Jerry Green article...

[woundedknees]

Good Bellamy article:

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/si ... ch-mac.csp

“I think now you’ve got a chance,” he said. “A better chance than you had 12 or 15 years ago.”

“If I had it to do all over, it was a battle that would have been good for the program,” Green said last week. “But it was a battle, really, that I didn’t need.”

"So Green had some reverence for basketball history, but he took the job without having seen Mac Court. If he had — and if he’d any inkling that by the end of the year, Byrne would be gone, to a new job at Nebraska — he’d never have come to Eugene."

“It was even worse when I saw it than I had imagined it would be,” Green told a Register-Guard reporter in January 1994. “I thought it was the ugliest, oldest, most dilapidated building I’d ever seen in the world."


"In Green’s view, the next challenge for Altman is to “close the borders,” to keep Oregon’s top prep players in Oregon when they are national-caliber recruits such as Kyle Singler, Kevin Love, Terrence Jones and now Kyle Wiltjer, who chose Duke, UCLA, Kentucky and Kentucky again, instead."

“Oregon was good for me,” Green said, “and Mac Court turned out to be a positive because it was such a dang hard place to come in and beat us. But I think they’re in a new light now, and Dana will get some relief."

[greenyellow]

I don't remember him being a bad coach, but him criticizing (and rightfully so) Mac Court did him in with the fans. What he said makes sense for those who have visited Mac Court when a game isn't in session, but most fans don't see it when a game isn't going on so don't know the conditions of certain parts of the facility. I spent a whole summer in that gym while working at the summer camps and I'll tell you that it is the pits in certain areas. The only nice areas downstairs were the home basketball locker rooms and the training room and even those are not that great when compared to even the UO Rec Center.

[buckmarkduck]

When I toured Mac in the late 90's during the summer before my SR year of HS I thought the same thing as Green, the place from the outside looked like crap, and inside I thought Jimmy Chipwood would come out any second and start working on his free throws. It may be a great game day environment, but when it's just a few people it leaves a a lot to be desired that's for sure. I can only imagine what kids from LA or back east though of it if they tripped during the summer or fall when there was no basketball going on, so I'm sure it was a very hard sell. Now Altman can take them on a tour or Matt and it's like visiting a 5* hotel with a basketball court, or the Enterprise, it's got to make recruiting a lot easier.

Oh and I always like coach Green even though he dumped us for UT who really have even less history that UO in basketball. It's sad when your known more for womens bball and your coach ripping his shirt off than for actual basketball.

[greenyellow]

When I toured Mac in the late 90's during the summer before my SR year of HS I thought the same thing as Green, the place from the outside looked like crap, and inside I thought Jimmy Chipwood would come out any second and start working on his free throws. It may be a great game day environment, but when it's just a few people it leaves a a lot to be desired that's for sure. I can only imagine what kids from LA or back east though of it if they tripped during the summer or fall when there was no basketball going on, so I'm sure it was a very hard sell. Now Altman can take them on a tour or Matt and it's like visiting a 5* hotel with a basketball court, or the Enterprise, it's got to make recruiting a lot easier.

If Kent can get players like Ridnour, Brooks, and Hairston with a broken-down arena, then I think Altman will easily be able to attract players to a brand-new arena.

[woundedknees]

Recruit in Mac on gameday would be awesome, given the right atmosphere... Big problem was how abysmal the place was on off days.

There is no comparison to the sensory impact of the new Arena.

[oregontrack]

Yeah, Green just said what everybody was thinking, but didn't have the guts to say. I always thought he got a bum rap with fans.

The man knew hoops... his '95 team was the first Oregon team reach the Tournament in what, 40 years?

[TheMaehlMan]

My Dad has hated Jerry Green for saying that ever since, but he was obviously correct.

[greenyellow]

I bet he'll be more than impressed by the new facility, as he was only hoping for like an $18-30 million facility, but that was a figure from the early 90s and doesn't include inflationary costs.