Homers Preview the Pac Ten (for the last time. Ever)

Fear not, it's not the last time we'll ever talk about sports on the West Coast. Quite the contrary. Today starts the end of the Pacific 10 Conference as a pack of 10. Next year we'll grow to twelve or eleven which has to be extra bad news for WSU.

This season hinges on the arms of a lot of guys who no one seems to know anything about. From Barkley to Luck, Foles to Thomas the boys under center will dictate who wins this wide open conference season.

Here's the Homer take.

Arizona Wildcats

The most salient memory from Arizona's 2009 campaign: a 33-0 destruction at the hands of Ndamukong Nebraska. Ironically, Arizona capped it's best offensive season in school history with the worst offensive performance in Holiday Bowl history. So who knows where that leaves the Wildcats. Fortunately, Arizona brings back starting quarterback Nick Foles. He will also be complimented in the back field by returning backs Keola Antolin and Nicholas Grigsby. That said, pass minded offesnive coordinator Sonny Dykes left after 2009 to pursue a head coaching gig, and left OC duties to Bill Bedenbaugh and Seth Littrell. But have no fear, Bednbaugh and Littrell are a combined 25-11 coaching together at both Texas Tech and Arizona and are very familiar with their predecessor's playbook. The defense will have to step up, but head coach Mike Stoops has been defense oriented since his days at Oklahoma, and he has a pre-season Jim Thorpe Award candidate in Trevin Wade to shape another defense around. Arizona has been picked to finish anywhere from last to first in the Pac-10, so shut your yapper Harbaugh, the Wildcats are smelling Roses this year (or at least this Homer is).

arizona state Scum devils

Dennis Erickson came onto the scene at ASU in 2007 and went 10-3. Since then his teams have gotten progressively worse. Three years, countless team felonies, and a floundering football program: sounds like the timing is right for Erickson to bolt--unless he's fired first--and leave ASU baking like a maroon raisin in LA wanna be Phoenix. On the other hand ASU brings in QB Steve Threet from Michigan, who challenged for the starting job at Big Blue not too long ago. That said, a new QB and a new offensive coordinator spell trouble after the scummies plod through their opening two games against Div. I-AA foes Portland State and Northern Arizona. Look for the sun to set on Erickson's tenure in the valley of mediocrity. AS-Who?

California Golden Bears

Da' Bears. Whoops, wrong perennially overrated forest creature. The fact is, Tedford has made Cal a legitimate football program, deservedly respected across the nation. They're arguably Tailback-U since he took over a 1-10 team in 2002. So, while all of the Pac rests on the shoulders of a bunch of semi-proven quarterbacks, the Golden Bears will look to replace the likes of Jahvid Best with Shane Vereen. The shifty but physical back quietly ran for 952 yards a year ago and torched Arizona as a fill-in for 159 yards. What will he do as the centerpiece? Toss in that Cal is finally not uber-hyped this September and things might be less foggy in the Bay come November/December.

Oregon Ducks

Holy-Moly-MacBook-Masoli! Despite a puzzling loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl last year, Oregon seemed poise to compete for a Pac-10 and National Championship this year. Then the off season brought reports of dual threat QB Jeremiah Masoli stealing a lap top from a frat house in Eugene. Now the season is starting and Masoli has been excused from the Ducks and is suiting up down in Mississippi. However, last year's champs bring back 17 starters including sophomore sensation LaMichael James--who rushed for over 1500 yards as a freshman. The Ducks will start sophomore Darron Thomas under center. Thomas has drawn comparisons to former duck star Dennis Dixon due to his mobility and had to beat 5th year senior Nate Costa for the position. The Ducks have been the best team in the Pac-10 for several years and may emerge as national title contenders from the west--they'll just have to watch out for those upstart Wildcats.

Oregon State Beavers

When will the Rodgers family leave Corvallis? Shifty does not describe what these children can do. 'Quizz is like that motorcycle we all hate that zips its way through traffic but deep down, regardless of how loud we drop an eff bomb in our stagnant sedan, we want to be that guy. Dammit. The Beavers are always solid but lost their very stable QB in Lefty Canfield. They already fired one possible candidate, Peter Lalich, for drunk boating. No one ever said Corvallis wasn't fun. Anyhow, let's see what Ryan Katz (tribe member?) can do under center. OSU plays a great schedule with TCU, Boise State, and Louisville filling out their non-conference slate before opening Pac-10 play against - chuckles - ASU. Look for the Mike Riley Beavers to be solid as always and don't be surprised if the Civil War in Corvallis has Rose Bowl implications again.

