EUGENE -- Rich Brooks has been Oregon's football coach. He has been the Ducks' athletic director. He hired three assistants who remained on UO's staff, three head coaches later. As a head coach, he has been fired.
So even though 21 years have passed since Brooks last held a title on the UO campus, Brooks' experience with and, continuing influence on, the UO football program extends to present day. All of which made Oregon's firing of coach Mark Helfrich on Tuesday a decision he watched with considerable interest. Brooks is one of few who can empathize with everyone in the situation, able to understand what it's like to endure a hard season and await (or deliver) a hard decision.