At the turn of the decade, the Oregon football team was in the headlines for all of the right reasons. It had won the Pacific-10 Conference championship outright, the Rose Bowl was on the horizon and “I Love My Ducks” T-shirts were the most popular items in Eugene.
How quickly things change.
Four players have been arrested in the last month, and many in the community are left wondering where exactly things went wrong.
So far-reaching is the problem that University President Richard Lariviere released a statement condemning the behavior of the players.
“The University of Oregon has clear expectations of how its student-athletes are to behave on and off the field of play,” Lariviere said. “Lately, several of our athletes have fallen far short of these standards. This is simply unacceptable.”
Head coach Chip Kelly took a similar tone in a press conference on Friday.
“There have been three incidents,” Kelly told the media. “One incident is too much.”
Indeed, Kelly made clear that recent behavior will never be tolerated. He also stressed that he would not make any rash decisions regarding punishments.
“We don’t accept this, and we won’t accept this,” Kelly said. “But I’m going to find out all the facts before I rush to judgment.”
Kelly has done enough fact-finding to deem three players unfit to wear an Oregon uniform. Sophomore wide receiver Garrett Embry, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Matt Simms and junior wide receiver Jamere Holland were recently kicked off the team.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Kiko Alonso has also been suspended for the 2010 season after a DUII citation Saturday morning. Still, some don’t believe that Kelly has done enough to rein in his players.
Kelly has taken repeated hits from the media. He recently appeared on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” and Oregonian columnist John Canzano’s “The Bald Face Truth” radio show and defended his actions.
“I don’t think Chip really sees how his handling of the discipline has really caused this,” Canzano said on “Outside The Lines.” “These guys getting in trouble, that’s not the problem. That’s the symptom to me of something larger, and a lack of accountability.”
When interviewed on “Outside The Lines,” Kelly said he has done nothing wrong. On Canzano’s radio show, things got more heated. Kelly ended the interview by suggesting that Canzano’s parents didn’t believe in him because they disciplined him as a child without first gathering all the facts.
Indeed, it is a difficult position for a head coach who just finished his first season, and some students sympathize with Kelly’s conundrum.
“I think Chip Kelly is in the toughest position,” University sophomore Jordan Paul said. “I feel bad for that guy … he just looks like he hasn’t slept in days and I’m sure he’s just
stressed out.”
As Paul pointed out, it is not Kelly but the players who are ultimately responsible for their actions.
“I think these guys just aren’t thinking,” Paul said. “They think they’re on the football team and can’t really be touched … I guess they’re learning that’s not true.”
Of course, the repercussions of the arrests are seen not just with the players but with fans and students alike.
“In a way it definitely is embarrassing,” Paul said. “It definitely sheds a negative light on our university.”
University sophomore Chris Kuhn shared Paul’s sentiments.
“It sucks that the news always looks at what’s wrong with things,” Kuhn said. “We’ve got so much other positive aspects to our school, and they just love to point out, especially with sports, when things go wrong. So it’s a little disappointing to see.”
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