| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1941-08-20)August 20, 1941 (age 84) Forest, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1961–1963 | Oregon State |
| Position | Defensive back |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1963 | Oregon State (freshmen) |
| 1964 | Norte Del Rio HS (CA) (ass't) |
| 1965–1969 | Oregon State (DL) |
| 1970 | UCLA (LB) |
| 1971–1972 | Los Angeles Rams (ST) |
| 1973 | Oregon State(DC) |
| 1974–1975 | San Francisco 49ers (DB) |
| 1976 | UCLA (LB/ST) |
| 1977–1994 | Oregon |
| 1995–1996 | St. Louis Rams |
| 1997–2000 | Atlanta Falcons (DC) |
| 2003–2009 | Kentucky |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1992–1994 | Oregon |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 130–156–4 (college) 15–19 (NFL) |
| Bowls | 4–4 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1Pac-10 (1994) | |
| Awards | |
| Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1994) Home Depot Coach of the Year Award (1994) Sporting News College Football COY (1994) Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1994) 2×Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1979, 1994) | |
Richard Llewellyn Brooks (born August 20, 1941) is an American retiredfootball coach and former player. He was the head coach at theUniversity of Oregon[1] from 1977 to 1994, theSt. Louis Rams from 1995 to 1996, and theUniversity of Kentucky from 2003 to 2009.
Brooks'1994 Oregon team won thePac-10 title and played in the1995 Rose Bowl. For his efforts that season, he won a number of national coaching awards. The University of Oregon named the field atAutzen StadiumRich Brooks Field in honor of his 18 seasons as coach for the Ducks.
Brooks attendedOregon State University inCorvallis, where he majored in physical education and playeddefensive back for thefootball team under head coachTommy Prothro. 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 ofPhi Delta Thetafraternity at Oregon State.
Brooks's coaching career started at Oregon State as an assistant freshman coach while working on hismaster's degree. After receiving his master's degree, he moved toSacramento, California, where he accepted an assistant coaching job at Norte Del Rio High School. He soon returned to hisalma mater to serve asdefensive line coach for the Beavers from 1965 through 1969 under new head coachDee Andros.
Brooks rejoined Prothro in 1970 aslinebackers coach atUCLA, then followed Prothro to theLos Angeles Rams in1971 asspecial teams and fundamentals coach. After two years in the NFL, Brooks returned to Oregon State to serve asdefensive coordinator in 1973 under Andros, after previous DCBud Riley left for theCFL. Brooks returned to the NFL in 1974 as defensive backs and special teams coach for theSan Francisco 49ers underDick Nolan, then went back to UCLA in 1976 to coach linebackers under first-year head coachTerry Donahue, where he helped the Bruins to a top-20 final ranking.
Brooks accepted his first head coaching position in 1977 at theUniversity of Oregon, Oregon State'sbitter rival. At the time of his arrival, theDucks had not had a winning season since 1970, and only one since 1965. Brooks' first contract was a four-year deal at $32,000 per year.[2]In 1980 a scandal was exposed from the 1977–79 academic years, and the school was placed on a two-yearprobation (including a one-year bowl ban) by the NCAA for violations in recruiting, misuse of funds and academic standards.[3]
Brooks's teams dominated the instate rivalry with Oregon State, compiling an overall record of 14–3–1, which kept him popular during several disappointing seasons. In1989, he led the Ducks to a berth in theIndependence Bowl—their first bowl appearance since 1963. Brooks led them to three more bowls during his tenure, becoming the first coach in school history to take the Ducks to four bowl games. (ThePac-8 did not allow a second bowl team from the conference until1975).[4] 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 theRose Bowl. That team won a then school-record tying nine games, the first time the Ducks had won that many since 1948. Brooks was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year, and also won thePaul "Bear" Bryant Award as national coach of the year.
Brooks left Oregon for the NFL after the 1994 season. His 91 wins were a school record until his successor and former offensive coordinator,Mike Bellotti, broke it in 2006; his 109 losses remain a school record. 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 andChip Kelly.
On February 10,1995, Brooks accepted a four-year contract at $625,000 per year to become the head coach of theRams, who were preparing to move from Los Angeles to St. Louis for that season.[5] He signed to a four-year contract. The 1995 team got off to a 5–1 start but won just two more games down the stretch. The 1996 team anguished to six wins. Brooks was fired one day after the end of the1996 season; he had gone 13–19 in two seasons. Brooks was replaced byDick Vermeil, who wonSuper Bowl XXXIV with the Rams two years later.[6]
Brooks then spent four seasons onDan Reeves' staff in with theAtlanta Falcons, and served as interim head coach for the final two games of the Falcons' 1998 season while Reeves was recuperating from heart surgery.
