On Sports

Beware of Monday morning coaches

By dwight jaynes

The Portland Tribune, Nov 28, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (9 Reader comments)

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CORVALLIS – There are some games that remind you just how difficult it is to be a college football coach. Friday afternoon’s Civil War was one of those games.

Writing columns seems to not only allow but encourage an insidious sort of second-guessing of coaches, and it’s most difficult to resist.

But some second guesses are more fair than others. So jump back in the time machine with me to that dark and dingy day in Reser Stadium when the Beavers finished off one of the best seasons in school history with a 30-28 win over the Ducks. It’s time for a festival of second-guessing:

• Funny how pragmatic the world has gotten in that perhaps the biggest gamble coach Mike Bellotti took Friday wasn’t second-guessed much at all. It occurred before the game started, in fact, when he named Brady Leaf his team’s starting quarterback.

Come on, if you’re going to second-guess him later on for switching kickers – you know, questioning his loyalty to players – are you not going to question his decision to bench quarterback Dennis Dixon, the starter all season and a player Bellotti has staunchly defended all year?

Of course you’re not, because, for the most part, it worked. Leaf – in spite of throwing a brutal interception that OSU turned into a touchdown – played well.

But to not use Dixon for a single play was incredible. Not even one series where he did nothing but run that speed option? So the question then is, were the Ducks wrong all season not to be starting Leaf? Why, in this very big game, was Dixon not worthy of playing a down when he’d been the starter all year?

Now there’s a real second guess for you.

• Bellotti’s next big gamble was going for the two-point conversion after his team’s touchdown late in the game. The Ducks converted, so he was praised for the move. How pragmatic. But at the time, with six minutes left in the game and the UO offense dominating throughout most of the second half, it seemed a very bold move.

The Oregon coach later intimated that it wasn’t so much he didn’t feel his team couldn’t boot an extra point, but that he didn’t want to go into overtime uncomfortable with his ability to kick a field goal.

Fair enough, but keep in mind, it was a brilliant coaching move only because it worked.

• Of course, it wasn’t just Bellotti taking gambles. Again, pragmatists rule the world, so Oregon State coach Mike Riley’s decision to play for a field goal late in the game, rather than try to get closer to the end zone, was lost in the shuffle.

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