Kilkenny Comments on Brad Stevens

[uostudent]

http://www.indystar.com/article/2010040 ... ource=pn_s

Highlights from the articles (it's definitely worth a read):
"One of the reasons he's a special young man is his loyalty," Kilkenny said Thursday, having returned to Eugene from Indianapolis on Wednesday. "He has a very strong connection to Butler."

Kilkenny, the former Oregon athletic director, spoke with Stevens three times by telephone Tuesday, the day after the national title game. But he never believed he was close to getting Stevens. There was never a solid offer, but Kilkenny made it clear he wanted Stevens to listen to Oregon's pitch.

"He was our guy," Kilkenny said. "But I always felt like it was an uphill battle. We were obviously very interested in him, but we needed to sense that he was interested in us, too. I'm not sure that was there."

.......

True, there was a lot to recommend Oregon: a big-conference affiliation, lots of money, a brand-new arena and all the right connections. Plus, the Ducks play in a college town where they are everybody's first priority. Here in Indy, Butler doesn't even rate above IU and Purdue, and probably never will.

"We would have loved to have had the chance to tell him our story," Kilkenny said. "But it never got to that point."

The flip side at Oregon is, Stevens would be working in foreign territory, dealing with top-rung recruits whose priorities aren't the same as the kids he gets at Butler. He has something special at Butler, something different. Bobby Fong, Butler's president, shared a conversation he recently had with a Butler fan, who told him, "We're not just rooting for the basketball team; we're rooting for our friends." Would Stevens have that at Oregon?

........

"We had our eye on (Stevens) for a long time,'' Kilkenny said. "It's disappointing, but I understand. Butler is keeping a very special young coach.''

[UOducksTK1]

Isn't it crazy that Butler making it to the championship game may have actually cost us Stevens? Because if we were looking at Stevens for a while, and Butler only went to the 2nd round or sweet 16, you gotta thing our chances of landing him would have improved tremendously..

[uostudent]

I think it is premature for people to say that Kilkenny has failed at his pursuit of finding the next basketball coach. Nobody knows what is going on behind the scenes. I am still confident that Oregon will end up with a solid basketball coach that will take this program in the right direction. Kilkenny did a lot of positive things in short tenure as AD and I have faith that he will find a great coach (not necessarily a huge name that will wow everybody, but a definite upgrade over Ernie). I had the pleasure of meeting Pat at two basketball games when I was a student and talked to him for almost five minutes each time. He's very personable and is a great guy.

[duckgrad99]

Isn't it crazy that Butler making it to the championship game may have actually cost us Stevens? Because if we were looking at Stevens for a while, and Butler only went to the 2nd round or sweet 16, you gotta thing our chances of landing him would have improved tremendously..

Yeah, good point. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know who Stevens was until Butler advanced deep in the tourny.

[Tray Dub]

Why would Kilkenny say this publicly? Now whoever we get is going to look like a second choice. Pretty stupid in my opinion. You can compliment the guy, but don't say that he was our first choice to the media.

[greenyellow]

Why would Kilkenny say this publicly? Now whoever we get is going to look like a second choice. Pretty stupid in my opinion. You can compliment the guy, but don't say that he was our first choice to the media.

I agree with that statement since it now looks like Oregon is going after their second choice, which can't make the remaining coaching candidates feel that good.

[Boom]

Why would Kilkenny say this publicly? Now whoever we get is going to look like a second choice. Pretty stupid in my opinion. You can compliment the guy, but don't say that he was our first choice to the media.

I agree with that statement since it now looks like Oregon is going after their second choice, which can't make the remaining coaching candidates feel that good.

He could have denied everything, but it wouldn't have fooled anyone

Might as well be honest about it and do the classy thing, compliment the coach and their program.

[duckfan96]

A couple of thoughts...
1. everyone wanted EK gone ...he is gone
2. everyone was thinking Oregon would land a big name coach...not happened yet
3. No AD probably has something to do with it
4. everyone should be happy that EK is gone and that is what they wanted
5. The only person I really really really really REALLY would not want to coach at Oregon is PJ
6. Is Alford still on the table? Give him a shot JMO

[oregontrack]

Alford signed an extension with New Mexico, thankfully. We wouldn't want to touch that with a ten foot pole, but at least New Mexico took him off the table just in case we eventually get desperate.

[dthomas=ddixon]

I think it is premature for people to say that Kilkenny has failed at his pursuit of finding the next basketball coach. Nobody knows what is going on behind the scenes. I am still confident that Oregon will end up with a solid basketball coach that will take this program in the right direction. Kilkenny did a lot of positive things in short tenure as AD and I have faith that he will find a great coach (not necessarily a huge name that will wow everybody, but a definite upgrade over Ernie). I had the pleasure of meeting Pat at two basketball games when I was a student and talked to him for almost five minutes each time. He's very personable and is a great guy.

Agreed. We may not get a great name but we will still end up with a really good coach.

[RanDux]

Why would Kilkenny say this publicly? Now whoever we get is going to look like a second choice. Pretty stupid in my opinion. You can compliment the guy, but don't say that he was our first choice to the media.

I was glad he did say it. At least it looks like Kilkenny knows what he's doing now.

[duck55]

Alford signed an extension with New Mexico, thankfully. We wouldn't want to touch that with a ten foot pole, but at least New Mexico took him off the table just in case we eventually get desperate.

The open job @ Oregon is making a lot of Coaches happy and wealthy with all the extensions to contracts going on. Obviously, the opening must be tempting enough that all these schools are willing to fork out the $$$.