Mike Bellotti

Head coach, Oregon, 1995 to 2008

College career116-55

Program liftNo. 90of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Bowls and playoffs: 6-6

’95L’97W’98L’99W’00W’01W’02L’03L’05L’06L’07W’08W

Show all 12 games

1995Cotton Bowl ClassicL 6-38

1997Las Vegas BowlW 41-13

1998Aloha BowlL 43-51

1999Sun BowlW 24-20

2000Holiday BowlW 35-30

2001Fiesta BowlW 38-16

2002Seattle BowlL 17-38

2003Sun BowlL 30-31

2005Holiday BowlL 14-17

2006Las Vegas BowlL 8-38

2007Sun BowlW 56-21

2008Holiday BowlW 42-31

Report card

Above the median offense — 69th percentile.

Oregon, every completed season graded against the whole field, then averaged.

Offense

of which —69th

efficiency — 69th percentile success rate, 2004–08

B69th

Standard-downs success

B+70th

Passing-downs success

B65th

Trench push (line yards)

C40th

Red-zone scoring rate

B-52nd

Power-success (short yardage)

C+45th

Ball security (giveaways per game)

Each season is his team’s percentile among every team with that stat (the share it beat), averaged over his completed seasons here; a mid-season takeover year and the season in progress aren’t graded. Letters: A+ 90th percentile and up, A 80, B+ 70, B 60, B− 50, C+ 45, C 40, C− 30, D 15, F below.

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

17-10 against his rivals. Just 2-4 against Jeff Tedford.

Rivalry record

17-10

63.0% · 2 rivals

One-score games

49-22

69.0% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

4-6

40.0%

Rivalry ledger

Oregon State8-657%

Washington9-469%

The toughest matchup

vs. Jeff Tedford2-4

6 meetings, 2003–2008

’03 W’04 L’05 W’06 L’07 L’08 L

33% win rate across a real, 6-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

4-5 44.4%

Power Program

29-23 55.8%

National Program

57-23 71.2%

Regional Program

22-3 88.0%

Signature games

7-8 vs. AP top 25 · 2-6 vs. the top 10 · 2004– (no AP data before 2004)

AP-ranked regular-season opponents since 2004, by rank (#1 at top) and year

win loss · higher = higher-ranked opponent · dashed line = top 10

Signature wins

Colorado · 2001

38-16

Quality opponentBowl/CFP stakes

Oregon State · 2008

65-38

RivalQuality opponent

Washington · 2004

31-6

RivalQuality opponent

Signature losses

BYU · 2006

8-38

Bowl/CFP stakes

Washington · 2002

14-42

Rival

Oregon State · 2004

21-50

Rival

These losses tie at the model's current max -- an editorial pick among a real tie, not a clean ranking.

Tags describe each game; they aren’t scores. The weighting that picks these games is still being tested.

How he plays

more pass-heavy than 55% of FBS coaches →

Run/pass mix, by field position

Called about what the situation called for.

3,021 run and pass snaps at Oregon, 2004–2008, his own games, one row per offensive coordinator. Each cell is how much more often he passed than the rest of FBS did in the same situation (field zone, down, distance, score, quarter, same season), in percentage points. Play-by-play starts in 2004, so his earlier seasons there aren’t in it.

backed upown territorymidfieldopp. territoryred zoneOC unrecorded2004–08−4−2−100

passed moreran morewithin noise (95% range includes 0)

Pass rate, stint by stint

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next, against the FBS-wide average of 41% pass. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

How much that is, against every other stint

Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 449 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2004–2025.

Typical stint7.010.3 median14.8middle half of all stints

Oregon14.4pt#122 of 449 · a typical amount

Building the roster

Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Roster ownership
2Where he recruits
3The NFL pipeline

Roster ownership

100%His own players

of his 2008 roster arrived on his watch — 31 of 31 players. Nobody is left from before he was hired.

This coach's entire tenure (1995-2008) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

Where he recruits

CATop state

is his biggest recruiting state: 56 of 101 signees (55%) across his 2001–2008 classes on record (his tenure ran 1995–2008), drawn from 17 states in all. Next: OR (11).

Where his signees came from, 2001–2008 (101 high-school, JUCO and prep signees)

71% of his signees come from CA and its 3 border states (OR 11, AZ 3, NV 2).

Off this map: 3 signees to the east (AL, FL, others). 1 signee without a plottable hometown location not shown.

By region

West

South

Midwest

Roster distance from campus (Autzen Stadium, OR)

median hometown distance: 716 mi
within 100 mi: 10%
within 500 mi: 40%
beyond 1,000 mi: 15%

20 of 31 roster players with a known hometown (64% coverage)

The map counts signed recruits across his tenure; the distance figures cover his current roster, transfers and walk-ons included. Two different groups, kept separate on purpose.

The NFL pipeline

at least42Drafted

players drafted into the NFL off his teams here (a floor — see the note below). None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here. 4 went in the first round.

At least 42 — the draft class following his 1995 season is missing from this table entirely.

