U-TURN AHEAD?

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

There's only so much a coach can do.

When rallying his program back from a subpar season, a head coach has much to consider. From tweaking his practice system, to making staff changes, to overhauling his offensive scheme, Oregon's Mike Bellotti has done plenty over the years to avoid letting one bad season bleed into the next.

When the Ducks have finished near or below .500 in Bellotti's 12 seasons, they've quickly rebounded. They've done so to varying levels of success, but success nonetheless.

But even Bellotti, who would seem a master at turning his program around from poor performance, knows the truth of the matter.

"There's probably some sidelights to it," said Bellotti, whose team begins fall camp Monday after finishing last season with a four-game losing streak and a 7-6 record. "But more than anything else, it's a core group of players saying, `That wasn't fun, that's not why we're here. We're going to finish this thing the right way.' '

The 2006 campaign was the fourth during Bellotti's tenure in which Oregon finished no better than a game above .500. Twice before the Ducks have improved their win total by one the next season, and in 2005 they rebounded from the only losing season under Bellotti to go 10-2.

Since the 11-1 blockbuster of 2001, Oregon has ridden the proverbial roller coaster, bottoming out one season, recovering the next. Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti has also been along for the ride, and sees the same key to recovery that Bellotti noted.

"I'm not putting it all on the kids, but they turn it around as much as anything," Aliotti said. "Most of the time, and certainly I hope this time, the kids understand that maybe we got a little complacent, that maybe we thought we were a little too good."

Witness, as an example, 2002, when the Ducks started 6-0 despite the graduation of Joey Harrington, Maurice Morris, Justin Peelle, Wes Mallard, Rashad Bauman and Steve Smith, only to nosedive. The enduring image from that season is of the replacements for those latter two graduates, a couple of true freshman cornerbacks, futilely trying to chase down Arizona State receivers as Andrew Walter threw for a Pac-10-record 536 yards.

Arizona State won 45-42 that day, ending Oregon's hot start and sparking a streak of six losses in seven games. The senior class that tried to lead the Ducks through those trials lacked much in star power, beyond receiver Keenan Howry. And two of the offense's best weapons, running back Onterrio Smith and tight end George Wrighster, a pair of juniors, were no doubt distracted as the season bore on by their interest in leaving for the NFL draft a year early, which each ultimately chose to do.

The next year, John Neal took over coaching the secondary, and introduced some zone concepts that helped shore up the pass defense. That team won eight games, but as much as any schematic changes, a respected group of seniors that included center Dan Weaver, linebacker Kevin Mitchell and cornerback Steven Moore were around to lead the way.

In 2004, Oregon suffered through the only losing season under Bellotti. The Ducks switched to the spread offense that offseason, but again, the turnaround to a 10-2 mark wouldn't have happened without a group of vocal leaders that included Terrence Whitehead, Demetrius Williams and Anthony Trucks.

This year's squad leaders, as chosen by their teammates, are Brady Leaf and Dennis Dixon at quarterback, Jonathan Stewart at running back, Matt Larkin at tight end, Garren Strong at receiver, Geoff Schwartz and Sean Cullen on the offensive line, David Faaeteete on the defensive line, Kwame Agyeman at linebacker, Patrick Chung in the secondary and Eric Steimer on special teams.

They'll be charged with helping Bellotti instill the motto of "Win the Day" that the team adopted in the spring.

"It's the concept that you're going to try to win everything you're involved in: win the drill, win the game, win the test, all that stuff," Bellotti said. "We have our ascending group of stair-step goals: We want to win the first game, and then the second. We want to have a winning season, want to go to a bowl game, want to go to the best bowl game. We want to compete for the conference championship, compete for the national championship, want to win the national championship. So you build on those things. Well, if that structure is all built on the top thing, and people want to get up there but slip up down lower, all that other stuff doesn't matter.

"So win the day means it doesn't really matter what happened yesterday, or the next day. It's more the concept of stay hungry, one game at a time."

Beyond trying to instill new levels of focus and desire in the players, very little is different for the coaching staff whether the Ducks are coming off a season of success or suffering. The staff puts in the same long hours, dissects the same amount of game film.

But if the work habits stay the same, that's not to say there isn't a little extra pressure.

"There's also the sense of job security," Bellotti said matter-of-factly. "When you have a good year, you work from one angle. When you have not as good a year, you're working from an angle of, oh my gosh, we better be better."

Added Aliotti: "You know, it's funny. When you win, you go 10-2, you don't go into the meeting room and brag about being 10-2 and talk about all the things that went well. You just kind of get onto the next one.

"But it appears when you lose, you analyze everything and you really look at it with a microscope, and you seem to dwell on that more than you do when you win."

Aliotti said the defensive staff scrutinized its unit as precisely as ever this offseason. One offshoot was the increased practice intensity seen in the spring, with an emphasis on better conditioning.

The other major change this offseason was the return of special teams coordinator Tom Osborne, after that position was left vacant for two years. Bellotti compared that move to the implementation of the spread in 2005.

"The biggest change around here has been after the 2004 season, when we changed offenses," Bellotti said. "We weren't doing as good a job. I saw some things I wasn't happy about and said we're going to do things different. Last year I said I'm unhappy with our special teams. We're going to change the way it's structured, the way we do that, and I'm anticipating that it will result in improvements."

But, the coach cautioned, it's a fine line between having the nerve to make a change likely to produce a positive outcome, and having a knee-jerk reaction to losses that leads to change just for the sake of change.

"It's scary sometimes to work in panic mode," Bellotti said. "You want to work in a confidence mode. ... Don't feel like you have to change, but don't be afraid to change."

And most important, he's learned, when trying to rebound from a substandard season, look first to the leadership provided not by the staff, but by the Ducks on the field.

ON THE REBOUND

Under head coach Mike Bellotti, the Ducks have never flirted with .500 for more than a year.

1996-97: With the core of the Rose Bowl team having departed over the two previous years, UO endured a five-game losing streak in '96 and finished 6-5. Oregon improved its record by a game each of the next five years, culminating in an 11-1 mark in '01.

2002-03: The graduations of Joey Harrington, et al., put pressure on a young team to perform, and UO suffered - particularly at cornerback - in going 7-6 in '02. A three-game win streak to close the regular season under sophomore QB Kellen Clemens got the Ducks back to eight wins in '03.

2004-05: A brutal start led to the only losing season of Bellotti's tenure in '04. Behind a senior class that included Clemens, Terrence Whitehead and Demetrius Williams, the Ducks posted just the third 10-win season in their history in '05.