All the rumors and change-ups in Oregon Football’s coaching staff over the past month had me making mental rankings of staff members and I’m sure I wasn’t alone. I was making list after list in my head based on coaching ability, recruiting chops, and yes even program loyalty. Now I admit these lists were mostly meant to make me feel …
The skills of deception by former head coach Willie Taggart continue to be confirmed and it is so disappointing to people of even minimum morals. On both of the major Oregon subscription websites it has been reported that Taggart is actively negative recruiting, and talking trash about the University of Oregon and our beloved Ducks. It is not a surprise …
Considering the early signing that took place–what is the probability of the Ducks achieving the recruiting “Triple Crown” I wrote of in this past week? I was curious, crunched some simple numbers and thought I would update you on the potential, and give us some discussion points as well. I really don’t have time/energy after a long work day to …
My friends, a gift of having this site are all the wonderful Duck fans around the nation who have helped us all as writers and editors at FishDuck.com. A number of us Greybeards stay in touch by discussing our beloved Ducks by email and having some laughs along the way. Like so many of you–they have highly spirited opinions and have …
As I prepared to watch the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday and saw a fired-up Royce Freeman addressing “his” team, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What the … ???” As most know, Freeman–arguably the greatest running back in Oregon history–chose to sit out the game. And even if some fans disagree with his decision, most people understand the …
Did you recognize that Oregon team playing in the Las Vegas Bowl? Was that a scrimmage or a first game? That was such a mess that I am not doing my usual analysis after the game with slow-motion videos of plays to point out the differences in the game. Why? Because if I did, I would be showing bad plays …
So the Ducks have another disjointed football recruiting year? Lovely. Last year, the new staff and did the best they could in a short period of time and put together a great class, but this year was set up to be an epic LOI (Letter of Intent) day in February. After looking at the fall-out of verbal commits and considering …
This has been quite the season for Oregon football. Huge up and down swings in emotion, wins and loses. One word can be used to describe it: Tumultuous The Justin Herbert injury was catastrophic, as was the shoulder injury to the greatest running back in UO history, Royce Freeman. Losing players like Charles Nelson for several key games like ASU, UCLA and WSU, prevented …
I have to admit that, despite his status as a Duck alum, I’ve never been a huge fan of Cal head coach Justin Wilcox. But that all changed last week. And it changed for reasons that may not make sense to anyone but me. Nevertheless, I feel these reasons are important, and worth sharing, as they go beyond the game of football. I remember …
This is a tale about three head football coaches. They lived and were raised in a state they loved. Energetic, intelligent and highly motivated, these coaches have demonstrated an ability to turn football programs from losers to winners. In a desire to return home and be head coaches in their favorite state, the roads they traveled to get there tells …
My friends, you would think I would be wiser after having my head handed to me from my last ill-fated prediction about a coach. But I’ve been gathering some data and some thoughts, and while I would love to end up 50/50 on my coaching predictions, it may not happen. Yet … it could. Let’s look at some reasonable aspects …
Thank goodness Willie Taggart left. As soon as the rumors started to swirl that he might leave for Florida State, I started hoping he would leave. Taggart’s initial handling of the rumors indicated that he was going to leave Oregon at the first opportunity (even if that didn’t end up being FSU). That would mean instability year after year until …