There it was.
The first little hint of how Mike Montgomery’s hiring at Golden State could affect Oregon.
It was placed so far down in the story it almost seemed like an afterthought in an article focused primarily on Montgomery’s move to the NBA.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, a possible replacement for Montgomery at Stanford, so suggested The (San Jose) Mercury News on Friday.
In any other time, after any other recruiting class, that would seem like a plausible statement. But now, after a year where four Oregon signees are ranked among the top 75 in the nation by recruiting services, the statement almost borders on pure fallacy.
Kent has said he’s not interested in the vacant Stanford head coaching position. Heck, it’s not even on his radar. He was out on the golf course Thursday and Friday giving that exact impression. The position is available, but right now, the Cardinal would be better served by going with Nevada’s Trent Johnson, who is rumored to be the top candidate for the job.
Even Gonzaga’s Mark Few would be a better fit at this point in time, even though it seems he may be more interested in the job than Stanford is in him.
Either way, indications show that it’s not going to be Kent. Even though he’s got Stanford ties — the only head coach in the Pacific-10 Conference that does — it won’t matter.
Even though Montgomery wants someone to fill the job who has ties to the program, that shouldn’t make Kent a candidate.
However, it does, both in the eyes of media prognosticators and Stanford athletic director Ted Leland.
And when you think about why Kent could be a candidate, it begins to make sense.
A little.
As much as a berth in the National Invitation Tournament was a step back for the Oregon program this year, Kent has brought the future into focus. He recruited a talented trio of players in October — Chamberlain Oguchi, Bryce Taylor and Maarty Leunen — then got a gap guy. A player, Kenny Love, who will fill a gap that Brandon Lincoln couldn’t fill last season — backup point guard.
After that, well, we all seem to know what Malik Hairston brings to the table. Well, we don’t actually know, but all the hype — fair or not — has him leading a mini-revival at Oregon. And as much as that is hype, there was no talk of that when Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour came to the Ducks, nor when any of the current members of the team signed their National Letters of Intent.
Players seem to respond to Kent. They love his style of play. It may not always produce the desired results in the standings, but it sure gets his players ready for the NBA. Fred Jones, member of NBA Eastern Conference finalist Indiana, is example No. 1 of that trend.
Then Ridnour went to Seattle in the first round. And now, Jackson is expected to make it three first rounders in three years when he goes through the upcoming June NBA Draft.
Kent has that track record working for him, something that was no doubt noticed a few years back when Notre Dame came calling for his services. He turned that school down and would be expected to turn down Leland if he were to ask about Kent’s availability.
Stanford is a prime job that many coaches across the nation would love to have. Stanford has some of the strongest and most rigorous academic regulations among Division I programs in the nation, but that didn’t stop the Cardinal from going 30-2 this past season.
Its players are smart and its fan base rabid and well-educated, both in the real world and athletically-speaking.
The Stanford gig could be a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a number of coaches across the nation.
But Kent loves Oregon. He loves his players. He loves his recruiting class. He loves the Pit Crew and the thousands of fans that pack McArthur Court game in and game out.
He has said that time after time.
Not even Stanford can contend with that.