After sleeping on Oregon’s 64-57 loss to Oregon State on Sunday night, I have come to a personally astonishing conclusion: I feel sorry for Ernie Kent.
The Ducks’ men’s basketball head coach has stirred a lot of emotions. The words to describe most of them, however, are unprintable in even the most salacious forms of media. We’ve had some ups and downs, to be sure.
I found the loss utterly unconscionable from the perspective of a fan. The Ducks let the Beavers walk all over them for 40 minutes, showing no resistance or ability to try new strategies whatsoever. In the last gasp of the Civil War at McArthur Court — for there will never be another one — Oregon couldn’t be bothered to play with history in mind, and Oregon State planted its proverbial flag at center court. The Beavers had not won at McArthur Court since 1993, and 2010 felt and looked like an endeavor born from
desperation at times.
The team was disturbingly accommodating.
Also telling: Mac Court was not sold out, but the Pit Crew was lauded multiple times by the Fox Sports Net announcers for energy and creativity. The students gave an admirable effort before the team’s collective disinterest seeped into their psyche.
The most immediate reaction was performances like Sunday’s won’t fly at Matthew Knight Arena. Kent, of all people, is aware of this. And this fact is saddening.
Ernie Kent has coached the Ducks for 13 seasons, leading them to five NCAA Tournament appearances. He was an original member of the “Kamikaze Kids,” the iconic team upon which Oregon basketball teams are built today. Kent bleeds green and yellow.
You think it doesn’t pain Kent to see his team lose in that fashion? It absolutely has to.
The scrutiny he faces, however, comes with the territory — and the advances on the horizon. The Oregon athletic department is faced with the difficult task of paying off Matt Court while failing to draw crowds that fill up Mac Court and its 3,500 fewer seats. A new challenge has also come up along the education front, with the recent opening of the Jaqua Center.
Kent’s basketball teams have the best Academic Progress Rating among Pacific-10 Conference teams, a fact he’s always prided himself on. (As well he should.) Anymore, the new arena will place greater stress — not emphasis — on graduating players in all sports, and that includes basketball. Future student-athletes will be expected to receive a diploma for some degree that they picked out (or agreed to study), and coaches will be made to uphold academic principles as justification for the Jaqua Center. (The debate over that justification must be reserved for another column.)
I’ve come to think of Ernie as Bob Ryan from “Entourage,” the venerable old producer who presents Eric Murphy and Vincent Chase with a movie script. As Eric, Ari Gold and Bob visit studios to sell the script, it becomes apparent that Bob’s mannerisms and business philosophies clash with the current studio business environment.
Eventually, a studio agrees to purchase the script. Bob is legally required to sign over ownership, but Ari goes behind Bob’s back to offer the script to a studio if it will cast Vince. Ari and Eric attempt to convince Bob to back out of the deal for their own interests.
Bob doesn’t do it. He signs the papers. In his last scene, he comments to Eric over the phone, “I’m too old for this town.”
Eugene has changed. Ernie Kent has not changed along with it. Eventually, the change will force him out of the head coaching position at Oregon, and I expect it to occur after this season.
Fire Ernie Kent? No.
Sunday’s performance was Ernie Kent turning his resignation.
I begrudgingly accept it.
I imagine many other Duck fans would accept it too.
As with Bev Smith’s dismissal as women’s basketball head coach last season, it is tough to say goodbye to an Oregon legend who just didn’t win enough when certain people said it mattered. The circumstances, however, make it clear. The immediate future of Oregon basketball — however successful it may be — is not Ernie Kent’s time.
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