Stanford Cardinal

While the Rodgers family is indeed a nuisance, I think the entire Pac-10 is glad to see Toby Gerhart (the reigning should-have-been Heisman Trophy Winner) gone. That said, with his departure, the Cardinal are in Luck. Andrew Luck. Arguably the best QB in the league - some have said country - the athlete can flat out play. And speaking of flat out being able to do things, Jim Harbough can clearly coach. I love the brash booze hound and like the attitude he brings to the league. He's one of those figures you hate until he's on your team. Then you're all, "Fuck yeah I hate Pete Carrol, too. Besides, I already hated Lane Kiffin." And how fun is it going to be watching Kiffin and Harbough go at it. At least until Kiffin gets a new job. Experts have the Cardinal as a Pac-10 favorite, but without Gerhart we'll have to see it to believe it.

Southern California Trojans

My prediction is that USC does not play in a bowl game this year. What is that based on? Fact. Why is that a fact? Because USC players accepted more money than Don King over the past several years. Moreover, the silver fox of the University of Spoiled Children (Steve Carrol), jumped out of the burning building faster than Wall Street execs and put himself in the witness protection program in Seattle where he can work on jumping out of his California tan. What did USC do to address the problem? Hire Lane Kiffin. Why? (That was a rhetorical question). The only upside here is the national media will have to figure out another team to follow on the West Coast besides USC--maybe they wont. Either way, the boys from Troy still return a highly touted quarterback in Barkley and enter the season ranked behind only Oregon amongst Pac-10 teams. We'll see, but I don't like what Lane Kiffin's cookin'.

UCLA Bruins

QB extraordinaire and awkward looking football coach Rick Neuheisel has been a disappointment in Pasadena. I'm going to do it: is there a correlation between the basketball team not making the NCAA Tournament and Neuheisel's presence? I'm just saying. What I also need to say is that if UCLA can't keep a QB healthy, what's anything matter? Don't look now, but projected QB Kevin Prince has a small muscle tear in his back... Whoop-de-doo you kept Norm Chow, dude's been irrelevant since Matt Leinart. On that note, are those two just inseparable? Neither has been successful since Vince Young ripped their hearts out. Poor 'SC alum. Not really. In a league that's wide open, the Bruins' door is more closed than open.

Washington Huskies

Okay, so we all know about Jake Locker. America needs a good ol' white boy to get behind every college football season, and Locker fits the bill: a clean cut Heisman candidate, foregoing riches to return for his senior season to pursue college glory for the good of the team--sounds strangely familiar, just mix in a bible. Besides, who would have wanted to be in a draft with Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, and Jimmy Clausen? Hint: Not Jimmy Clausen. Anyway, before you get on the Dawg bandwagon pinch yourself because U-Dubb is still just a year removed from a winless season. With that in mind, Steve Sarkisiann did have some success last year. Not only did he topple his former employer and third ranked Trojans at home last year, his team went 5-2 in Seattle. However, his team collected a whopping zero wins when playing away from the Dawg Palace on the Lake. That said, the team as a whole has reportedly dropped a lot of weight to compete in the speedy top ten. Moreover, they bring back Chris Polk: the first Washington freshman to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. But don't hold your breath Washington fans, the scenery doesn't change unless you're the lead dog. Your post season looks like Las Vegas or San Francisco at best.

Washington State Cougars

The only thing more certain than USC not playing in the post season is Washington State finishing last in the Pac. However, they do win the award for most walk-ons starting for one team, and they're going to be on College Game Day. Jokes aside, let me give a shout out to my friends who are Cougar fans: I ask why, and you ask why not--Go Cougs!(?)

Musings on Dana Altman to Oregon

Did Oregon hold off as long as they did to gut their roster?

That's the question that came to mind when I saw Oregon went with the safe, bargain hire of Dana Altman.

The Oregon Hoops cupboard is full of sophomore bodies and short on talent. The recent departures of Drew Wiley, Matt Humphrey, and Josh Crittle (all sophomores) may scare the fan base, but the reality is it makes Altman's job easier.

So, I ask, was this a calculated effort? Did the search committee, after striking out on the big, sexy names, knowingly and silently settle on Altman long ago then wait, wait, wait, naturally gutting the talentless roster?

It would make sense and it makes a rebuilding process much easier for a coach to start from scratch rather than having to atrition-out the talent (or lack thereof). And the search had become such a national joke, what's another couple weeks?

Altman himself has had success but this is a true rebuilding gig. There's certainly no blueprint for how to build a program other than give it time. Will the Nike brass be patient? They certainly were in the hiring process.

Let's see how the winning process plays out.

A Major Cluster-Duck

University of Oregon: Get. It. Together.

