By Jay Jones
One Click Sports News

We heard it last night and classified it as a “rumor”. But a rumor worth tweeting.

University of Oregon Athletic Director Mike Bellotti will be stepping down to go to ESPN as a college football analyst.

And it looks like that just might be case (Take that, KVAL! We kid because we love, Tom.).

This just in from the athletic department…

MEDIA ADVISORY

UO’s Mike Bellotti to make announcement about leadership at Athletics Department

WHAT: Announcement
DATE: Friday, March 19
TIME: 11:30 a.m. PDT
WHO: Mike Bellotti, UO Athletics Director
PLACE: Casanova Center, 2727 Leo Harris Pkwy.

BACKGROUND:
At 11:30 a.m. today, University of Oregon Athletics Director Mike Bellotti will make an important announcement about leadership at the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

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By Jay Jones
One Click Sports News

Even though the press conference has not started (or is just underway), Oregon has terminated the contract of University of Oregon men’s basketball head coach Ernie Kent.

Keep on checking back at Duck Sports News for more details.

UPDATE: Here’s the press release (a press release from UO President Richard Lariviere is below)…

Oregon Will Not Renew Ernie Kent’s Contract

EUGENE, Ore. — The University of Oregon has terminated the contract of long-time men’s basketball head coach Ernie Kent, according to an announcement Tuesday by the school’s Director of Athletics Mike Bellotti.

“The accomplishments Ernie Kent has brought to the basketball program at the University of Oregon speak for themselves,” said Bellotti. “No one can deny that this program stands in better shape today than when he took it over, and that’s a direct reflection on the passion he has displayed for this community, his alma mater and the players that he has brought into this program.

“This was not an easy decision for me, but unfortunately, when I looked at the past five to six years, I did not see the improvement and consistency that I had hoped for, and that we will need to move forward as we open our new arena and seek to reenergize and expand our season ticket base,” said Bellotti.

“I would like to thank Ernie for his professionalism during a difficult time in his career, and certainly acknowledge his contribution to the growth of the basketball program,” said Bellotti. “I believe the University of Oregon is well-positioned to build on the foundation that Ernie has helped put into place.”

Kent had two years remaining on his contract that went into effect on July 1, 2007, and was amended on July 1, 2008. That pact called for him to be paid an annual guaranteed base salary from the University of $150,000. With additional compensation from deferred income, ticket sales and the Oregon Sports Network the contract was valued at $1.06 million. According to a 2008 contract addendum, the University would owe Kent a sum of $1.15 million in lieu of his annual salary and incentives should his employment be terminated without cause.

Oregon will immediately begin a national search to hire a replacement.

Kent accumulated a 235-173 (.576) mark in 13 seasons at the Ducks’ helm. Combined with his six-year total of 90-80 at the Moraga, Calif., school, Kent owns a 325-253 career coaching ledger in 19 seasons at the NCAA Division I level.

UPDATE: Here’s a press release from UO President Richard Lariviere…

Statement from UO President Richard Lariviere regarding Coach Ernie Kent

March 16, 2010

“Today, it was announced that Ernie Kent will no longer be the head coach of the University of Oregon men’s basketball team. Coach Kent has contributed to the university as a student-athlete, coach, leader and mentor.

Coach Kent played an important role as a teacher of student-athletes for the past 13 years. He led his team to success in the Pac-10. In the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for academic achievement by student-athletes his record was exemplary. On the court, Coach Kent was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year and reached the Elite Eight twice in five NCAA tournament competitions.

My colleagues and I admire the work of this good man for his ability to shape the lives of young people. It is an enviable record. The University of Oregon appreciates his accomplishments and wishes Coach Kent the best in the future.”

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Now that Jeremiah Masoli and…uh…that other guy doesn’t matter…has been charged in connection with a January theft at a fraternity house…

And…

LaMichael James is reportedly changing his plea on domestic abuse charges…

It’s time to check in with Twitter.

Follow Duck Sports News on Twitter.

