Originally published on CampusAttic.com on November 29th, 2013
Ask
around the country the initial perceptions of University of Oregon athletics,
and the same key words will come up: uniforms, Nike, facilities. Yet despite
all the toys and tools provided, at the heart of every athletic program at the
University of Oregon, it is the people who make it successful.
Long
before the multi-million dollar modern arenas for each athletic program amidst
the construction fervor of the past two decades, Oregon’s “stuff” could be
considered at best quaint, yet teams remained successful because of the
abilities of the student-athletes and coaches. Those days are gone, rundown
structures replaced with modern sparkling jewels, but the individual talents of
player and coach remain, and thankfully Oregon just locked up one of their best
for years to come.
Dana
Altman, head coach of the Oregon men’s basketball team, signed a three-year
contract extension earlier this week. Going into his fourth season, Altman has
completely revitalized Oregon Ducks basketball, a once-proud program that had
sunk to a sorry complacent state in the final years under former UO
athlete-turned-coach Ernie Kent.
Kent
hadn’t been a bad coach, he remains the all-time leader at the school in career
victories during his 13-year tenure, and had twice taken the program to the
elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament, but in his final years at the helm a complacent
malaise had tainted the program. Athletes went through the motions with an
obvious lack of defensive effort and endless jacked-up three pointers, coach
shouted his typical “move! move! move!”, but either the message or motivation
had been lost. Fans stopped going to games, people just didn’t care about a
program that was, at best, treading water.
After
finishing in the Elite 8, giving eventual national champion Florida their
toughest fight of the NCAA tournament in 2006-07 led by senior guard Aaron
Brooks, Oregon followed up an impressive year with a three year slide of
disappointment. Bounced out of the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2008,
it was followed by a 8-23 season in 2009, and a 16-16 campaign in 2010,
finishing 9th in the Pac-10.
Whether fair or not to Ernie after such a long run of success compared to
previous coaching tenures, it felt like it was long overdue for a change. The
players weren’t happy, the administration wasn’t happy, fans weren’t happy.
Some public incidents made headlines that left some players ineligible and
others embarrassed, fans weren’t attending games, and with the huge investment
of building the new state-of-the-art Matthew Knight Arena set to open the next
year, it felt like a change in identity was needed.
FINDING THEIR MAN
It
didn’t happen overnight. For over a month Oregon officials criss-crossed the
country trying to find their new coach, getting denied repeatedly by one
big-name coach after another. Not even the Nike allure and promises of
monumental paychecks could pull away the top talent to Eugene from the nation’s
elite college basketball schools, a program that seemed mired in mediocrity, no
motivation to succeed even with a new arena soon to call home. But amidst all
the rejections, one name kept popping up that was being suggested to Oregon’s
officials — Dana Altman.
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| Olu Oshaolu and Devoe Joseph were two early transfers that found great success under Altman. (courtesy: KVAL.com) |
Dana
Altman had begun his head coaching career with a four year stint at Kansas
State, before taking over Creighton University’s program for 16 years. During
that lengthy stretch, Altman had taken a mediocre Creighton program to its
biggest heights, five trips to the NIT and seven to the NCAA Tournament, and a
career 327-176 record — placing Altman third all-time in career wins in the
Missouri Valley Conference.
He became one of the most respected coaches in the game, a Naismith Award
Finalist for national coach of the year, a true X’s and O’s man who got the
most out of his players, winning through scheme rather than superior individual
talent.
Oregon
wasn’t the first team that had come calling to lure Altman away from Creighton.
In 2007 Dana Altman announced that he would be leaving Creighton, accepting an
offer to become the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, but the next day
rescinded on his departure, citing that his heart was still at Creighton.
Whenever coaching vacancies opened, Altman’s name would be floated because of
his impressive accolades and abilities, but typically followed with a “BUT he
probably won’t leave Creighton.”
