You have to wonder looking at Arizona’s struggles to hire a new basketball coach whether it affected Oregon’s decision to bring back Ernie Kent.
Arizona, according to reports, let former Xavier head coach Sean Miller sleep on a decision to take the job, which he accepted after initially refusing the offer.
The snub, then reversal looks worse considering he’s the second man they went after. USC head coach Tim Floyd was offered the job and refused it. Staying at USC, the example of a middle-of-the-pack program, suddenly looked better than Arizona, the place with the best gym in the conference, some of the best fans who fill it, and an aura of perennial success still lingering about it two years after Lute Olson’s final season as head coach.
Many point out that the Wildcats will lose Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger this offseason to the NBA, and possibly Nic Wise. The team has essentially missed out on two straight recruiting years because of the uncertainty of the coaching staff.
You get the feeling Arizona told Miller, “Don’t make us look worse than we already are,” and threw another million on top of the contract to add another incentive.
To paraphrase Chip Kelly in his opening press conference as UO head coach, you rarely get hired in a situation where some sort of a rebuilding effort isn’t needed.
At Arizona, there is rebuilding to be done. Question is, are there many jobs at which you’d rather do that?
Back to Oregon, and Kent.
The job they did by keeping the program’s winningest coach and hiring the all-around respected Mike Dunlap as his top assistant was the right one, and now comes off as Kent’s willingness to change his style to save his job. Which is good, because frustration stems from the team’s inability to get out of its own rut during crucial spots during games.
Maybe Arizona’s situation, however, proved that it was likely Oregon’s only choice to be made.
The prices of head coaches around the nation are going up substantially, with John Calipari’s $31.65 million contract to coach Kentucky as the shining example. But even middle-level jobs, like Georgia, were offering $2 million for its open position.
Oregon can’t offer that kind of money right now. Reports have shown that without the $1.2 million the University athletic department received from the Oregon Lottery this year, it would have been $800,000 in the red.
A $2-million contract would not have been justified this offseason here, because Oregon, too, is a middle-level program with spurts of dominance. They may have to pay that much soon for a new coach if Kent can’t make it to the NCAA Tournament next year but in this economy, right now, money dictated the non-move.
But as Arizona is finding out, there’s a lot to saving face, as well. Athletic Director Jim Livengood hired a terrific coach in Miller, but it doesn’t go well with the recruits, who he is trying desperately to keep, that another coach turned down the job – to return to USC, of all places.
That kind of a dismissal would have hurt Oregon even worse, you get the feeling, what with the importance placed on making itself looking cool and ahead of the curve. It’s one thing to entertain Mark Few’s feelings about the job secretly, as is what happened. It’s another to look like a fool when your top pick doesn’t accept. Stuck between a tough job market and a coach they considered letting go this season, they did the smart thing and brought him back.
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