Rich Brooks
Encyclopedia
Rich Brooks is a former American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

 from 1977 to 1994 and at the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 from 2003 to 2009, compiling a career college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 record of 128–154–4. Brooks was also the head coach of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

's St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

 from 1995 to 1996, tallying mark of 13–19. Brooks' 1994 Oregon team
1994 Oregon Ducks football team
-Schedule:-Washington:In the 1994 edition of the heated rivalry with the University of Washington, the #9-ranked Huskies came into Autzen Stadium with a 5-1 record, including a victory over the University of Miami, snapping a 58 game home winning streak. The game was a tough and close contest, with...

 won the Pacific-10 Conference title and made an appearance in the 1995 Rose Bowl
1995 Rose Bowl
The 1995 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday January 2, 1995 because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 81st Rose Bowl Game. The Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Oregon Ducks 38–20. Ki-Jana Carter of Penn State and Danny O'Neil of Oregon both were named...

. For his efforts that season, he won a number of national coaching awards.

Education

Brooks attended Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...

. He majored in physical education and played defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...

 for the football team. He received his bachelor's degree in 1963 and completed his master's degree in education at Oregon State the next year. He was also a member of Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...

 Fraternity at Oregon State.

Coaching

His coaching career started at Oregon State as an assistant freshman coach while working on his master's degree. After receiving his master's degree, he moved to Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

 where he accepted an assistant coaching job at Norte Del Rio High School. He soon returned to his alma mater to serve as an assistant coach for the Beavers from 1965 to 1970.

Brooks rejoined legendary Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...

 coach Tommy Prothro
Tommy Prothro
James Thompson "Tommy" Prothro, Jr. was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Oregon State University from 1955 to 1964 and at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1965 to 1970, compiling a career college football record of 104–55–5...

 as linebackers coach at UCLA in 1970, then accepted a job with the Los Angeles Rams in 1971 as special teams and fundamentals coach. After two years in the NFL, Brooks returned to Oregon State to serve as defensive coordinator in 1973. In 1974-, Brooks went back to the NFL as defensive backs and special teams coach for the San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

 until returning to UCLA in 1976 to coach linebackers, where he helped the Bruins to a top-20 final ranking.

Brooks accepted his first head coaching position at the University of Oregon, Oregon State's bitter rival, in 1977. At the time of his arrival, the Ducks had not had a winning season since 1969, and only one winning season since 1965. During his tenure at Oregon, a nationwide recruiting scandal was exposed; in the early 80s, the school was placed on probation by both the NCAA and Pac-10 for violations in recruiting, misuse of funds and academic standards.

Brooks' teams dominated the instate rivalry with Oregon State, compiling an overall record of 14–3–1, which kept him popular during several disappointing seasons. In 1989, he led the Ducks to a berth in the Independence Bowl
Independence Bowl
The Independence Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, so named because it was inaugurated in the United States bicentennial year, 1976....

--their first bowl appearance since 1963. He would lead them to three more bowls in his tenure, becoming the first coach in school history to take the Ducks to four bowl games. His best season came in 1994, when he led the Ducks to the first outright conference title in the school's 100-year football history and a berth in the Rose Bowl
1995 Rose Bowl
The 1995 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday January 2, 1995 because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 81st Rose Bowl Game. The Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Oregon Ducks 38–20. Ki-Jana Carter of Penn State and Danny O'Neil of Oregon both were named...

. Brooks was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year, and also won the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award as national coach of the year. His 91 wins were a school record until his successor and former offensive coordinator, Mike Bellotti
Mike Bellotti
Robert Michael "Mike" Bellotti is a college football analyst for ESPN and ABC. A native of California, he was hired as football offensive coordinator by the University of Oregon in 1989. From 1995 to 2009, he was the head coach of the Oregon Ducks football team...

, broke it in 2006; his 109 losses remain a school record. Brooks left Oregon for the NFL after the 1994 season. His overall record at Oregon was 18 games under .500, largely due to his first seven teams winning only 22 games combined. Nonetheless, Brooks is credited with reviving Oregon's football program and setting the stage for its rise to national prominence under Bellotti and Chip Kelly
Chip Kelly
Charles "Chip" Kelly is the head football coach at the University of Oregon. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative offensive minds in college football today, the 2009 and 2010 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, 2010 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, 2010 Walter Camp Coach of the Year, 2010 Sporting...

.

After the 1994 season, Brooks spent two years as head coach of the rebuilding St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

, in which the team went 13–19. After leaving St. Louis, Brooks spent four years on Dan Reeves
Dan Reeves
Daniel Edward Reeves is a former American football player and head coach. He has participated in more Super Bowls as player/assistant coach/Head Coach than anyone else...

