Whatever Oregon is paying Chip Kelly it isn't enough...

[DAWG61]

he should be getting 10 mill a year for what he's done with that program.

 

[FlabLoser]

Well, he only has the Nike founder as his biggest booster. Phil Knight decided he wanted Oregon to have good football and instantly Oregon had good football. Imagine that.

 

[engie]

It wasn't quite instant... at least national relevance wasn't.

Knight started pumping his money into Oregon athletics in 1996. Even with his donations to Oregon(rumored to now be between $250 and $500 million, or $17-35 mil/yr), it still took them 14 years to ever fully rise to "the next level."

Another thing that I found interesting in looking for this information... The Oregon athletics department(outside of Phil Knight) raises about $17mil/yr in private donations. Mississippi State has raised over $70million the previous two years in the same manner. More. Than. Double.

http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_17046838

That said, I think Chip Kelly will be an NFL coach after this season, and I don't think that even Knight has enough money to prevent him from doing it. Seems he's ready to move on to his next challenge.

 

[FlabLoser]

I think Oregon got as high as 4th ranked in 2001 when Joey Harrington was a Heisman candidate. So 1996 - 2001 is pretty close to instant.

 

[engie]

They were good several times, but they didn't fully ascend the mountain until Kelly got there. They did get serious about football when Belotti was hired though.

Oregon prior to 1994: 443-407-47
Mississippi State prior to 1994: 415-433-39
In the first 100ish years of college football, they were 0.25game/yr better than us.
Oregon had been to 9 total bowls prior to the Rose Bowl loss of 94, which was their first NYD bowl in 37 years. They've been bowling all but 2 years since, good or 18 bowls in the last 20 years.

1994: 9-4 Rose Bowl loss. Final Rank 11. First Final Season Ranking since 1957. Rich Brooks rides off into sunset with career record 91-109-4 @ Oregon. Mike Belotti is hired.
1995: 9-3 Cotton Bowl loss. Final Rank 18. Belotti's first year. Also arrival of Phil Knight after the bowl loss on NYD. Curious that he got interested AFTER they'd gotten a small taste for success. He wanted to help take the "next step", but would he have ever taken the "first step" had they never put together these two good years?
1996: 6-5
1997: 7-5 Las Vegas Bowl win
1998: 8-4 Aloha Bowl loss
1999: 9-3 Sun Bowl win. Final Rank 19.
2000: 10-2 Holiday Bowl win. Final Rank 7.
2001: 11-1 Fiesta Bowl win. Final Rank 2.
2002: 7-6 Seattle Bowl loss
2003: 8-5 Sun Bowl loss
2004: 5-6
2005: 10-2 Holiday Bowl loss. Final Rank 12.
2006: 7-6 Las Vegas Bowl loss
2007: 9-4 Sun Bowl win. Final Rank 24.
2008: 10-3 Holiday Bowl win. Final Rank 12. Belotti rides off into sunset. Chip Kelly hired.
2009: 10-3 Rose Bowl loss. Final Rank 11.
2010: 12-1 BCS NCG loss. Final Rank 3.
2011: 12-2 Rose Bowl win. Final Rank 4.
2012: 10-0 BCS bound

Even with Phil Knight money, it took 6 years and an NFL quarterback to ever really overachieve in a single year. Then another 6 years to start to become consistently elite.

And the NCAA still hasn't ruled on them yet about Lache Seastrunk to my knowledge...

 

[Lee Corso]

And not to mention, their only real competion was/is USC.

We have to compete with Alabama, LSU, Florida, etc. (name an SEC team).

Everyone wants to win.