http://registerguard.com/rg/sports/...h-oregon-football-ahead-to-cal-bears.html.csp
Steve Greatwood looks back on 30 years with Oregon football, ahead to Cal Bears
Steve Greatwood was not ready to retire.
When his 30-year run as an assistant coach at Oregon came to an end with the firing of Mark Helfrich last month, the 58-year old struggled with the uncertainty of unemployment.
"I definitely learned after six weeks of sitting around that I am not anywhere close to retiring," he said in an interview with The Register-Guard on Tuesday morning. "You run the whole gamut of emotions. You are fired and you have a lot of self-doubt about your own abilities. The phone doesn't ring. You find out who your friends are. The ones that at least take the time even if they don't have a job available and can't help you, but still call you back. There are highs and lows. You get a phone call and maybe you will have a chance or 'Gosh darn, nobody is going to hire an old broken down offensive line coach'. There is a lot of self doubt, you beat yourself up a bit."
Greatwood and the staff have felt beaten up since a 4-8 season resulted in a complete change of leadership in the program with the hiring of Willie Taggart, who has talked about changing the culture of the program.
"There's no question some issues needed to be addressed, but the program was not nearly as broken as I think some of the media said and not what it was made out to be," Greatwood said. "Were there some things that needed to be fixed? Absolutely. The majority of those kids are great kids who know how to work. It is always the same old thing, 10 percent of the team contributes to 90 percent of the problems. It would have been an easy fix that way. It is debatable whether we deserved to be fired or not, you are on one side of the fence or the other, but I felt things could have been fixed."
Taggart said when he was hired that he hoped to talk to the assistants from Helfrich's staff, but Greatwood said that never happened.
"I never talked to the guy, never met the man," he said. "There was no outreach at all on their part
Greatwood's job search ended Saturday when he was hired as offensive line coach by new California coach Justin Wilcox, the former Oregon defensive back whose brother, Josh, played tight end for Greatwood with the Ducks. Greatwood coached the offensive line during 25 of his years on Oregon's staff.
"I am excited," Greatwood said. "The fact that it is Justin who I have known since he was a freshman in high school when I was recruiting Josh out Junction City and the character he has is what really made me jump at this. It is a new place and new experience and I am just happy that I am going to have a chance to come down and help build things."
Greatwood was hired by Wilcox during his first official day on the job.
"I know what kind of person he is, a straight shooter," Greatwood said. "He is a no B.S. guy. He's not into gimmicks or promoting himself. He will go out and do everything in his power to outwork the competition and that is what I love about it. We will find the best kids we can. I am impressed with the staff he has put together, it mirrors his qualities. It is going to be fun. We will roll up our sleeves and get to work helping Justin build a program here."
The Bears returned to school following winter break on Tuesday and began workouts for the first time since Sonny Dykes was fired after four seasons. Greatwood planned to attend a team meeting and then leave on a recruiting trip with two weeks left before national signing day.
"It was really about the fit, I didn't care what level I coached at," he said. "I would have gone down a level or two levels, it was all about being with the right people in the right place. Cal checked all the boxes."
Greatwood joked that his wardrobe is now "totally covered in blue. That is one thing that I like about here, you know what the colors are. There are only two of them."
Greatwood, a Churchill graduate who played at Oregon, worked two stints for the Ducks starting in 1982 before he left to coach the St. Louis Rams with Rich Brooks in 1995. He spent short stints at Maryland and USC before returning to Oregon as the defensive line coach in 2000 and switched back to the offensive line in 2005.
"I can walk away with my head up," he said. "I have a great deal of pride in what that program has transformed into. From arriving on campus in 1976, I feel like I had some small part in the growth of the program and putting it on the stage it is on."
Steve Greatwood looks back on 30 years with Oregon football, ahead to Cal Bears
Steve Greatwood was not ready to retire.
When his 30-year run as an assistant coach at Oregon came to an end with the firing of Mark Helfrich last month, the 58-year old struggled with the uncertainty of unemployment.
"I definitely learned after six weeks of sitting around that I am not anywhere close to retiring," he said in an interview with The Register-Guard on Tuesday morning. "You run the whole gamut of emotions. You are fired and you have a lot of self-doubt about your own abilities. The phone doesn't ring. You find out who your friends are. The ones that at least take the time even if they don't have a job available and can't help you, but still call you back. There are highs and lows. You get a phone call and maybe you will have a chance or 'Gosh darn, nobody is going to hire an old broken down offensive line coach'. There is a lot of self doubt, you beat yourself up a bit."
Greatwood and the staff have felt beaten up since a 4-8 season resulted in a complete change of leadership in the program with the hiring of Willie Taggart, who has talked about changing the culture of the program.
"There's no question some issues needed to be addressed, but the program was not nearly as broken as I think some of the media said and not what it was made out to be," Greatwood said. "Were there some things that needed to be fixed? Absolutely. The majority of those kids are great kids who know how to work. It is always the same old thing, 10 percent of the team contributes to 90 percent of the problems. It would have been an easy fix that way. It is debatable whether we deserved to be fired or not, you are on one side of the fence or the other, but I felt things could have been fixed."
Taggart said when he was hired that he hoped to talk to the assistants from Helfrich's staff, but Greatwood said that never happened.
"I never talked to the guy, never met the man," he said. "There was no outreach at all on their part
Greatwood's job search ended Saturday when he was hired as offensive line coach by new California coach Justin Wilcox, the former Oregon defensive back whose brother, Josh, played tight end for Greatwood with the Ducks. Greatwood coached the offensive line during 25 of his years on Oregon's staff.
"I am excited," Greatwood said. "The fact that it is Justin who I have known since he was a freshman in high school when I was recruiting Josh out Junction City and the character he has is what really made me jump at this. It is a new place and new experience and I am just happy that I am going to have a chance to come down and help build things."
Greatwood was hired by Wilcox during his first official day on the job.
"I know what kind of person he is, a straight shooter," Greatwood said. "He is a no B.S. guy. He's not into gimmicks or promoting himself. He will go out and do everything in his power to outwork the competition and that is what I love about it. We will find the best kids we can. I am impressed with the staff he has put together, it mirrors his qualities. It is going to be fun. We will roll up our sleeves and get to work helping Justin build a program here."
The Bears returned to school following winter break on Tuesday and began workouts for the first time since Sonny Dykes was fired after four seasons. Greatwood planned to attend a team meeting and then leave on a recruiting trip with two weeks left before national signing day.
"It was really about the fit, I didn't care what level I coached at," he said. "I would have gone down a level or two levels, it was all about being with the right people in the right place. Cal checked all the boxes."
Greatwood joked that his wardrobe is now "totally covered in blue. That is one thing that I like about here, you know what the colors are. There are only two of them."
Greatwood, a Churchill graduate who played at Oregon, worked two stints for the Ducks starting in 1982 before he left to coach the St. Louis Rams with Rich Brooks in 1995. He spent short stints at Maryland and USC before returning to Oregon as the defensive line coach in 2000 and switched back to the offensive line in 2005.
"I can walk away with my head up," he said. "I have a great deal of pride in what that program has transformed into. From arriving on campus in 1976, I feel like I had some small part in the growth of the program and putting it on the stage it is on."
