Kent to stay, hire Arizona assistant Dunlap

[briarduck]

This is excellent news and look at the job title!

By Bob Clark The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/si ... /story.csp

Part of the article...
Ernie Kent’s retention as Oregon’s men’s basketball coach comes with a significant staff change.

The University of Oregon is expected to announce later today Kent will return for a 13th season, as well as the hiring of former Arizona assistant Mike Dunlap as associate head coach.

Dunlap, who brings a reputation as a defensive strategist and a record of success, will replace Mark Hudson, who has been with Kent in some capacity since 1997, dating back to Kent’s final year at Saint Mary’s.

Dunlap spent the 2008-09 season at Arizona as an assistant. He turned down the opportunity to become the Wildcats’ interim head coach after the sudden retirement of Lute Olson, but remained on the staff with interim coach Russ Pennell.

Prior to the Arizona job, Dunlap spent two years as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets. As head coach of Metro State in Denver, Dunlap won two NCAA Division II national championships and won 83.2 percent of his games in nine seasons (248-50).


GO DUCKS!!

[dthomas=ddixon]

Good Lord, what a joke. Either hire a new head coach or just let Kent be the coach. Associate Head Coach? Is he gonna have any wieght or say with Kent? Or does he just have that nice little label to keep everyone happy. I can't believe Kent is actually going along with this.

If Kent actually listens to him it will make us a better team......but isn't that the whole point of some of us wanting Kent fired? You know he can't coach so you bring in a guy who can to assist Ernie......WHY DON"T YOU JUST BRING IN A HEAD COACH WHO CAN FREAKING COACH!!!! This move by Kilkenny is so transparent. It shows exactly what he thinks of Kent & that he still doesn't have the nards to fire him.

This basketball program is a joke as far as I'm concerned. Hope they can fill the arena even half-way.

[PDXShogun]

I think this is a good move. Not as good as firing Kent, but if Ernie was going to stay, something like this had to be done. The book on Dunlap is that he is an excellent strategist and teacher, especially on D but not much of a recruiter. That's fine since we already have two of the best recruiters around with Kenny Payne and Ernie.

Also, did you see the $$$ that Dunlap is getting? $400K per year and a $300K signing bonus. He'll almost make more than Craig Robinson this year.

[duckgrad99]

How much influence will Dunlap actually have? I would have rather had a better head coach and a lesser assistant. It's been brought up that Dunlap might be the "coach in waiting". I really thought we could do better, especially given the fact that we can get top coaches for all the other programs at Oregon. Now that this has happened, Kent had better be evaluated from game 1 next season. If they start out slow again, Kilkenny shouldn't be afraid to fire Ernie mid season and make Dunlap the interim coach.

[desertfan]

Pretty bizarre way of handling things. So instead of replacing the guy you force him to hire an "associate head coach", who is probably going to replace you if you don't sure things up next season. What incentive is there for Dunlap to help Ernie if he is just going to get Ernie's job if the team preforms poorly next season...

And lets say it does work perfectly, Dunlap compliments Ernie's weaknesses nicely and Oregon goes on to have a couple of really nice seasons. How long before another program comes along and offers Dunlap a head coaching job, leaving Oregon back at square one with Ernie. Who knows, maybe Ernie would personally walk away in that situation and hand things over to Dunlap ala Mike Bellotti/Chip Kelly...

[fpsduck]

It's a start.

[duckgrad99]

People seem to be raving about Dunlap, which raises this question. Why didn't we just get rid of Kent and make Dunlap the head coach? Besides the money issue.

[dthomas=ddixon]

People seem to be raving about Dunlap, which raises this question. Why didn't we just get rid of Kent and make Dunlap the head coach? Besides the money issue.

That's my exact point. If Kent is such a terrible coach that you make him let go of one of his long-time assistants so he can hire a guy who CAN coach, why are we even keeping Kent?! I'll repeat, they keep Kent but make him hire a guy who will make up for his coaching deficiencies. Isn't that essentially saying they have no faith in Kent's ability to coach? If that's their opinion of Kent's coaching ability, WHY IN THE FREAKING HELL ARE THEY KEEPING HIM AS OUR COACH?!?!?!?!

Am I the only one who see's how hypocritical & transparent this decision is? Kilkenny really, really dissapointed me with this latest non-decision.

[duckgrad99]

People seem to be raving about Dunlap, which raises this question. Why didn't we just get rid of Kent and make Dunlap the head coach? Besides the money issue.

That's my exact point. If Kent is such a terrible coach that you make him let go of one of his long-time assistants so he can hire a guy who CAN coach, why are we even keeping Kent?! I'll repeat, they keep Kent but make him hire a guy who will make up for his coaching deficiencies. Isn't that essentially saying they have no faith in Kent's ability to coach? If that's their opinion of Kent's coaching ability, WHY IN THE FREAKING HELL ARE THEY KEEPING HIM AS OUR COACH?!?!?!?!

Am I the only one who see's how hypocritical & transparent this decision is? Kilkenny really, really dissapointed me with this latest non-decision.

