Oregon basketball coach Ernie Kent has been given at least one more year at Oregon. This will be Kent's 13th season at the helm, as he is coming off only his second losing season ever with the Duck's. I feel that Kent will be given the same ultimatum that Bev Smith was prior to this most recent reason....That is, make the NCAA tourney or go home. However, by bringing Kent back for next season, one could argue that Oregon is committed to him for at least two more years. Would they really fire him after next season, the year before the new arena opens? In my opinion Ernie has earned the right to have another go around with this team. Last years team was young and immature ....and if you recall Ridnour and Jackson rebounded from a disappointing freshman season, only to win the PAC 10 as sophomores the following year!!
On a side note: I know this has nothing to do with Oregon bball, but while watching the 11 o'clock news last night I saw Mike Bellotti roaming the sidelines. At the time I was unaware he was helping out with the QB's this spring, so I thought I must have been dreaming. However, it was not a dream, and nothing the AD department does surprises me anymore. I just wanted to express how fortunate Oregon is to have an iconic figure willing to put his ego to the side, and do whatever he can to assist the football program. This also will allow coach Kelly to take his time while looking for potential assistant coaches.
he deserves another year because of the inexperience of this years squad, but what is worrisome is that the ducks will probably be stuck for a couple years. there should be some improvement next year, but the ducks are lacking a talent such as a rid or jackson. as much as i would love to see the ducks make the tourney next year, the improvement will likely be marginal. kent will be around for a couple more years.
ReplyDeleteDan, I agree with some points you bring up. However Rid and LJ didnt average more than 8 points each their freshman season, and even tho Rid was freshman of the year, nobody expected him to turn out to be as good as he was (forecasting after his freshman year at least). I agree EK isnt going anywhere for a while, maybe Oregon just figured for what they where looking to spend EK was a good as it gets? Im not sure what the reasoning was I havent heard enough.
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