The cool thing about a coaching search for your favorite football team is it tests what you as a coach, or fan, hold as your priorities for a coach. Generally, there are three types of coaches: The CEO type recruits well, sets the general culture of the program and delegates. A good CEO Coach hires coordinators they trust and then delegates the …
Charles Fischer asked me to share my thoughts about what to expect from teams coached by P.J. Fleck and Willie Taggart. While obviously what follows is almost pure speculation, there “could” be some interesting differences. Willie Taggart already has in place at South Florida what I would consider an “All-Star” offensive staff. Their resumes are far too lengthy for me …
To “pass” is to complete something successfully and move on. Or, one can “get a pass” meaning one didn’t fully complete the agreed requirements, but can move on, anyway, exempted from the agreed requirements. “No pass,” on the other hand, typically means one is not qualified to move on and results in a penalty or fine. In its strictest form …
He can be salty … he is highly opinionated, he knows his football, as he is the Grizzled Ol’ Coach (GOC) Mike Morris. He is a writer, a coaching consultant to FishDuck.com, a football mentor and personal friend. He is an amazing individual who has this massive curiosity to learn as I do. So when he sends me an email about a coaching candidate, …
With the firing of football head coach Mark Helfrich and the loss to Oregon State, one of the most difficult chapters in the recent history of Oregon Ducks athletics draws to a close. Meanwhile, the basketball season drives forward. A month into the season, the Ducks lack a win over a ranked team or a team likely to make the NCAA tournament. …
The expectations and excitement around the Oregon basketball team coming into the season was a welcome reprieve from the disaster of a football season that unfolded this fall. Many media experts picked Oregon to make a Final Four run and even win a national title. Pollsters also put Oregon in the top five of the preseason poll for the first time ever. …
Despite many columnists already proclaiming Mark Helfrich was ‘as good as gone’; despite Phil Knight long ago eschewing post game press conferences and removing himself from within 2000 miles of Saturdays ‘Civil War;’ in his Tuesday evening announcement, Oregon AD Rob Mullens stated that he did not have his mind made up regarding coach Mark Helfrich when he left Eugene for his College …
The Oregon Track and Field program has a long history of attracting top tier talent. It has been that way for a while, from the days of Bill Bowman and Steve Prefontaine. There was definitely a noticeable presence of current and former Ducks at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After a disappointing end to the Men’s Cross Country season at the NCAA Cross Country Nationals, the team will …
I am done defending Oregon Head Football Coach Mark Helfrich. Sure … it really does not matter now as he twists in the wind during his final days at Oregon, but it is also because he no longer deserves my support with the travesty on defense that we saw in the 120th Civil War. He allowed what I have chronicled throughout …
Seven days ago, I, like many of the Oregon faithful, was excited at the prospect of a team on the rise after an emotionally taxing 2016 season. On the road against Utah, the 12th-ranked team in the country, Oregon played like a team with pride and something to lose. The defense played hard and actually made more plays than they …
2016 is in the books. Should the rebuild begin under Mark Helfrich or somebody new? I would like nothing more than to wake up today and get a blaring headline that Rob Mullens has pulled the trigger and followed the University of Texas to become one of two formerly elite programs ready to rebuild. In theory, Oregon had the purse power to …
The Oregon basketball season opened with palpable excitement. Less than a week later, fans saw their Ducks get dominated by an unranked team (Baylor) and their top-five national ranking disappear. The ship appeared to be righted after a win over Valparaiso, a high level mid-major program. The Ducks took the momentum from that win and flew to Maui for the Maui Jim …