The views expressed in this blog post are the views of the individual Twitter account holders and do not necessarily reflect the views of One Click Sports News.

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DSN is seeing quite a few tweets that Lache Seastrunk has committed to play football for Oregon. More links as they come in.

Contribute links here.

Here’s Rob Moseley’s blog

Here’s John Hunt’s blog

ESPN’s Tom Luginbill’s take

Auburn blog

(Music lyrics NSFW)

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By Jay Jones
One Click Sports News

Ready for some Inside Baseball?

Actually, this is more TMZ, than DSN.

But it’s a real diamond-in-the-rough, this one.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that USC tailback Joe McKnight has been driving a 2006 Land Rover owned by a Santa Monica, Calif., businessman.

Today, Santa Monica, Calif., businessman Scott Schenter, a Husky fan, responded. And in the process, he threw Daily News USC football beat reporter Scott Wolf under the aforementioned Land Rover.

Unfortunately, it was also at Oregon cheerleader Amanda Pflugrad’s expense.

Here’s part of his response (from Ted Miller’s ESPN Pac-10 blog):

5. As for his ownership of the Web site, www.4joemcknight.com, Schenter claims he’s squatted on a number of similar Web site names.

“I also have uscmarketing.com, uclalove.com (where’s the Kevin Love article), stanfordindians.com, 24kobe.com, airkobe.com, trumpcancer.com, shaqcancer.com, caltchbeavers.com, uscromeo.com, and for Scott Wolf, amandaflugrad.com.”

Despite the typo, Mr. Schenter does indeed own amandapflugrad.com.

Why did this catch my attention?

Mr. Wolf has a long history of an inappropriate, unprofessional, stalker-like fetish with Pac-10 cheerleaders. More specifically, he is obsessed with Oregon’s cheerleaders and Amanda Pflugrad. (Just for reference, can you imagine The Register-Guard’s Rob Moseley getting his picture taken with opposing teams’ cheerleaders at every game? I don’t think so.)

Here’s Scott Schenter’s response on Scott Wolf’s blog.

In my book, Scott Schenter almost hit a home-run in referencing Scott Wolf in his explanation (almost reason enough to let him off the hook if he did what he’s accused of doing). I don’t use the words “inappropriate”, “unprofessional”, and “fetish” lightly. But Mr. Wolf’s interests are so clearly known throughout USC and Pac-10 fandom that a Husky fan accused of being part of a potentially major NCAA violation goes out of his way to mention him in his response.

That’s the amazing thing here.

But that near home-run veered just foul with the mention of Amanda Pflugrad.

I feel bad for Amanda.

When she signed on to be an Oregon cheerleader, I don’t think “further objectification by USC football beat reporter” was part of the job description.

However, I also don’t think there has been a more well-known cheerleader in recent Oregon history than her.

Now let’s see if Joe McKnight goes down as one of the more well-known football players in USC history. If he does, let’s some hope (for his sake) that it’s something for USC fans to cheer about.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
University of Oregon Sports Information Department
Nov. 9, 2009

OREGON’S BLOUNT REINSTATED TO FOOTBALL PROGRAM
The running back continues to be held accountable for conditions that prompted reinstatement.

EUGENE – University of Oregon senior running back LeGarrette Blount has been reinstated to the Ducks’ football program and will be available to play Saturday when they host Arizona State in a game scheduled to kickoff at 7:20 p.m. (PST), according to an announcement from the school’s head coach Chip Kelly Monday.

Blount, who has missed Oregon’s last eight games after being suspended by Kelly following the season-opening loss at Boise State, has remained a member of the team and has participated in practice since the post-game incident which led to his suspension.

Kelly said he forwarded his recommendation for Blount’s reinstatement to Oregon Athletics Director Mike Bellotti Sunday night, who in turn passed it along to University President Richard Lariviere and Pacific-10 Conference Commissioner Larry Scott.