After two years away from the game, Brooks was hired as head coach at theUniversity of Kentucky prior for the 2003 season. He agreed to a five-year contract at $725,000 per year.[7] 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 inSoutheastern Conference games).
Brooks coached the 2006 Kentucky squad to a 7–5 regular season. The Wildcats earned their first bowl bid since 1999, againstClemson in theMusic City Bowl inNashville, Tennessee where Brooks' Wildcats defeated the Tigers 28–20 for Kentucky's first bowl victory since 1984.
On December 23, 2006, Kentucky Athletics DirectorMitch 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 was $1 million per year plus other incentives.[8]
In 2007, the Kentucky compiled an 8–5 won-loss record overall and 3–5 in the SEC East including wins over the #1 rankedLSU Tigers and intrastate rival #8 rankedLouisville Cardinals. Kentucky rose to as high as #8 in the AP Poll. The Wildcats closed out their campaign in the2007 Music City Bowl, this time defeating theFlorida State Seminoles 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 thenoffensive coordinatorJoker Phillips 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.[9]
In 2008, the Wildcats went 7–6, defeating favoredEast Carolina, theConference USA champions, in the2009 Liberty Bowl. Brooks became the first Kentucky coach to win bowl games in three consecutive years.
On September 30, 2009, Brooks announced on hisTwitter page[10] that he had undergone a procedure to removeskin cancer from his leg.[11]
Brooks announced his retirement from collegiate coaching on January 4, 2010. As planned, Joker Phillips succeeded him.[12]
After leaving the Wildcats Brooks returned to Oregon, living inLane County near theMcKenzie River.[13] On September 23, 2016, Brooks and former UK player and Tennessee TitanWesley Woodyard were inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon Ducks(Pacific-10 Conference)(1977–1994) | |||||||||
| 1977 | Oregon | 2–9 | 1–6 | 7th | |||||
| 1978 | Oregon | 2–9 | 2–5 | 6th | |||||
| 1979 | Oregon | 6–5 | 4–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| 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 | 7th | |||||
| 1985 | Oregon | 5–6 | 3–4 | 6th | |||||
| 1986 | Oregon | 5–6 | 3–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1987 | Oregon | 6–5 | 4–4 | 5th | |||||
| 1988 | Oregon | 6–6 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
| 1989 | Oregon | 8–4 | 5–3 | T–2nd | WIndependence | ||||
| 1990 | Oregon | 8–4 | 4–3 | 3rd | LFreedom | ||||
| 1991 | Oregon | 3–8 | 1–7 | T–9th | |||||
| 1992 | Oregon | 6–6 | 4–4 | T–6th | LIndependence | ||||
| 1993 | Oregon | 5–6 | 2–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 1994 | Oregon | 9–4 | 7–1 | 1st | LRose | 11 | 11 | ||
| Oregon: | 91–109–4 | 56–79–2 | |||||||
| Kentucky Wildcats(Southeastern Conference)(2003–2009) | |||||||||
| 2003 | Kentucky | 4–8 | 1–7 | T–5th(Eastern) | |||||
| 2004 | Kentucky | 2–9 | 1–7 | T–5th(Eastern) | |||||
| 2005 | Kentucky | 3–8 | 2–6 | 6th(Eastern) | |||||
| 2006 | Kentucky | 8–5 | 4–4 | T–3rd(Eastern) | WMusic City | ||||
| 2007 | Kentucky | 8–5 | 3–5 | T–4th(Eastern) | WMusic City | ||||
| 2008 | Kentucky | 7–6 | 2–6 | 6th(Eastern) | WLiberty | ||||
| 2009 | Kentucky | 7–6 | 3–5 | T–4th(Eastern) | LMusic City | ||||
| Kentucky: | 39–47 | 16–40 | |||||||
| Total: | 130–156–4 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| ATL | 1998 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | (interim) | – | – | – | – |
| ATL Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | – | – | – | |||
| STL | 1995 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 3rd in NFC West | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1996 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 3rd in NFC West | – | – | – | – |
| STL Total | 13 | 19 | 0 | .406 | – | – | – | |||
| Total | 15 | 19 | 0 | .406 | ||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
