Quick Quacks
Rick Morgan
As the mushroom cloud has ascended over Leo Harris Parkway these past two months - if only it were a misguided experiment at The Science Factory next door instead - a frequent recollection has been of that film clip of legendary head coach Vince Lombardi surveying the wreckage of a play on the field before him and screaming famously "Just what the hell is going on out there?"
It's a fair question.
Never in the history of the institution has so much gone so wrong so quickly, so it is perhaps to be expected that the reactions of those in charge have been measured, then controlled as these events unfolded. These turmoils are new - and unwelcome - territory for the organization and in such chaos voices often are followed simply because they are the loudest.
The institution's legacy should offer patience and a deeper level of understanding but those traits, historically a strength at the University aren't quite so evident.
One only needs to recall the "Ditch Rich" movement in the mid-90's for an applicable example. Had those nay-sayers prevailed it is unlikely the popularity and profitability of the football program would have exploded the way it has over the past 15 years.
Missing is the tough conviction of a Len Casanova or a Rich Brooks - men who were very comfortable in their own skins, men who remained well grounded in their sense of importance and men of sufficient substance to know when the fan and donor base was being unrealistic.
As they are now.
If the 13-year tenure of head coach Ernie Kent has ended with Oregon's loss in the Pac-10 tournament, Oregon will have a larger blight on its reputation than that brought about by a pair of sub par rankings in the conference standings.
Kent's dedication to the student/athletes in his program has been one of the institution's brightest spots as the NCAA has required improvements in the academic progress of scholarship athletes.
Even with a world class arena scheduled to open across campus next season, those who hold the expectation the Oregon basketball program belongs amongst the national elite - yet - are more wishful than thinking. It can and may well happen - but by no sane timeline could Oregon be expected to be there at this point in time.
Keep in mind, the original "plan" was to give Kent the new arena just as Aaron Brooks, then the Hairston-Leunen-Taylor teams graduated after taking him to the NCAA tournament back-to-back.
The three year delay in the construction schedule gave Kent the opportunity double down and go back-to-back with deep, young recruiting classes - get 'em in the door now and have a junior dominated line up with significant sophomore experience taking the floor next January. Get the first year off right, recruit the hell out of the new building - and your probable NCAA tournament appearance in that first year - and you have a nice five, seven year run on your hands. Ladies and gentlemen - if you got those kinds of numbers covered, you roll the dice without thinking twice.
It is fair to state Kent has a greater grasp of that concept than do his detractors
Instead, an implosion.
No one can refute the elevated expectations that apparently have ended the Kent era were of his own doing - not those of the fans or even of the donors. But to dismiss the program's most successful coach two years removed from his last NCAA appearance lacks both vision and loyalty - again two traits the University historically has held in abundance.
This era of instant knowledge fosters a wide spread mentality that coaching a collegiate basketball team is little more than sitting on the sideline with an Xbox controller. Every mistake by any of the players should have been foreseen and prevented. Ubiquitous determinism. Each variable that defines a competition is knowable - an algorithm - and scriptable in the mind of the casual fan - and if you aren't on the court make no mistake, you are a casual fan.
"If you aren't on the team you don't know anything about the team," is another central truth in competitive sport and those who complain most loudly offer the strongest of proof.
That the athletic department appears to be now giving more credence to those very voices is a troubling development. In any instance you wish to cite, such vacuums are often filled with a rudderless, indecisive and destructive hierarchy that takes decades to repair.
Perhaps the closest example would be the post-Don James collapse of the once vaunted Washington Huskies. There was a domino effect throughout the athletic department that has lasted to this present day. And there is a deeper lesson in the turnaround Washington seems to be fashioning with Lorenzo Romar first and now Steve Sarkasian. That's how long it takes folks if you foul up your good thing.
It's not an inevitability that all the dominoes will fall but it's certain they won't all fall if the first isn't knocked over intentionally.
Kent has consistently been particularly unpopular with a segment of the fan base and to be fair, some he has brought upon himself. A very public transgression some years past and being a near maniacal tight fisted control freak make him an easy target. When earlier successes weren't sustained the past two seasons Kent became quick prey for the intellectually lazy.
Nor has he enjoyed anything in the way of media coverage someone of his stature would normally receive. In particular the lead columnist for the state's largest newspaper has targeted Kent relentlessly - mostly without the benefit of logic or fair play. This is the new media of the 21st century and it would be naïve to assume more responsible behavior will soon be the norm.
A behavior that would respect the growing success the program experienced during the 13 years under Kent and the academic achievements of the scholar/athletes - while insuring the department is accountable with regard to the toxic cloud that has engulfed the football program the past two months. The two are not mutually exclusive.
That the media - and the donor base - are calling for immediate changes while making no such claim toward the more successful football program speaks volumes.
This is not a dig at head coach Chip Kelly - he stepped into a buzz-saw and if he were to decide to take a look around at the athletic department that now employs him, he couldn't be blamed if he walked into Mike Bellotti's office and said "No, thanks. I'm going back to New Hampshire."
Kelly is his own man and there is no question he would be just as happy coaching away from the white hot spotlight he has come to find himself operating under. If he still thinks he's found a "special" - his word - situation and remains, there isn't an individual who comes to mind better able to put this right.
Nor is this a slap at first year athletic director Mike Bellotti. That corner office is subjected to an inordinate number of pressures to begin with. A faltering economy and an enormous debt obligation with the new arena complicates the landscape enormously. Even before the sky started falling.
But the larger point is valid - no institution that is imploding in such a fashion can afford to ignore the obvious to the degree that is necessary to turn away from the long held principles that have crystallized their every success. The fervent hope is that a return to more constructive decisions is soon to return.
