In every sense, it was a season on the brink for the Oregon women’s basketball team. As the season began, one of the most successful Pacific-10 Conference programs of the last decade suddenly found itself in unknown territory, a black hole with no foreseeable ending.
Ha.
After a couple wrong turns, first-year head coach Bev Smith found the right road… which led to a national championship.
There were some early skeptics — those long-time Oregon women’s basketball supporters who thought Bev would never fill Jody Runge’s giant high heels.
Ha.
Many thought the women’s program would take years to recover from its brutal divorce with Runge, the former head coach who led the Ducks to eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
Ha. Bev needed just 10 months.

It’s easy to picture Runge, nestled in her Victorian-style Portland home, collecting her half-million-dollar settlement from the University, chuckling at the mediocrity of Smith’s squad early in the season — when the Ducks’ record was 2-3. The chuckle may have even turned into a belly-aching howl for Runge when her impressive NCAA streak was snapped in her first year away from the program.
Ha.
Bev took what was given to her in her first season as the Oregon coach. She said she never wanted to sacrifice now for the future, but with six freshman on the opening day roster and just one returning starter from last year’s squad, it was hard not to look forward.
Ha.
Despite not making the Big Dance, Bev remained focus, kept her Ducks in check, and went into the Women’s National Invitation Tournament with a 17-13 overall record.
Five victories later, the Ducks made history, something Bev Smith has a knack for doing.
Bev is simply the epitome of Oregon women’s basketball. No, she is Oregon basketball. She led the program to its first postseason appearance in 1979, and more than two decades later, she led them back — and claimed a national championship in just her first season.
Bev is simply the greatest female basketball player to ever step foot in Mac Court, and with time, could prove to be the best coach as well.
And although she doesn’t wear the high heels — she stands proud without them — her soft-spoken charm is loud on the Mac Court sidelines.
And to think it’s just the beginning.
The beginning of another NCAA Tournament run, where the Ducks are just 4-11.
At the rate she’s moving, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bev improved on that record. Who knows, she just might end up with the last laugh.