Rich Brooks

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Rich Brooks
Title	Head Coach
College	Kentucky
Sport	Football
Born	August 20, 1941 (1941-08-20) (age 66)
Place of birth	Forest, California
Career highlights
Overall	108-141
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Awards
See Below
Playing career
1961-63	Oregon State University
Position	Defensive Back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1963 1965-1969 1970 1971-1972 1973 1974-1975 1976 1977-1994 1995-1996 1997-2000 2003-	Oregon State University (asst. Freshman) Oregon State University (defensive line) UCLA (linebackers) Los Angeles Rams (special teams/fundamentals) Oregon State University (defensive coordinator) San Francisco 49ers (defensive backs/special teams) UCLA (linebackers/special teams) University of Oregon St. Louis Rams Atlanta Falcons (defensive coordinator) University of Kentucky

Rich Brooks (born August 20, 1941, Forest, California, United States) is an American football coach, who is currently the head football coach at the University of Kentucky. Brooks is best known for spending 18 seasons at the University of Oregon, and winning the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for national coach of the year after leading Oregon to the Rose Bowl in 1994.

1 Education
2 Coaching
3 Awards
- 3.1 1979
- 3.2 1989
- 3.3 1994
- 3.4 1995
- 3.5 2007
4 Head coaching record
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Education

Brooks attended Oregon State University. He majored in physical education and played defensive back 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.

[edit] 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 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 1965-1970.

Brooks rejoined legendary Oregon State coach Tommy Prothro as linebackers coach at UCLA in 1970, then accepted a job with the Los Angeles Rams in 1971-72 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 1974-75, Brooks went back to the NFL as defensive backs and special teams coach for the San Francisco 49ers 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 in 1977. During his tenure at Oregon, he won the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award as the National Coach of the Year, and was also chosen the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. He became the first coach in school history to take the Ducks to four bowl games. After reviving Oregon's football program, Brooks spent a few years in the National Football League, highlighted by two years as head coach of the rebuilding St. Louis Rams, in which the team went 13-19. After leaving St. Louis, Brooks spent four years on Dan Reeves' staff in Atlanta, and served as interim head coach for the final two games of the 1998 season, in which the Falcons went 14-2.

After two years away from the game, Brooks was hired as head coach at the University of Kentucky prior to the 2003 season. There was some controversy surrounding Brooks' hiring since he had been away from the game. Brooks inherited a team that was 7-5 in 2002, but was yet to feel the full 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 games).

Brooks coached the 2006 Kentucky squad to a 7-5 regular season. The Wildcats earned their first bowl bid since 1999, a date with Clemson University in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee 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 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 will be $1 million per year plus other incentives ^[1].

In 2007 the Kentucky Wildcats program under Brooks touts a 7-5 won- loss record (overall) and 3-5 in the S.E.C. East including wins over the #1 ranked LSU Tigers and intra-state rival #8 ranked Louisville Cardinals. The Wildcats again closed out their campaign in the Music City Bowl, this time defeating the Florida State Seminoles by a score of 35-28. Brooks overall record at UK is 25-35 overall.

On January 18, 2007, the UK Athletics Department announced that when Brooks chooses to retire, former UK player and current UK offensive coordinator Joker Phillips will become UK Football's next head coach. No date has been set for this transition, but this action was taken to provide prospective recruits some assurance that there will be a smooth transition whenever Brooks chooses to step down.^[2]

[edit] Awards

[edit] 1979

Pacific-10 Coach of the Year
District IX Coach of the Year by the AFCA
Slats Gill Award as Sportsman of the Year in the state of Oregon

[edit] 1989

Slats Gill Award as Sportsman of the Year in the state of Oregon

[edit] 1994

National Coach of the Year (Bear Bryant Award) by the FWAA
National Coach of the Year by The Sporting News
National Coach of the Year by ESPN/Home Depot
Pacific-10 Coach of the Year
Slats Gill Award as Sportsman of the Year in the state of Oregon

[edit] 1995

Inducted into the Independence Bowl Hall of Fame

[edit] 2007

Inducted into the University of Oregon Hall of Fame

[edit] Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl	Coaches^#	AP^°
Oregon Ducks (Pac 10 Conference) (1977 – 1994)
1977	Oregon	3-8	2-5	7th
1978	Oregon	1-10	1-6	10th
1979	Oregon	4-7	2-5	9th
1980	Oregon	6-3-2	4-3-1	5th
1981	Oregon	2-9	1-6	9th
1982	Oregon	2-8-1	2-6	9th
1983	Oregon	4-6-1	3-3-1	T-6th
1984	Oregon	6-5	3-5	T-7th
1985	Oregon	5-6	3-4	6th
1986	Oregon	5-6	3-5	7th
1987	Oregon	6-5	4-4	T-4th
1988	Oregon	6-6	3-5	T-6th
1989	Oregon	8-4	5-3	T-2nd	W 27-24 Independence Bowl
1990	Oregon	8-4	4-3	3rd	L 31-32 Freedom Bowl
1991	Oregon	3-8	1-7	T-9th
1992	Oregon	6-6	4-4	T-6th	L 35-39 Independence Bowl
1993	Oregon	5-6	2-6	T-8th
1994	Oregon	9-4	7-1	1st	L 20-38 Rose Bowl	11	11
Oregon:		89-111-4	54-81-2
Kentucky Wildcats (Southeastern Conference) (2003 — present)
2003	Kentucky	4-8	1-7	T-5th (East)
2004	Kentucky	2-9	1-7	T-5th (East)
2005	Kentucky	3-8	2-6	6th (East)
2006	Kentucky	8-5	4-4	T-3rd (East)	W 28-20 Music City Bowl
2007	Kentucky	8-5	3-5	T-4th (East)	W 35-28 Music City Bowl
Kentucky:		25-35	11-29
Total:		114-146-4 (.439)
National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title
^†Indicates BCS bowl game. ^#Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. ^°Rankings from final AP Poll of the season.

[edit] Notes

^ New Contract Finalized for Coach Rich Brooks. UK Athletic Department (2007-01-30). Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
^ Jeffrey McMurray (2008-01-18). Phillips Said to Succeed Brooks. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.

[edit] External links

Preceded by Don Read	University of Oregon Head Football Coach 1977–1994	Succeeded by Mike Bellotti
Preceded by Chuck Knox	St. Louis Rams Head Coach 1995–1996	Succeeded by Dick Vermeil
Preceded by Jim Bates	Atlanta Falcons Defensive Coordinator 1997–2000	Succeeded by Don Blackmon
Preceded by Guy Morriss	University of Kentucky Head Football Coach 2003–	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Terry Bowden	Paul "Bear" Bryant Award 1994	Succeeded by Gary Barnett

v • d • e

Paul "Bear" Bryant Award winners