RICH BROOKS

'Rich Brooks' (born August 20, 1941, Forest, California, United States) is an American football coach, who is currently the head football coach for 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.

Contents
Education
Coaching
Awards
1979
1989
1994
1995
Notes
External links

Education

Brooks enrolled at Oregon State University and graduated in 1963, after playing as a defensive back for 3 years. At Oregon State, he received his bachelor's degree in physical education and a master's in education in 1964.

Coaching

His coaching career started as an Assistant Freshman Coach while working on his master's degree at Oregon State. After receiving his master's degree, he moved to Sacramento, California where he accepted an assistant coaching job at North at Norte Del Rio High School. He returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for the Beavers from 1965-1970.
Brooks rejoined Tommy Prothro in 1970 as linebackers coach at UCLA but accepted 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 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 Oregon in 1977. At his time at the University of Oregon, he won the Bear Bryant Award as the National Coach of the Year and was chosen the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. He also 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, and had worked with the Kentucky athletic director at Oregon. 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 New Contract Finalized for Coach Rich Brooks .

Awards

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

1989

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

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

1995

★ Inducted into the Independence Bowl Hall of Fame

Notes

External links

★ ESPN.com - Brooks to land Kentucky coaching post

★ Rich Brooks Profile

★ True Blue Believers

★ FireRichBrooks.com

★ WeLoveRichBrooks.com