Well said!!!!! At least now if we win next year, and I really hope we do, then we can contribute the success to Dunlap instead of Kent right?

[dthomas=ddixon]

People seem to be raving about Dunlap, which raises this question. Why didn't we just get rid of Kent and make Dunlap the head coach? Besides the money issue.

That's my exact point. If Kent is such a terrible coach that you make him let go of one of his long-time assistants so he can hire a guy who CAN coach, why are we even keeping Kent?! I'll repeat, they keep Kent but make him hire a guy who will make up for his coaching deficiencies. Isn't that essentially saying they have no faith in Kent's ability to coach? If that's their opinion of Kent's coaching ability, WHY IN THE FREAKING HELL ARE THEY KEEPING HIM AS OUR COACH?!?!?!?!

Am I the only one who see's how hypocritical & transparent this decision is? Kilkenny really, really dissapointed me with this latest non-decision.

Well said!!!!! At least now if we win next year, and I really hope we do, then we can contribute the success to Dunlap instead of Kent right?

That's why this move is so lame to me. If we all of a sudden turn it around next year, which after reading up on Dunlap I think is very likely, everyone will know it was all Dunlap's doing. Kent will take all the credit & keep his job for another 3-4 years.

This may good for the short term but long term it just puts us back into the same situation we've been in the past six years. Dunlap will eventually leave & we will fall back into what we are now: A mediocre basketball program.

[briarduck]

Its funny I should have reworded my Headline/Title...I would have loved to get rid of EK but this is the next best thing! Could Dunlap been our next head coach maybe but I love getting the guy here and the fact that he's gong to have a big impact (referring to his title) is reassuring to me as a fan! EK is a a top notch recruiter and this guy can coach with the best of them, that sounds like a great combo to me...for now!

GO DUCKS!!

[briarduck]

People seem to be raving about Dunlap, which raises this question. Why didn't we just get rid of Kent and make Dunlap the head coach? Besides the money issue.

Great question! Clearly something is holding him back, maybe his recruiting skills need work but lets just be happy he here and not shy about coaching (as per reports)! Sounds like he got major recruiting inroads as well (per Canzano)...time will tell!

Canzano article...sorry I hate this bastard but I finally like an article he wrote!
On every possible level, Dunlap is a terrific hire
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregon ... unlap.html

I don't believe most of this and I can't believe its coming out of Canzano's mouth but here you go...

Said one UO insider: "Getting pounded that hard can get you contemplating big time; Ernie probably had some late nights."

When Oregon was trying to figure out what to do with Kent in recent weeks, I figured he was angling to keep his job. He found the best way. UO power brokers and insiders at Nike all recommended that Kent add Dunlap, and Kent did just that.

Yes, Nike was active here.

Why wouldn't it be?

That's Matthew Knight's good name on the new arena being constructed. And Nike obviously has deep relationships throughout every level of basketball. So it should be no surprise that even as Kent and athletic director Pat Kilkenny embraced the idea of adding Dunlap to the staff, Nike's basketball executive, Lynn Merritt, was advocating for Dunlap behind the scenes, too.

So was prominent NBA sports agent Leon Rose, who represents LeBron James and is close with Ducks assistant Kenny Payne. Also, basketball power-broker William "Wes" Wesley, who once attended an NBA Finals game with then-Ducks guard Malik Hairston, was juicing things behind the scenes for Dunlap, too.

You've heard of "Worldwide Wes" haven't you?

He's well connected and influential -- a veritable concierge to the star players, who makes things happen. Former Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire told me once, "Uncle Wes is running the NBA."

The Dunlap hire was a remarkable convergence of some of the most powerful individuals in basketball. Don't underestimate this. And it makes me think that the key players in the sport must view Oregon and this new arena as a sleeping giant.

And another great quote from the article...
On Wednesday, Dunlap said: "Everything that's going on at the University of Oregon demonstrates to me that they're making a push to do things at the highest level."

GO DUCKS!!

[duckgrad99]

Just another thought on Dunlap. Is the defense at Oregon really going to be expected to improve with him here? I wasn't that impressed with Arizona's defense. People might laugh, but maybe Oregon should have gone after Tony Bennett. It isn't the ducks style to slow things down, but Bennett's teams always played lock down defense, and that was with players with less talent than Oregon has.

[woundedknees]

Not sure Bennet would have wanted the Oregon job, let alone staying on the west coast...

[duckgrad99]

Has anyone noticed all of the pac-10 players declaring for the draft? Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill, Demar DeRozan, Daniel Hackett, Taj Gibson, James Harden, etc. That doesn't even include some top players graduating like Darren Collison, Justin Dentmon, Jon Brockman, etc. Oregon returns everyone, will probably play a much easier pac-10 schedule, has Dunlap, etc. With all of these factors, things set up perfectly for Oregon to finish in the top half of the pac-10 next season and make the tournament. I know it's much easier said than done(especially with Kent here), but if we cannot win next year then I give up.