Defending Oregon

Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti defended his program recently against the recent spate of problems.

“Well I think we’re on top of it. Again, I don’t want to sound like it’s an aberration, I don’t want to sweep anything under the carpet. Our coaches and our entire community are very concerned about the actions of the athletes. You know, at this point in time, I’m not belittling anything. There are arrests but no convictions. And I know the general rule is you’re innocent until proven guilty. But unfortunately I know the media doesn’t always know that’s the case. I think that as this thing works itself out, some of these things – it will be interesting to see how all the facts come out. I think Chip Kelly has been slow to judgment on some things, and I think some people take that wrong. I think he’s waited for all the facts. He’s been very forthright about some of the things he’s done because he did have all the facts. I can’t give you specific information about any of these incidents but I do know some things that have effected his decision in terms of meeting with the team and some edict that he set. And I do understand exactly why things happened. I’m not happy about it, I’m not proud of it. Obviously anytime any student athlete at the University of Oregon runs afoul of the law we’re very concerned and we’re going to take preventative measures. We have already, we do, but we’ll take more in the future.”