Oregon women’s basketball coach Jody Runge has faced Bears, Wildcats and Cougars during her eight-season tenure in Eugene.
Now, Runge is facing a much more unlikely foe — her own Ducks.
Eight of Oregon’s 14 players met privately with Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos Sunday to discuss Runge’s coaching tactics, Moos said in a conference call Monday.
Moos said the players had communication and trust issues with Runge, but that he would deal with their concerns after the season ends.
“This is coming at a time when we should be focusing our attention on our last game of the season and our hopes of getting into the [NCAA] tournament,” Moos said.
Runge could not be reached for comment Monday, while three players contacted by the Emerald refused to talk about the situation.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” senior forward Lindsey Dion said, when asked to comment on the meeting.
Moos didn’t say which players initiated the meeting, or who the eight players involved were.
“It took a lot of courage for the players to call that meeting,” Moos said. “It shouldn’t have to require a lot of courage.”
Runge has built the Ducks into a perennial power since taking over as coach before the 1993-94 season. Oregon has made seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances, won back-to-back Pacific-10 Conference championships the past two seasons and amassed a 159-72 record under Runge.
But Runge’s on-court accomplishments haven’t translated into off-court happiness, especially for this year’s team. Moos said the players who spoke with him had specific concerns that were “eye-opening.”
“Jody was not listening, and that was a concern to [the players],” Moos said. “As I understood it, they had an issue with belittling and private matters being aired out in the media when they had not been addressed on a one-on-one basis.”
Moos, who is on a week-long fundraising trip in Palm Springs, said the Ducks had wanted to keep the meeting private.
“The players did not want coach Runge to know they were meeting with me,” Moos said. “There was a certain degree of fear that they might be reprimanded if they had gone around her back.”
Sunday’s meeting was the latest in a series of dramatic incidents involving the women’s team this season. Most recently, Runge suspended star forward Angelina Wolvert for not shaking hands with UCLA players after the Ducks’ loss against the Bruins, then lifted the senior’s suspension when Oregon was down 20-8 two days later in a game at Southern California.
Earlier this season, Runge called in a team psychologist and wouldn’t allow the Ducks to wear their uniforms at an early-February practice when the team was in a dismal 1-7 slump. The coach also had a run-in with the media in January, when she didn’t show up for the first installment of her weekly television broadcast on KEZI because of a contract dispute.
The players’ meeting with Moos comes at a time when the Ducks’ season is starting to turn around. Oregon has won four of its last five contests — two against teams that were leading the Pac-10 when the Ducks knocked them off — and is on the verge of possibly making the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight time if it can defeat the Beavers this Saturday.
Just three nights ago, Wolvert said she didn’t have ill feelings towards Runge.
“Everybody thinks that I’m pissed off about coach Runge and what-not,” Wolvert said after the Ducks upset Arizona, 83-78. “But that’s not the case. Things happen, it’s done with, and I don’t think it needs to be blown out of proportion any more.”
Runge and the Ducks did not practice Monday, but will continue their regular practice schedule today.