Blount’s suspension was originally announced to encompass the entire 2009 season, but Kelly announced on Oct. 2 the potential for reinstatement contingent upon the running back completing a series of conditions to the satisfaction of athletics department, University and Pac-10 officials. Kelly emphasized that Blount would continually be held accountable to those conditions for the remainder of the year.

“I’m grateful to Coach Kelly that he cares enough to offer me this second chance,” Blount said. “Now it is up to me to prove to people that their lasting impressions of me are not what they saw in Boise.

“When I am ready to address this further with the public and the media, I will do so,” Blount added. “Until that time, I feel my actions can speak louder than anything I could say. I just want to help my teammates who have been supportive of me.”

The Ducks’ 1,000-yard rusher from a year ago was held to minus 5 yards in his only appearance this year in a 19-8 loss at Boise State.

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For headlines on the Ducks, visit Duck Sports News. If you’re a visiting Husky, visit our sister-site, Husky Sports News.

(This photo of the Hawthorne Bridge is for illustration purposes only. Translation: it’s a pretty stock photo because we couldn’t find a good one of the Morrison Bridge.)

A DSN visitor emailed this to us earlier today…

Got a tip for you here, if you haven’t already heard it…

The Willamette Light Brigade plans to light the Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland in Purple and Gold this week. Ironic/angering timing considering the UW UO football game this weekend. Even as a diehard 3rd generation Beaver alumni this frustrates me. I can’t remember any OSU or UO heritage weeks recently? And to do that while 20000 duck fans drive by each day? I already emailed the contact at their website encouraging them to prepare for some serious flack from Duck/Pac10 Fans.

Willamette Light Brigade
http://www.lightthebridges.org/index.php

OK. I’m only familiar with “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, not the Willamete Light Brigade. Considering there’s something here that got a Beaver fan all worked up, I went to the source.

According the website, this is their purpose:

WHY LIGHT PORTLANDS BRIDGES?

To make the Willamette River and its bridges the visual focus of our city by night as well as by day.
To visually enhance the historic and remarkable features of the bridges.
To highlight and honor these structures which connect the mutually-dependant east and west neighborhoods of Portland.
To show in a bright and cheerful manner the civic pride felt by those who live and work here.
To strengthen positive impressions of our city gained by visitors, business and tourist alike.
To add a dimension of delight to river crossings.

Up until this point, I’m fine with all that. I like the idea of lighting up bridges. I think it should be done throughout the state. I don’t care what it costs. Wouldn’t lighting up the bridges over the Willamette and McKenzie rivers around Eugene add a little cheer and civic pride to those hideously boring pieces of architecture? Sure they would. And of course that’s why it will never happen. Because it makes sense.

But this is the part I don’t understand:

Purple and gold this week to celebrate the University of Washington and support the Huskies!

WHAT?! IN THE CITY OF PORTLAND? IN OREGON? AND WHY CAN’T YOU DO THIS IN VANCOUVER…WASHINGTON! OR BRITISH COLUMBIA! WHO IN THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS APPROVED THIS? WHAT BUREAUCRATIC MONKEY WITH THE CITY OF PORTLAND, MULTNOMAH COUNTY, THE STATE OF OREGON OK’D THIS? I WANT A HEAD ON A PLATTER NOW! I DEMAND SATISFACTION! I DEMAND JUSTICE!

Needless to say, this makes very little sense to me and has me quite perplexed.

I have but one question: could Duck fans get away with this in Seattle? (Because you know there are like 50,000 Oregon alumni up there.)

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Does this make sense to you?

If it does not, and you’re interested in bringing on “The Charge of the Heavy Brigade”, let them know at information@LightTheBridges.org.

“When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made!”

JM, thanks for the tip.

- Duck Sports News staff

[UPDATE: Addicted to Quack has a good follow-up to this story here.]

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Make sure to catch “The Lead Block” with The Register-Guard’s George Schroeder and Jay Jones of DuckSportsNews.com every Oregon home-gameday from 7am to 9am on 95.3 FM “The Score” in the Eugene/Springfield, Corvallis, Albany, and Salem areas.

