LINCOLN — Mike Bellotti sat at a table flanked by his coach-in-waiting, Chip Kelly. Oregon was looking for a new wide receivers coach.
It was January 2009 and the men were set up in a room in Nashville, Tennessee, during the national coaches convention. Bellotti, the Ducks’ coach and soon to be athletic director, had advertised the job nationally and was interviewing the final 10 or so candidates to help run an offense gearing up to be one of the most prolific in college football.
As it turned out, the man who landed the open position was a young, unrecommended FCS assistant who wanted to discuss defense for the majority of the meeting.