Sunday, February 28, 2010
SHOULD HE STAY OR SHOULD HE GO? by ST
I finally got out to Mac Court to see Paul Westhead's Oregon women's team. At halftime I was thumbing through my newest edition of Sports Illustrated and saw even Seth Davis got in an opinion on Ernie Kent. In his weekly "Three-Pointer" section called the coaches prospects for remaining on his current job "dim". One of our local columnists recently wrote it was a done deal and a new coach would roam the sidelines in the new facility next season. I've taken numerous calls on air suggesting replacements. I remain unsold the most successful coach in program history is gone and I think the still new A.D may let E.K cut the ribbon at Matt Knight Arena. I believe if Pat Kilkenny were still running the show at the Cas Center Mr. Kent would be updating his resume. Mike Bellotti might have a new title since turning the football reigns over to Chip Kelly, but whose kidding who, the man is a coach. Not only that, but he knows what it's like to feel the heat of unreasonable expectations he created at Oregon. He's also a reasonable, razor sharp man who sees the big picture better than any fan or detractor possibly could. Like it or not, Ernie Kent should have the new court at Knight Arena named after him. I also don't think those blasting off nasty letter's to the editor or dial up radio shows calling for a change represent the solid majority they'd have you think. The logical among us have been of the opinion that if the team quits on the coach or tunes him out it's over. Obviously with their performance at USC & UCLA that's not the case. It's quite the opposite. They dug deep and pulled off the road sweep with the wolves howling at their door. As odd as this may sound, the Ducks are the only team in the Pac 10 to sweep two different road series this season. They've already tripled their conference win total from a year ago with two left and upped the victory total from 8 to 14 with at least 3 games remaining. It's marked improvement with a lot of youth plus some key injuries. Both Tajuan Porter and Mike Dunnigan have missed 4 games, 13 for Matt Humphrey, and of course their lone front court senior Joevan Catron has only played in 4. This is a cold, harsh business and I'm betting no decision has yet been made. I'm also real comfortable with the guy who will make that final call. Some are egging her on to fire up the song, but the fat lady has yet to even begin singing.
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4 comments:
I'm surprised you didn't rave excitedly about yesterday's hockey match. Most remarkable and enjoyable for me--and I'm not a hockey fan.
Figured I go nuts on the show about the hockey, which we did. Thought the EK/Ducks angle was more locally appropriate(tho not always my m/o).
he should go. At least George and some of your callers took a stand on Ernie and are not flipflopping positions after each game.
The Pac10 will send only one to the dance -- ducks non-league wins include powerhouses w. salem, uc davis, col st,mon st,, miss valley, idaho sst and Arkansas pine bluff. Ducks RPI is 154 just ahead of powerhouse stephen f. austin lumberjacks. The fat lady is laughing to hard even to sing.
Nice piece Steve.
A while back, when GS's article came out saying we’d have a new coach, you said on your show that you thought he was right and agreed with him. It's OK you've changed your mind. Lots of folks are softening their case for terminating EK based on how the players remain loyal to him, and how hard they are currently playing for him. On this, the TV commentators kept saying, “Give EK credit. ” It seems like the players have recently bought in deeper, and this has produced two more on-the-road wins, all of which reflects well on the coach.
I think EK should stay, and I very much hope that he can.
Thanks for mentioning you liked what you heard on Saturday’s post-game interview. The things EK had to say at that time moved me to tears because he was so right about what he was saying, and it was coming from the leader of the program. I found it powerful.
EK and Porter are, IMO, both big heroes. They don't deserve to be dragged down like some have done and continue to do.
I'm glad your stand on the issue is what it is. I think your being fair. Yes the final games are important. MB wants to see the players be competitive. I think they will be, but that remains to be seen. So long as they are competitive 'til the end, win or lose these last ones, since it is MB making the call, I think EK will cut the ribbon at the all new Matt Court, (...and in MB’s mind, it might already be a done deal...)
Don't forget to mention the point on the business side of this thing that it costs a lot of money to buy out EK’s contract, (another reason why it looks good for EK’s return.)
I like Harter being here for Thursday night’s game. There was a lot of melancholy for Mac happening when the LA schools were here for the last home stand. Your show helped with that by encouraging listeners to call in with Mac stories that impacted the community in many charming ways. If that sort of thing repeats, which it should, it will help produce wins. I’m looking for something equivalent to the pit-crew-in-the-locker-room action that we saw last time - that got the players so pumped and gave them a deeper meaning and importance for being a Duck. Surly something will develop along those lines that does the same, and hopefully more! Who knows what it will be? Kenya Wilkins and George Ravelling are Saturday’s guests.
The following is from an e-mail sent to me by Bill Pinkstaff, John Pinkstaff’s younger brother. 6'7" John went to South Eugene HS and played center for the ducks in the mid sixties:
“I remember the Ducks playing Alcinder and my bro dribbling the ball out front in an effort to make the Big Guy come out. Basically, we held the ball and were only behind 18-14 at half. The Bruins held the ball the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, Lucious Allen holding the ball on his hip, daring the Ducks to come out and play. It was unheard of for a John Wooden team to do that... It was a classic.
One of those years I was the only kid in town to get an Alcinder autograph because I got him when he was walking up to the bus from the basement locker room- probably an hour after the game ended. I also was the only kid with access to the Duck locker after every game because my brother was on the team- Pretty Cool! I'll also never forget Gail Goodrich walking past me when he was a senior, (about my height!), and he just oozed class and confidence! Good times!!!”
Go Ducks!!!
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