On this very site, BH and I have written extensively of your successes and sang your praises. Chip Kelly did a fantastic job following the season opening disaster last year. Finally, as tardy as it was, you let Ernie Kent go. You created a baseball program. You had a top-five football team heading into next season. Oregon, you’ve been doing well...

...and then Spring 2010 arrived. FYL (that’s short for F your life):

• The series of football arrests and subsequent suspension/dismissal of Jermiah Masoli
• The leaking of the Ernie Kent firing
• The departure/firing/buyout/whatever of Mike Belotti after one year
• The coaching search

These poorly orchestrated events are not good. It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t smell good, it doesn’t taste good. In fact, it’s bad.

The arrests, while they reflect poorly, are what they are. Sometimes kids make very unfortunate decisions, but I sincerely do not believe it is due to a lack of institutional control on Kelly’s part. He created a Rose Bowl birth after the meltdown that was Boise State last September and the dude can flat out coach. By no means am I condoning the behavior of his football team, they screwed up; but this seems to happen in lots of places and is not exclusive to Oregon. As hard as it was, Kelly is instituting discipline and the offenders are paying the consequences. It looks bad, but next issue.

Leaking the Ernie Kent firing was not that big of a deal, but it was certainly not classy; especially because the eventual firing was glaringly obvious, and Kent had been a loyal Duck. Kent served as head basketball coach of his alma mater for 13 years--he deserved better than what he got. I’ve never been a huge Kent fan but I do believe he got shown the door in a less than professional manner and Belotti – or someone in his office – dropped the ball on that one.

Speaking of Belotti: what the hell happened there? My conclusion on that awkward separation is that he clearly was a figurehead, a puppet, for the long, strong arm of Phil.  Phil Knight that is.  Phil Knight of Nike that is. I know the University of Nike thing gets a bit played out, but seriously, Phil’s hand is in that Athletic Department and when Athletic Director’s are leaving with subsequent Attorney General investigations, something’s not quite right. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

So without an AD, what now of the vacant – STILL vacant – Men’s Basketball coaching position? We could also look at the question like this: who will uber-boosters Pat Kilkenny and Knight find or pay? Right now, no one. And it’s getting ugly. Numerous deadlines have come and gone and there’s seemingly been very little interest in the position. Are we looking at a Steinbrenner-esque situation imposed by Knight/Kilkenny where no one wants to be micromanaged by the hand of God? Is the Head Basketball Coach at the University of Oregon a toxic seat?

And then there’s the factor that this is a huge hire that Oregon should not screw up. The changing face of college hoops says that you can win anywhere. Just ask Brad Stevens. Yeah, yeah, the dude just got paid, but he fell in love with Butler first and, more importantly, won there. While Butler is in basketball crazy Indiana, it sure ain’t Chapel Hill or Westwood. But you know what? Butler won. UNC and UCLA didn’t.

That’s not to say that these schools will never win again; by all accounts they’ll be very good, very soon. The point I’m trying to make is that you can win anywhere and with any resources. Coaching matters. Lord Phil’s money will never make Tajuan Porter a better decision maker (he was awful) or anyone play better team defense. The longer the school waits to make this hire the more it’s going to end up settling and letting down a fan base ready to usher in a new era in a new arena that makes the Taj Mahal look like a cheap condo.

To settle would not be okay and would embarrass a University already dragging itself through an inferno of embarrassment. The right coach will do a good job and can certainly put together a perennial competitor in Eugene. It’s a good job.

On the heels of the worst Pac-10 basketball season ever, West Coast basketball can’t afford to have one if its major Universities screw this up either. The Pac-10 has not had a team in the Top 25 since December and the only positive headline it's had since November was Washington's run to the Sweet 16--as an 11 seed.

The Oregon coaching search is doing nothing to smooth the currently rocky face of West Coast hoops.

If Oregon indeed wants to compete with the likes of UCLA, Arizona, Gonzaga, or even Saint Mary’s – and it can – they need to get this right. The longer they wait, the wronger they get. The silver lining is that a troubled athletic department can come out of this smelling like roses if it makes a good hire.

It’s been 4+ weeks since the inevitable Kent firing and there’s still no one there to usher in recruits for 2010-11. The only thing keeping this “search” from becoming the laughing stock of college basketball is that no one cares about basketball on the West Coast right now; deservedly so.

Hence, Oregon needs to get the right man in there and get him soon. The Western basketball community is depending on it.

The Golden Age of Oregon Football

The biggest news in the young college football off season: Pete Carroll is leaving USC and taking his mock turtle necks to the NFL. No debate there, but what does it mean for the Pac-10? To this Homer it means that we are entering what the history books will remember as the "Golden Age of Oregon Football."

