Canzano: The most interesting (and pivotal) football season ever?
Storytime from the Pacific Northwest.
I’m old enough to remember when Gary Andersen went off the deep end at Oregon State. The coach threw in the keys and walked away from his job with $12.4 million in guaranteed money remaining on his contract.
Andersen hated his assistants. He was miserable. He told his bosses he would do them a favor and let them out of his deal. OSU officials jumped at the offer, but feared Andersen might reconsider so they scrambled the university’s general counsel on a Sunday to draw up the documents.
The transition from Mike Bellotti to Chip Kelly at Oregon was fascinating, too. Kelly had visionary ideas about sleep patterns, and grass-fed diets, and knew what play to call on third down. But he’d never been a head coach in charge of a program.
Bellotti had mastered the CEO role. He leaned into it. He liked driving to Portland for the weekly Duck booster club luncheon and making the honks feel like they were in on the game plan.
They’d sit, eat rubber chicken and a scoop of rice pilaf, listen to Bellotti talk. He’d pass around the game ball and the boosters would run home and tell their spouses, “Watch for a play-action pass on the first series.”
I have a question.
It’s a big one.