After
striking out repeatedly for a month in the time since a tearful press
conference firing at Mac Court by longtime football
coach-turned-temporary-Athletic-Director Mike Bellotti and Ernie Kent, where
Ernie declared “you may get a better coach than me, but you’ll never find
someone who loves this university like I do,” and the ongoing search reaching
publicly embarrassing levels making national headlines, Oregon finally took the
advice they had received over the past month…they gave Dana Altman a call. The
red carpet was rolled out as the top brass flew to Omaha, Nebraska, to meet
with Altman, and within a matter of hours a deal was struck.
The
Ducks had finally found their man. Altman agreed to leave Creighton, after
calling Omaha home for so long Altman setup shop in an apartment in Eugene
while his family made the preparations to say goodbye to Nebraska and move
west. Altman had a monumental task at hand, return Oregon to relevancy.
The
Oregon program hadn’t always been successful, but with a national championship
to its name and legendary names like Ron Lee, Stan Love, Blair Rasmussen,
Terrell Brandon, Bobby Anet, Greg Ballard, and Jim Barnett, it had its place in
history. The Kamikaze Kids under Coach Harter had been the second-best team in
the Pac-8 for nearly a decade, one of the best programs in the country if not
for having to play in the same conference as John Wooden’s UCLA teams of the
70’s. Mac Court had consistently been named one of the toughest places to play
in the country, the Pit Crew student section made sure of that every time an
opponent stepped on the floor.
 |
| Transfer Arsalan Kazemi immediately became a fan favorite in his one year of play at Oregon. (courtesy: Oregonlive.com) |
It
may not have had the tradition and consistent success of a Duke or UCLA, but
there were expectations for the Oregon program, which hadn’t been realized in
recent years. Altman’s task was not only to recruit and right the ship, but
with a brand new arena it fell on him to give fans incentive to care again
about Ducks basketball. It didn’t take long for Dana to accomplish just that.
ASSUMING CONTROL AND
RIGHTING THE SHIP
For
as animated as Coach Altman is during games, he is as unassuming off of it. A
native Nebraskan with a slow drawl and soft-spoken approach, he is calm, cool,
and collected at all times. Pleasantly boring might be another to consider his
demeanor, one of a true workmanlike approach to tackling each day’s tasks with
tunnel vision, taking on the huge task of managing a top-25 college basketball
program. A humble family man, who presents a calming even-keeled persona for
his players, focusing on the mental aspects of the game, a cerebral coach
bringing in players who are hungry to compete in Altman’s style.
No
coach in the country has had to deal with more patchwork lineups than Altman
each season over the past four years, taking full advantage of the NCAA’s
transfer rules to bring in quality players with only one or two years of
eligibility remaining. In an era when so much emphasis is placed on the
one-and-done mentality of high school blue chip athletes who then leave school
for the NBA as soon as the season ends, Altman takes the opposite approach,
rarely finding the the freshman blue chipper, instead seeking out the seasoned
college veteran looking for one final chance to prove themselves.
He
has a system, one in which defense and a team game creating space on the floor
is emphasized. There is no room for the 1-on-1 iso game that seems so common in
the NBA, an expansion of the playground superstar mentality. If a student-athlete
comes to Oregon to play for Coach Altman, they are expected to play within the
system. Play hard defense, pass the ball, buy in to a team ball mentality. If
they can’t do that, they won’t last long.
It
hasn’t been by choice that Altman has had to repeatedly go the transfer route
to fill a roster. For all the incoming transfers to Oregon, there have been
just as many outgoing, some players barely sticking around for a couple weeks
before deciding they don’t want to buy into the team approach Altman preaches and
seek opportunities elsewhere. At times, Altman has had to hold open tryouts on
campus just to fill the roster, yet somehow three years in a row and now going
into his fourth campaign with arguably his best team to date, Altman’s teams
find a way to succeed.
 |
It
shows the supreme talent of Coach Altman, being able to somehow splice together
cast-offs and outcasts together into a tight-nit group that has ascended to one
of the premier programs out west. Every year the roster is amassed with all new
faces Altman and staff have compiled, and as soon as we fans get a chance to
know them, they’re gone.