' staff in Atlanta
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

, and served as interim head coach for the final two games of the Falcons' 1998
1998 NFL season
The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.The Tennessee Oilers moved their home games from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still awaiting construction on a new stadium in Nashville.This was the first season that CBS...

 Super Bowl season
Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played on January 31, 1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion, following the 1998 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football...

.

After two years away from the game, Brooks was hired as head coach at the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 prior to the 2003 season. There was some controversy surrounding Brooks' hiring since he hadn't coached at the college level in almost a decade. Brooks inherited a team that was 7–5 in 2002, but was just beginning to feel the effect of NCAA probation imposed because of recruiting violations committed by a prior Kentucky coaching staff. In Brooks' first three seasons his squads posted records of 4–8, 2–9 and 3–8 (9–25 overall, 4–20 in Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 games).

Brooks coached the 2006 Kentucky squad to a 7–5 regular season. The Wildcats earned their first bowl bid since 1999, against Clemson
2006 Clemson Tigers football team
The 2006 Clemson football team represented Clemson University in the 2006 college football season The team was coached by Tommy Bowden and played their homes game in the Memorial Stadium.-Notable:...

 in the Music City Bowl
2006 Music City Bowl
The 2006 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl featured a contest between the Clemson Tigers and the Kentucky Wildcats. Clemson entered the game with a record of 8-4 after having been ranked in the AP poll for most weeks of the season, as high as #10; Kentucky was 7-5 and unranked...

 in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 where Brooks' Wildcats defeated the Tigers 28–20 for Kentucky's first bowl victory since 1984.

On December 23, 2006, Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart
Mitch Barnhart
Mitch Barnhart is the athletics director for the Kentucky Wildcats athletics program at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. Barnhart was hired by the university in 2002 succeeding Larry Ivy. Barnhart served in the same capacity at Oregon State University from 1998-2002. He is the...

 announced that the University and Brooks had agreed to a contract extension for four years, plus an additional year at the University's option. Brooks' base pay is $1 million per year plus other incentives.

In 2007, the Kentucky compiled a 8–5 won-loss record overall and 3–5 in the SEC East including wins over the #1 ranked LSU Tigers
2007 LSU Tigers football team
The 2007 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University during the college football season of 2007–2008, winning the Southeastern Conference championship and the national championship. The team's Head Coach was Les Miles who entered his third year at the helm of LSU Football...

 and intrastate rival #8 ranked Louisville Cardinals
2007 Louisville Cardinals football team
The 2007 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2007 college football season. The team, led by Steve Kragthorpe in his first year at the school, played their home games in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and were in their third year in the Big East...

. Kentucky rose to as high as #8 in the AP Poll. The Wildcats closed out their campaign in the 2007 Music City Bowl
2007 Music City Bowl
The 2007 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl was the 2007 edition of the Music City Bowl, and it was played on December 31, 2007. Part of the 2007–2008 bowl season, it featured the Kentucky Wildcats and the Florida State Seminoles...

, this time defeating the Florida State Seminoles
2007 Florida State Seminoles football team
The 2007 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University during the 2007 college football season. Florida State entered the 2007 season coming off a 2006 that ended with an overall record of 7-6, which was head coach Bobby Bowden's worst record since going 6-5 in 1981,...

 by a score of 35–28.

On January 18, 2008, the Kentucky athletics department announced that when Brooks chose to retire, former Kentucky player and then offensive coordinator
Offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...

 Joker Phillips
Joker Phillips
-External links:*...

 would become the football team's next head coach. No date was set for this transition, but the action was taken to provide prospective recruits assurance of a smooth transition.

In 2008, the Wildcats went 7–6, defeating favored East Carolina
2008 East Carolina Pirates football team
The 2008 East Carolina Pirates football team represented East Carolina University in the college football season of 2008-09. and plays their home games in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium...

, the Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

 champions, in the 2009 Liberty Bowl
2009 Liberty Bowl
The 2009 AutoZone Liberty Bowl is the fiftieth annual college football bowl game, and was played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee on January 2, 2009 as part of the 2008-09 bowl season. The East Carolina Pirates accepted their invitation after their victory over the Tulsa...

. Brooks became the first Kentucky coach to win bowl games in three consecutive years.

On September 30, 2009, Brooks announced on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 page that he had undergone a procedure to remove skin cancer
Skin cancer
Skin neoplasms are skin growths with differing causes and varying degrees of malignancy. The three most common malignant skin cancers are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma, each of which is named after the type of skin cell from which it arises...

 from his leg.

Brooks announced his retirement from collegiate coaching on January 4, 2010. As planned, Joker Phillips succeeded him.

College

External links

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