the actual coaching job that happened, and how each team got to where they did.
And I agree on Harbaugh. Though they shouldn’t have lost to UCLA.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
Especially when they're made by the media
--JB--
by Jake Bertalotto on Dec 8, 2008 7:34 PM PST up reply actions
Every coach had at least 1 "bad" loss this year
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 7:39 PM PST up reply actions
I would say not Carroll
I guess if any loss for him is bad, then sure. But they lost by a touchdown on the road to what would be a top 25 team. Not a lot of shame in that.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
The simple answer it there was no clear cut coach of the year
I really like the way Harbaugh is turning Stanford around, but they still lost alot of game. So how do you vote for a coach who lost that many games? How can you vote for Pete Carroll. The guy is using NFL players he is cheating. Bellotti really did what he was supose to do and be second. Riley is really the only coach who’s team exceeded expectations after what they lost last year. I dont think that there is any one of us that thought the beavs would be playing the civil war to go to the rose bowl. I dont even think the beavers own fans thought that. I am not disapointed because I dont see any other coach that should have clearly been voted coach of the year.
No gripes about POY?
I think you have a 3 way tie with Riley, Carroll and Bellotti. With the honors going to whoever made the biggest improvement during the season compared to the initial expectations of the team. Riley comes out of that equation on top, so I can live with it. Personally as a Duck fan I think that Bellotti should have earned it simply because we avoided the late season collapse that has become almost inevitable, but that’s the homer in me speaking.
I’m more perplexed by Quizz winning Pac 10 POY over Jahvid Best.
Didnt Quizz have better stats than Jahvid Best? I thought that he was the pac 10 rushing leader. Also being the rushing leader as a true freshman. I would say that he deserved it.
I would say he deserved it as well.
Though Best did overtake Quizz in his last game against UW, where he basically ran like freakin Seattle Slew. That is, while Quizz was sitting out. It’s debatable whether Quizz would’ve kept his title in the last game or not. The Ducks’ rush D is strong but it tends to have trouble with small backs like Best and Kory Sheets.
Kicker.
He only had a couple carries against UA before he went down
Don’t forget that he could have put up huge numbers against them as well
And no disrespect to Oregon’s rush D, but Quizz would have found his holes. It’s not saying Oregon’s rush D is bad, Quizz is just THAT good
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 10:33 PM PST up reply actions
If we are using injury as an excuse for less stats,
i’’l take Dixon’ Heisman from last year. But he got hurt and Best(who was hurt mid-season) ended up with better numbers. Best gets it if you ask me, but they don’t.
Ducks Go!
694, bam!
quizz would’ve needed 143 in the civil war. the only player to put that up against the ducks was kory sheets of purdue, and he had an 80 yard run in that game.
It's spelled "M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G-B-A-N-D."
I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
I'd rather have people I root for win things.
It's spelled "M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G-B-A-N-D."
I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
No, I'd rather have people I root for win things!!!
It's spelled "M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G-B-A-N-D."
I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
Off-topic:
Jared, did you know you kind of, in a way, look like Colin Meloy of Decemberists fame? Maybe it’s just me.
Kicker.
Not saying that Mike Riley didn’t do some good things this year but… What is astounding to me is that in his 14 seasons as Oregon’s head coach Bellotti has never won Pac-10 COY!!! Not one season worth COY what disrespect to the dean of the Pac-10.
1995 Oregon 9-3 6-2 3rd
1996 Oregon 6-5 3-5 T5th
1997 Oregon 7-5 3-5 T7th
1998 Oregon 8-4 5-3 T3rd
1999 Oregon 9-3 6-2 T2nd
2000 Oregon 10-2 7-1 T1st
2001 Oregon 11-1 7-1 1st
2002 Oregon 7-6 3-5 8th
2003 Oregon 8-5 5-3 T3rd
2004 Oregon 5-6 4-4 T5th
2005 Oregon 10-2 7-1 2nd
2006 Oregon 7-6 4-5 T5th
2007 Oregon 9-4 5-4 T4th
so far- 2008 Oregon 9-3 7-2 T2nd
APPARENTLY NONE OF THESE SEASONS DESERVED COY
who has won it:
1995 Tyrone Willingham, Stanford
1996 Bruce Snyder, Arizona State
1997 Mike Price, Washington State
1998 Bob Toledo, UCLA
1999 Tyrone Willingham, Stanford
2000 Dennis Erickson, Oregon State
2001 Mike Price, Washington State
2002 Jeff Tedford, California
2003 Pete Carroll, USC
Bill Doba, Washington State
2004 Jeff Tedford, California
2005 Pete Carroll, USC
Karl Dorrell, UCLA
2006 Pete Carroll, USC
2007 Dennis Erickson, Arizona State
2008 Mike Riley, Oregon State
oh well
Oregon Ducks- NCAA Cross Country Champions 2008!
heehee
makes me giggle every time.
It's spelled "M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G-B-A-N-D."
I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
Jt, you were right about massive breakdowns, especially cal (complete special
teams collapse), ariz. st. (having lost 5 straight games prior, homecooked by the
refs 80 to 15 yds. in penalties, and almost tied it in the end) and arizona ( 1: 17 to
go, no to’s, ect) . To say that the beavers led a charmed life to have somehow not
lost any of those games, is putting it mildly. Wow, didn’t realize what a mental wizard
Riley was, I guess.
So… can we then revoke some of the credit Bellotti and co. get for the CW win?
Like it or not, OSU won those games. Against ASU they had a poor offensive performance, letting the Sun Devils get way too close and had to hand it over to the D to simply not lose it. Arizona played a great game but OSU played until that clock read zero, something UO failed to do and nearly lost that match up themselves. And did you watch the Cal game? Outside of a long one by Best and a trick play OSU played a solid defensive game against a good team.
Any chance you’ll ditch the retarded logic and give another coach credit?
Dude, how the FUCK is Jeff Tedford not the leading candidate to win Coach of the Year?
Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
Because he doesn't develop talent
How could you not win at least 10 games a year with Stegosaurus at the QB position? He underachieves year-in and year-out
I support Takimoto in his effort to support Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.
by The VD Special on Dec 8, 2008 11:19 PM PST up reply actions
dude, but he beat Oregon, a team SO amazing, they deserve to have every award, honoriffic, and slash or celebratory gunfire! Hell, they even hvae a website dedicated solely to their addictions, “Building The Dam.”
ANd he beat them!!!
Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.
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