Eight seasons at the helm of the Oregon women’s basketball program have made Jody Runge the most successful coach in Oregon basketball history. But Runge, 38, may have seen her last days at McArthur Court.
Turmoil. Chaos. Disaster.
Whatever you choose to call it, something — or perhaps, in many minds, someone — is obviously not quite right with the Oregon women’s basketball program.
The problems have escalated since eight players met with Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos March 4 to request that Jody Runge, the most successful coach in Oregon basketball history, be fired. And the light at the end of the tunnel is only getting dimmer.
Moos called upon Kansas-based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, known for its internal handling of collegiate sports programs, to conduct an evaluation of Runge and her program. Since the team began March 27, more than 80 people involved with the program since Runge’s arrival in 1993 have been interviewed, including Runge.
But the investigators have yet to report their findings to Moos.
Many have speculated that the Athletic Department is merely searching until it finds an excuse to fire the controversial coach.
The Oregonian reported last week that the investigators looked into an incident in which a former Duck assistant was accused of slapping a former player during a practice in the 1995-96 season. Former player Elsa Oliveira said Kelly Kebe, now an assistant at Iowa State, slapped her during a shooting drill.
Kebe denied the accusation.
Oliveira said she is more upset with how Runge handled the incident. That is, Oliveira said Runge did not “acknowledge that it was inappropriate.”
“When it occurred, it took me by surprise. But my gripe was not with the way coach Kebe handled the situation,” Oliveira told The Associated Press.
Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said he is “positive” the incident did not happen.
“The situation at Oregon is chaotic at best,” Fennelly said. “It appears they are out to get Jody, so whatever they can dig up, they are digging up.”
Also in 1996, Runge refused to renew the scholarship of Kristin Niemann, who sat out most of the 1995-96 season with a shoulder injury. Niemann and her attorney, Michael Seidl, protested, and a settlement was reached with the University. Both Niemann and Seidl have been interviewed by the representatives from Bond, Schoeneck & King.
Seidl described Niemann’s relationship with Runge as “emotional terrorism.”
“This was not a situation of a player having a normal kind of problem with a coach,” Seidl told The Oregonian.
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From the beginning, the 2000-01 season was unpredictable. From Shaquala Williams’season-ending injury to the demand that Runge be fired, not much went right. But, in the end, the Ducks still made an eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
When the eight still — and perhaps forever — unidentified players met with Moos, the reaction was simple: why now? The team had just swept a weekend series against two of the top teams in the Pacific-10 Conference.
The players, however, wanted to make it clear why the team had been so successful in recent years.
“Jody was not listening and that was a concern to [the players],” Moos said in a March 5 conference call. “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.”
Although there have been public disagreements in the past, none of the players has spoken publicly about Runge since the meeting.
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Little has been said in the past two weeks. Moos is unavailable for comment, and Runge cannot be reached.
All eyes are on Bond, Schoeneck & King.
“We have not seen anything yet,” University spokeswoman Pauline Austin said Monday. “It’s really in the hands of the consultants. We’re not crowding them.”
It’s no secret that Runge and the Athletic Department have been at odds since she’s been here. From the lawsuits to the arguments, the two sides have had little to say about one another.
In an in-depth feature on Runge in last year’s Emerald, Moos didn’t have much to offer in regard to Runge’s impressive career.
“Her record speaks for itself,” he said, referring to the coach’s .687 winning percentage.
But surely something has to be said — soon. How long can the players hold their breaths? How long can Runge not know her future? How long can a program essentially go without a coach?
So many questions to be answered. So few responses.
