Kilkenny on Kent/Dunlap...
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:42 am
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/si ... /story.csp
Pat Kilkenny said he wavered on bringing Ernie Kent back for another season as the Oregon men’s basketball coach until the UO athletic director became convinced that adding Mike Dunlap to the coaching staff was what needed to be done for the Ducks to rebound from an 8-23 season.
“I never saw any interest from him when I talked to him,” Kilkenny said of that telephone call with Few in early March.
“Is this ship taking on water? Was this the right move?” Kilkenny said he asked himself, before deciding, “I better find out more about Mike Dunlap.”
A former head coach at Metro State in Denver, where he won two Division II national titles and 84 percent of his games, Dunlap also had worked for two seasons for the Denver Nuggets before being hired at Arizona.
Kilkenny said the responses to his inquiries about Dunlap were that “100 percent, they said that he can make you better.”
Kilkenny also said he wasn’t going to create an opening “unless I knew what the answer was” on who might replace Kent, an indication that his priority was finding a way to justify allowing Kent to return for a 13th season.
“We had some interest (from other coaches) through some of our friends in the business, but there wasn’t anybody who terribly excited me,” Kilkenny said of possible applicants.
Let's hope the gamble pays off!
Pat Kilkenny said he wavered on bringing Ernie Kent back for another season as the Oregon men’s basketball coach until the UO athletic director became convinced that adding Mike Dunlap to the coaching staff was what needed to be done for the Ducks to rebound from an 8-23 season.
“I never saw any interest from him when I talked to him,” Kilkenny said of that telephone call with Few in early March.
“Is this ship taking on water? Was this the right move?” Kilkenny said he asked himself, before deciding, “I better find out more about Mike Dunlap.”
A former head coach at Metro State in Denver, where he won two Division II national titles and 84 percent of his games, Dunlap also had worked for two seasons for the Denver Nuggets before being hired at Arizona.
Kilkenny said the responses to his inquiries about Dunlap were that “100 percent, they said that he can make you better.”
Kilkenny also said he wasn’t going to create an opening “unless I knew what the answer was” on who might replace Kent, an indication that his priority was finding a way to justify allowing Kent to return for a 13th season.
“We had some interest (from other coaches) through some of our friends in the business, but there wasn’t anybody who terribly excited me,” Kilkenny said of possible applicants.
Let's hope the gamble pays off!