The Oregon Ducks football program has fallen off considerably without Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota around. Apparently Phil Knight would like to change that.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported on Saturday that there is talk that Knight will throw insane money to get the Ducks a new football coach:
There's talk heating up in Oregon that Phil Knight is ready to throw insane $10M+ a year money at a football coach. He's 78, wants a title.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 5, 2016
Knight, an Oregon graduate and the co-founder of Nike, has donated hundreds of millions to his alma mater. His funds have helped to upgrade the athletics facilities, attract better coaches, and overall turn Oregon into a brand name in the college football world.
The Ducks were among the best programs in college football during Chip Kelly’s four-year run as head coach. They played in four BCS bowl games — winning the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, while losing the BCS National Championship Game. After Kelly left for the NFL, his offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich took over and continued the success by going 24-4 in two seasons. However, after Marcus Mariota left for the NFL, the team fell to 9-4 last year and entered Saturday 3-5. Oregon has not had a losing season since 2004.
For the record, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh is the highest-paid coach in college football at $9 million per season, while Nick Saban is nearing $7 million per season. $10 million per season would certainly attract the best of the best — perhaps even this man?
Photo: Shotgun Spratling/Neon Tommy via Wikimedia Commons