0 roster-verified · 42 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
2009	R2.02	Patrick Chung	Safety	New England Patriots	Estimated
2009	R2.10	Jairus Byrd	Cornerback	Buffalo Bills	Estimated
2009	R2.17	Max Unger	Center	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
2009	R5.23	Fenuki Tupou	Offensive Tackle	Philadelphia Eagles	Estimated
2009	R6.32	Ra'Shon Harris	Defensive Tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers	Estimated
2009	R7.38	Nick Reed	Defensive End	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
2008	R1.13	Jonathan Stewart	Running Back	Carolina Panthers	Estimated
2008	R5.21	Dennis Dixon	Quarterback	Pittsburgh Steelers	Estimated

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
2008	R7.34	Geoff Schwartz	Offensive Tackle	Carolina Panthers	Estimated
2007	R5.18	Dante Rosario	Tight End	Carolina Panthers	Estimated
2007	R6.13	Matt Toeaina	Defensive Tackle	Cincinnati Bengals	Estimated
2007	R6.36	Jordan Kent	Wide Receiver	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
2006	R1.12	Haloti Ngata	Defensive Tackle	Baltimore Ravens	Estimated
2006	R2.17	Kellen Clemens	Quarterback	New York Jets	Estimated
2006	R4.14	Demetrius Williams	Wide Receiver	Baltimore Ravens	Estimated
2006	R7.27	Justin Phinisee	Defensive Back	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Estimated
2005	R3.30	Adam Snyder	Offensive Tackle	San Francisco 49ers	Estimated
2005	R7.09	Marcus Maxwell	Wide Receiver	San Francisco 49ers	Estimated
2004	R2.03	Igor Olshansky	Defensive Tackle	San Diego Chargers	Estimated
2004	R2.04	Junior Siavii	Defensive Tackle	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
2004	R4.09	Samie Parker	Wide Receiver	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
2004	R6.33	Keith Lewis	Defensive Back	San Francisco 49ers	Estimated
2003	R4.07	George Wrighster	Tight End	Jacksonville Jaguars	Estimated
2003	R4.08	Onterrio Smith	Running Back	Minnesota Vikings	Estimated
2003	R7.07	Keenan Howry	Wide Receiver	Minnesota Vikings	Estimated
2002	R1.03	Joey Harrington	Quarterback	Detroit Lions	Estimated
2002	R2.22	Maurice Morris	Running Back	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
2002	R3.14	Rashad Bauman	Defensive Back	Washington Redskins	Estimated
2002	R4.05	Justin Peelle	Tight End	San Diego Chargers	Estimated
2002	R6.16	Wesly Mallard	Defensive Back	New York Giants	Estimated
2002	R7.35	Steve Smith	Defensive Back	Jacksonville Jaguars	Estimated
2001	R5.24	A.J. Feeley	Quarterback	Philadelphia Eagles	Estimated
2000	R3.19	Reuben Droughns	Running Back	Detroit Lions	Estimated
2000	R4.34	Peter Sirmon	Linebacker	Tennessee Titans	Estimated
1999	R1.03	Akili Smith	Quarterback	Cincinnati Bengals	Estimated
1999	R4.38	Josh Bidwell	Punter	Green Bay Packers	Estimated
1999	R7.02	Jed Weaver	Tight End	Philadelphia Eagles	Estimated
1998	R2.12	Patrick Johnson	Wide Receiver	Baltimore Ravens	Estimated
1998	R5.23	Blake Spence	Tight End	New York Jets	Estimated
1997	R3.22	Paul Wiggins	Offensive Tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers	Estimated
1997	R3.34	Kenny Wheaton	Defensive Back	Dallas Cowboys	Estimated
1997	R7.03	Tony Graziani	Quarterback	Atlanta Falcons	Estimated

A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.

Career

Coaching career

See Oregon’s full coaching history →

The arc of his career is on Now.

Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one

1995–2008

Oregon Builder

National Program II → Power Program II

Closest comparable run: Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina run (2005–2015)

Mike Bellotti raised Oregon from National Program II to Power Program II.

+17.7 pts over 14 seasons · top 31% of 10+-season tenures (202 in sample)

7th-best Oregon tenure of 16 by the numbers.

Followed Rich Brooks (1977–1994) · succeeded by Chip Kelly (2009–2012).

System Shift, on departure

Season	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Record & result
Record	9-3	6-5	7-5	8-4	9-3	10-2	11-1	7-6	8-5	5-6	10-2	7-6	9-4	10-3
Postseason	L bowl	—	W bowl	L bowl	W bowl	W bowl	W bowl	L bowl	L bowl	—	L bowl	L bowl	W bowl	W bowl
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	65	56	74	60	60
Defense	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	69	98	68	89	81
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script
1st-down pass%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	46.1	45.2	46.0	37.9	38.1
Red-zone pass%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	42.7	53.0	35.0	34.7	29.8
4th-down go%opp. territory	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	55.2	27.0	38.1	20.9	31.9

Where the roster comes from, by position

Grows Tight end from high school

100%

#164 of 188 stints

Grows Edge from high school

100%

#191 of 208 stints

Postseason detail1995: Lost to Colorado 6-38 Bowl1997: Beat Air Force 41-13 Bowl1998: Lost to Colorado 43-51 Bowl1999: Beat Minnesota 24-20 Bowl2000: Beat Texas 35-30 Bowl2001: Beat Colorado 38-16 Bowl2002: Lost to Wake Forest 17-38 Bowl2003: Lost to Minnesota 30-31 Bowl2005: Lost to Oklahoma 14-17 Bowl2006: Lost to BYU 8-38 Bowl2007: Beat South Florida 56-21 Bowl2008: Beat Oklahoma State 42-31 Bowl

116-55

All-time wins

Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.

3rd-most wins by a Pac-10 coach

Was he good?

Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.

Raised the program

+17.7 pts at Oregon · #90 of 1290 · top quarter