Let's start with the known. Pete Carroll was 97-19 during his 9 years at USC which included a record seven straight Pac-10 championships; a record 6 BCS bowl victories; a record 33 straight weeks atop the AP poll; and two national championships. Pete Carroll was the master architect of this success. When he arrived in Los Angeles USC was mired in mediocrity. His recruiting ability and ability to assemble a staff elevated USC to the pinnacle of college football.

No matter the reason you assign to Pete Carroll's departure--jumping ship from a ticking bomb of recruiting violations, or the ability to oversee an entire NFL system--there is no debate that his departure leaves a gaping void in the Pac-10. Anyone who thinks Lane Kiffin is going to fill that void with his 12-21 record as a head coach (and without the help of Norm Chow) needs to have their head checked. Ergo, enter the Golden Age of Oregon Football.

To begin, Oregon is bringing back many of their key players from last year's Rose Bowl team. Quarterback/escape artist extraordinaire Jeremiah Masoli will be back. Plus, Masoli will take snaps from an O-Line that loses no one and have the luxury of handing the ball to Pac-10 Freshman of the Year LaMichael James. The defense returns nine starters including defensive end Kenny Rowe and a healthy secondary that was riddled with injuries last year. Not to mention Oregon returns Chip Kelly, the first coach to win the conference title outright in his first season as head coach.

That said, it takes more than one good team to sustain success similar to that of recent UCS squads. However, before Oregon won the Pac-10 this past year, they had been playing second fiddle to USC for some time. Since 2003 Oregon has finished 2nd or 3rd in the conference three times and was poised to win the conference and play for the National Championship in 2007 before star quarterback Dennis Dixon injured his knee. Furthermore, since Chip Kelly arrived in 2007 as an offensive coordinator with his spread offense, Oregon has led the league in touchdowns scored and total offense.

That high powered spread offense attracts top level recruits and media attention. College Gameday has covered Oregon football games four times in the past three years--which does not go unnoticed by high school football players. Every young, athletic, running minded quarterback in the country knows they will be given the green light to run when they come to play for Oregon. Not to mention Oregon has 160 possible combinations of new age Nike pants, shoes, helmets and jerseys. However, none of these recruiting tools carry more cache than Uncle Phil.

Uncle Phil is the endearing nickname bestowed upon Phil Knight, founder of Nike and U of O alum. Needless to say, Oregon's favorite uncle has not forgotten about his alma mater. Uncle Phil has his own customized locker in the football locker room and buildings named after him, his parents, and his son. He has donated over 230 million dollars to the University including a 100 million dollar donation ear marked almost exclusively for athletics. His finger prints are so evident at the University it is commonly referred to as Nike University--a fact not lost on recruits. One need not suspend reality to imagine a recruit being told that if his football career doesn't work out he has an excellent opportunity to work at Nike.

Not only is Nike a gravy train for Oregon, but that gravy doesn't just sit in the coffers. Nestled beside Autzen Stadium is the 14.6 million dollar Moshofsky Center ("the Mo") which houses the only indoor, full length, artificial turf practice field in the Pac-10. The Mo also houses beer and food vendors during every home football game.

Next door to the Mo is the bran new 14,580-square-foot Athletic Medicine Center. The facility includes physician space for daily clinics and pre-participation physicals, nutritional education areas for student-athletes, vision and dental screening, body composition testing and a pharmacy. The center also features digital x-ray technology which doctors can instantly view. Additional features include three therapeutic pools equipped with underwater treadmills and video systems that aid in rehabilitation and training as well as a hot plunge pool and a cold plunge pool. Not to mention the fact that the architecture and design make the place look like a new age healing center for A-list celebrities (see below).

Although the personnel, facilities, and donors are key elements of any prominent college program, football fans and the University of Oregon are second to none. Though there is no one-hundred-thousand person Coliseum in Eugene there is an Autzen Stadium that boasts 66 straight sell outs dating back to 1999 and is more raucous and boisterous than any football stadium in the country. There is no track so the fans are on top of the field and the stands rise steeply up so the noise pours down on the field. It is an outrageous football environment that makes time stand still on Saturdays in Eugene.

The bottom line is that Oregon has an established program with almost limitless financial support. That combination makes it tough for most schools in the Pac-10 to compete with Oregon year in and year out. One of the only schools that has comparable financial resources is USC, but that ship is now being sailed by a man (Kiffin) who once told a recruit from South Carolina that "if you go to South Carolina you will end up pumping gas for the rest of your life like all the other players who went to South Carolina." Nice.

Enter the Duck.