Also, join George and Jay, along with Justin Myers, for “The Oregon Huddle” every Friday 5pm to 7pm on KUGN 590 AM.

If you don’t want to miss anything on the DSN blog, make sure to bookmark or subscribe to the blog.

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By Jay Jones
One Click Sports News

Gray is Oregon’s new color. And only color.

Not yellow. Not green. Definitely not black or white.

But gray.

When the Oregon football team runs out of tunnel at Autzen Stadium to “play” Washington State Saturday evening, Duck fans should expect to see uniforms sporting more than a “Touch of Grey”.

But you already knew that. At least a lot of you did.

On the day that head football coach Chip Kelly made his black and white declaration that LeGarrette Blount would never play football at Oregon again (and he has made it repeatedly since), Duck Sports New posted this poll:

From the very beginning of “The Punch Heard Around The World” incident, a good portion of  Duck fans did not believe LeGarrette Blount would serve out his season-long suspension. A third of those who responded did not believe Chip Kelly.

Given yesterday’s announcement and today’s press conference, just about every link on Duck Sports News has a poll asking the wrong question: should LeGarrette Blount be reinstated? According to Chip Kelly’s repeated declarations in the past, there’s no need to ask that question because he’s never going to play for Oregon again.

But that’s not the important question for Chip Kelly. As he lays the foundation for Blount’s possible return in November , there’s only one important question for Chip Kelly right now.

And that’s the new Duck Sports News poll question:

Bottomline: will you believe Chip Kelly in the future?

Maybe the best thing is just not to trust college football coaches (unless you happen to be related to them).

So, the next time someone asks Chip Kelly about what uniform combination the Ducks will be wearing for the next game, I don’t need to hear the answer.

Gray. All gray.

Make sure to catch “The Lead Block” with The Register-Guard’s George Schroeder and Jay Jones of DuckSportsNews.com every Oregon home-gameday from 7am to 9am on 95.3 FM “The Score” in the Eugene/Springfield, Corvallis, Albany, and Salem areas.

Also, join George and Jay, along with Justin Myers, for “The Oregon Huddle” every Friday 5pm to 7pm on KUGN 590 AM.

If you don’t want to miss anything on the DSN blog, make sure to bookmark or subscribe to the blog.

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By Jay Jones
One Click Sports News

Looking back at Duck Sports News this week, here are the questions I hear Duck fans talking about:

- Should Chip Kelly give Jeremiah Masoli a rest and play Nate Costa? The Modesto Bee, Costa’s hometown paper, sure seems to think that’s what Duck fans want.

- Is Oregon’s offensive line the problem on offense, not Jeremiah Masoli? According to The Oregonian’s John Canzano, it is. DSN brought this potential issue to your attention back in April when the Wall Street Journal noted that Oregon has the least experienced offensive line in college football. To be fair, the WSJ also observed that Notre Dame (see Michigan) and Florida State (see Miami) have the most experience returning on the offensive line.  Ooops.

- What’s a week at Oregon without a “Men on Uniforms” segment? Looks like Oregon is going “retro” this week. However, I don’t know what that means because Oregon is going to rack up more throwback uniforms just about every year. Is it cool? Do you care? Does it matter? (Hmmm…I wonder what happened to those old-new flame-out yellow helmets…)

- And I almost forgot “the check”. Good move? Genuine gesture? Savy PR response? All of the above?

What do you think?

Make sure to catch “The Lead Block” with The Register-Guard’s George Schroeder and Jay Jones of DuckSportsNews.com every Oregon home-gameday from 7am to 9am on 95.3 FM “The Score” in the Eugene/Springfield, Corvallis, Albany, and Salem areas.

Also, join George and Jay, along with Justin Myers, for “The Oregon Huddle” every Friday 5pm to 7pm on KUGN 590 AM.

If you don’t want to miss anything on the DSN blog, make sure to bookmark or subscribe to the blog.

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