As soon as the men’s basketball team’s trip to the NCAA tournament came into question this season, fans started jumping ship.
The blame has been placed at the feet of Ernie Kent by many, and the boo-birds have started calling for Kent’s job. Listen to local sports talk radio or glance through the letters to the editor in the Register-Guard and you’ll see and hear plenty of vitriol toward the coach. It seems there is a contingent of Kent-haters here in Eugene just waiting for the team to slip, then out of the woodwork they come, calling for a new direction for the program.
I’m sure Kent would be glad to shoulder the blame to protect his players, and I’m not here to try and shift the blame in their direction.
In fact, I’m not going to place the blame on anyone in this column. I’m no basketball genius, just a guy who loves the game. I don’t think for a second that it’s my place to tell the coach how to better do his job, or to tell Pat Kilkenny who might be able to do it better.
I’m simply here to tell you that if you think firing Kent would be a good move for this program you are dead wrong.
And not just because he is a great basketball coach, but because of the way he runs his program: The emphasis on academics, the type of young men he recruits and, last and possibly least, the success his teams routinely achieve on the court.
First, Kent doesn’t just preach academic success for his players, he virtually lives it. Academic achievement, (though the program has justifiably maximized the visibility of those achievements in radio spots and billboard ads this season), is not just a handy public relations tool for Kent. He builds time into the team’s road itinerary for study sessions, often to take place before they get on the court, and discussions between Kent and his players on their classes and homework are a daily reality, not a sales pitch for the program.
Kent says that he does these things to set the tone for his players, to demonstrate to them that getting their schoolwork done is a priority to their coaches as it should be for them.
And if this year’s bevy of graduated seniors are any indication, his players have gotten the message.
But Kent’s job of getting his players focused on their education is made much easier by the types of guys he recruits. They are all talented basketball players, of course, but they’re focused young men as well. Kent makes it clear to his recruits from the first visit that they will be expected to perform in the classroom just as they will be expected to perform on the court.
And what of players who don’t seem to get the message that the academic side of playing college basketball is just as important as the athletic? The answer is simple: Kent doesn’t recruit them, or let them anywhere near his program.
Then there’s the success of Kent’s teams on the court. Personally, I think the aforementioned emphasis on quality young men and academic success should be enough to ensure his job. But for those of you who care about basketball and basketball only, I’ll just point out that he has made Oregon basketball more successful than ever before in terms of his win-loss record, tournament appearances and victories and players going to the NBA.
I mean, get real people, you think firing Ernie is a good idea? A coach who not only recruits young men who represent the University of Oregon well on and off the court, but makes sure they stay on track in school, and all while molding them into an elite-level basketball team?
It might sound too good to be true, and maybe that’s what those calling for Kent’s job are thinking, but let me assure you it’s a reality, and one I don’t want to see end anytime soon.
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