It's Not About the Plays . . . It's About the Players.

Twice a year, after the college football season and again after spring drills, University of Oregon coach Mike Bellotti arms himself with a yellow legal pad, and a supply of pens, and spends most of several consecutive days in his office. He isn't, on those occasions, scribbling Xs and Os. He isn't tinkering with the sophisticated offense that has placed Oregon in the top 20 in the nation in passing in five of the last six seasons. He isn't refining the strategies that have enabled the Ducks to reach bowl berths in three of the four seasons Bellotti's served as head coach, since being promoted from offensive coordinator after Oregon's Rose Bowl season of 1994. These sessions aren't about plays. They're about players. One by one, 95-some Ducks troop in for private, closed-door meetings with their head coach. The meetings are scheduled to run 15 minutes each, but often go longer. Bellotti