In
Altman’s first season (2010-11), it was Ernie Kent’s few veterans who had
chosen to stay, Joevan Catron and Garrett Sim, who carried the team to a 21-18
record and on to the CIB Tournament, winning the championship in Matthew Knight
Arena’s first season, ironically beating Altman’s old team Creighton. With only
five players returning who had played more than three minutes a game the
previous season, transfers Jay-R Strowbridge and Tyrone Nared helped to fill
the gaps. An uncertain year with little expectations going in, the general consensus
being it could take 4-5 years to rebuild the program, the season ended with
packed enthusiastic stands falling in love with Duck basketball all over again.
For
the 2011-12 campaign, it was transfers Devoe Joseph, Olu Ashaolu, Carlos Emory,
and Tony Woods who carried the team to a 24-10 record, good enough for 2nd in
the Pac-12, reaching the third round of the NIT tournament. It was supposed to
be freshman prep superstar Jabari Brown leading the way in Altman’s first full
year of recruiting, but after playing in only two games he left the program,
and was quickly forgotten once Joseph became eligible, leading the team with a
16.7 ppg average.
Each
year Altman’s teams have improved on the previous campaign, despite all the
roster changes. In 2012 the team reached the NCAA Tournament with a 28-9
record, giving eventual national champion Louisville their toughest test of the
tournament in the Sweet 16. The team was led by yet another one year transfer,
Arsalan Kazemi.
DANA ALTMAN DOING
ALTMAN TYPE THINGS
So
far so good in Altman’s fourth year at Oregon, the unfamiliar faces becoming an
all-too familiar trend. Despite the suspension of returning players Dominic
Artis and Ben Carter for the first nine games of the year, the Ducks have been
rolling, amassing a perfect 4-0 record to date thanks to the stellar play of
yet more transfers. For this campaign it is Joseph Young, Mike Moser, Jason
Calliste, and Richard Amardi that are the new faces making a big splash, just
the new names in the ever-revolving door of Altman.
While
elite programs like Duke and Kentucky field rosters of primarily freshmen, it
is Altman’s approach of compiling junior and senior transfers that has led to
Oregon’s success. It’s a tall order to improve on the previous year’s campaign,
and with the season so young it is way too early to judge how this year’s
version of Altman’s patchwork will do, but based on the play so far there is no
reason to expect anything less than an even better finish than the 2012
campaign.
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| Oregon opened the 2013 season with a win over Georgetown in South Korea. (courtesy: DaytonDailyNews.com) |
Altman
has proven himself to truly be one of the absolute best coaches in the country.
While the big names simply recruit the top future NBA talents and let them use
their superior individual talents to win, Altman works for his team’s success.
Every game he’s stomping the floor, directing traffic, scheming of ways to gain
a tactical advantage over an opponent, not just 1-on-1 iso play.
It
is because of this tremendous consistency by Altman that he was rewarded this
week with a three-year contract extension, locking up his services through the
2019-20 season, tacked on to the original seven-year contract Altman signed
upon leaving Creighton. Forget the uniforms and facilities, it is the people
that make it go, and Altman has proven to be as valuable an asset as any on
staff at the University of Oregon.
For
his efforts, he receives a base salary of $450,000, plus $1.3 million for pay
in a special deal for his media obligations and work with Nike, the same terms
originally agreed to on his first contract. The 1.8 million base pay makes him
the 20th highest paid college basketball coach in the country, but considering
the overachieving performances of his teams despite all the hardship, he might
well be grossly underpaid.
Altman’s
Ducks are 4-0 on the year, starting the season with a victory over Georgetown
in South Korea at a military base in the annual Armed Forces Classic. Currently
ranked #14 in the country, with eyes on the Pac-12 title and another NCAA
Tournament run, the Ducks are once again flying high under Altman. Led by new
transfers and a few key veterans, there is no reason to think that as long as
Dana Altman leads the way, the faces may change annually, but the positive
results won’t.
———————————————————
Oregon
men’s basketball hosts Pacific Friday, November 29th at noon at Matthew Knight
Arena. Fans should make a day of it, catch the basketball game, then head
across the river to Autzen for the annual Civil War football game vs. Oregon
State at 4 pm, then round out the evening with volleyball back at Matthew
Knight Arena at 8 pm.
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