Football Coaches and Musical Chairs

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out A long time ago I was presented with a riddle that involved a war in the Middle East and went something like this: You take a hand-held calculator and add up or multiply this and that representing the numbers of opposing forces, tanks, aircraft, etc. Based upon the numbers given, you come up with 14,215,469. Then you ā€¦

Recruiting Landscape Has Changed

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Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out When Texas A&Mā€™s Pat Henry complained about Oregonā€™s ā€œunfair advantageā€Ā in hosting the NCAA Championships through 2021, he inadvertently called attention to the changing landscape of college athlete recruiting. Why Henryā€™s complaint is really about his position in the changing landscape of recruiting ā€” rather than the advantage once on the track ā€” is the subject of this ā€¦

Oregonā€™s ā€œUnfairā€ Advantage in Track & Field

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Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out Texas A&M track coach Pat Henry thinks that Oregon has an unfair advantage at the NCAA Track & Field Championships, according to a Saturday article by Oregonliveā€™s Andrew Greif. Henry, it seems, thinks that the home field advantage works to Oregonā€™s favor ā€” and heā€™s right. But Henry misses the boat when he jumps from ā€œadvantageā€ to ā€¦

Ducks Sweep NCAA Track & Field Championships

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

By Mike Merrell, reporting direct from Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon for FishDuck.com Jenna Prandini and Raevyn Rogers led the Oregon Womenā€™s Track & Field Team to its first NCAA title in thirty years Saturday, sealing a rare double win for the Ducksā€™ track program. The Ducksā€™ menā€™s team took top honors in action completed Friday. The women were ā€¦

Ducks Men Run Away with NCAA Track & Field Crown

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Mike Merrell, reporting direct from Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon What was supposed to be a close team race turned into a romp as the Oregon Menā€™s Track & Field Team ran away with a second straight NCAA Outdoor title. The Ducks racked up 85 points to outdistance second place Florida with 56. Track & Field News had projected ā€¦

Track Championships: Men are Charging and Women Bounce Back

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Mike Merrell, reporting from Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon The University of Oregon Ducks Menā€™s Track and Field Team made another positive move toward a second-straight NCAA Division I championship Thursday when decathlete Dakota Keys wrestled his way up from fifth place to third with a total score of 7863, just short of his personal best of 8,086. Keys ā€¦

Ducks Start Strong at NCAA Track & Field Championships

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

The Oregon Ducks Menā€™s Track & Field team held form and then some on the first day of the 2015 NCAA Championships at Historic Hayward Field, setting up a Friday showdown with co-favorite Florida. The Ducks scored 33 big first-day points to take what looks like a commanding lead, but Florida, with 16 points, stands poised to cut deeply into ā€¦

Track & Field at the Crossroads

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Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out With the upcoming NCAA Track & Field ChampionshipsĀ ā€“ and with the utter failure of the preliminary rounds as spectator events ā€” those who oversee the events ponder what to do to generate more spectator interest, and, presumably, therefore more dollars. But maybe efforts to promote track & field should be made with something besides dollars in mind. ā€¦

Jim Mora Runs a Professional Operation at UCLA ā€” Not So Much

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out In a gag-me-with-a-spoon move coming from two time zones away, ESPNā€™s Adam Rittenburg dished up an unappetizing morsel about the professionalism of Jim Mora and the UCLAĀ football program. Mora, it seems, runs his organization like an NFL team. Since Rittenburg went to Northwestern and is currently rumored to be living just outside Chicago, he is a good ā€¦

And the Award for Most Irritating Opponent Goes to ā€¦

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Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out Every school has its irritating fans, and the Ducks are certainly no exception. Stanford has its offensive band that ā€” due to some transgressions ā€” got banned from traveling to away games next season. And when it comes to irritating, USCā€™s band and the only song it knows are hard to beat. But when it comes to ā€¦

Bulls, Gamecocks Highlight Dilemma with Womenā€™s Mascots

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out Most college team mascots were chosen long before Title IX came along, and naturally no thought was given to the possibility that women might someday bear the name on the battlefields. So when Title IX created intercollegiate womenā€™s sports, the dilemma of what to do about team mascots came with it. Somebody got the bright idea to ā€¦

Athlon Ranks Helfrich in Bottom Half of Pac-12 Coaches

Mike Merrell FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Mike Merrellā€™s Three-and-Out In a move certain to offend all college football fans who havenā€™t been advised to sell when their IQs reach 50, Athlon Sportsā€™ Steven Lassan labeled ASUā€™s Todd Graham (77-41) the best head football coach in the Pac-12. If that wasnā€™t gray matter-challenged enough, he relegated Oregonā€™s Mark Helfrich to the bottom half. Itā€™s time for Lassan ā€¦