Rich Brooks
Rich Brooks (born August 20, 1941, Forest, California) 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.
After reviving Oregon's football program, Brooks spent a few unsuccessful years in the National Football League, highlighted by two years as head coach of the 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 without a job, Brooks was called upon to lead the University of Kentucky out of the cellar of the Southeastern Conference, which he has not done very well so far, going 9-25 through three seasons.
Brooks' lack of success has many Kentucky fans calling for athletic director Mitch Barnhart to fire him and replace him with a younger, more energetic coach. Many fans expected Brooks to be let go at the end of the 2005 season, but Barnhart announced on November 8, 2005 that Brooks would be back for 2006.