The Sports Brewery

In Appreciation of Ernie Kent

Posted on 16. Mar, 2010 at 7:31 pm by bbryan in Basketball, Beer + Stuff, NCAA Basketball, Oregon Ducks Basketball, PAC-10 Basketball

The news officially come at 3:30 today that Ernie Kent is no longer the basketball coach at the University of Oregon.  For some the news is met with a frown, for many it’s met with a smile.  However, no matter what side of the fence you are on you have to admit Ernie Kent was great, not good, but GREAT for the Ducks basketball program.  Let us take a minute and appreciate said greatness.

The aftermath of the Jerry Green era: Many of today’s Duck fans have either forgotten about Coach Green, or weren’t fans during that era.  He public bad mouthed Mac Court on many occasions and used it as an excuse for his recruiting shortcomings.  In came Kent and his incredible enthusiasm for the program that would lay the foundation for bringing in many good players to the same building his predecessor blamed for his lack of success.

The NIT Final Four Runs: These certainly weren’t ground breaking, but damn they were fun.  The first one in ’88-’89 was the first taste of tournament success for Duck fans, and a sign of things to come during the Kent era when it came to tournaments.  The second was also a lot of fun, especially for those of us who got to witness the single greatest individual game performance in the history of Oregon basketball. In the first round game against Colorado State, Luke Jackson went nuts. He scored 40 points, including 29 straight and a near half court shot that sent it into overtime where the Ducks would finish their 18-point comeback and get the victory. They rode the momentum from that performance to another Madison Square Garden appearance.

The Pac-10 Tournament Championships: Kent’s Ducks salvaged what had been rather disappointing Pac-10 seasons in the ’03 and the ’08 Pac-10 tournaments.  3 games in 3 days provided pure excitement and an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.  Again proving that Kent is a hell of a tournament coach.

The NBA talent: This is the thing I worry about most now that the Ducks are replacing Kent.  Will the new guy be able to bring in guys that absolutely WOW you?  Basketball is a game of stars and the Ducks had more than their fare share during the Kent era.  From Freddie Jones to Aaron Brook to “Luke Both Ways” and many other great individual performers in-between. There is no arguing Kent brought exciting basketball players to watch into Mac Court. And the fans were better because of it.

The 2006-07 season: Probably the best team Kent had at Oregon the ’06-’07 team made an exciting run into the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament.  Led by Aaron Brooks, the rest of the Ducks could do what they did best, which was be supporting players. Whether it was Tajuan Porter making it rain from outside, Malik Hairston banging inside or Bryce Taylor scoring from all over the court this Duck team supported their star.  The Ducks lost in close and hard fought game to the eventual and defending champion Florida Gators, who were absolutely loaded with talent that year.

The 2001-2002 season: While the ’06-’07 team may have been the best, the ’01-’02 was my favorite.  I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  This team was the first out-right Pac-10 champions not named UCLA, Arizona or Stanford in 20 years and it took another 7 years after that for someone else to do it.  This team also made a run to the elite 8 losing to a Kansas team that was flat out better bigger. I still remember where I was during that game and probably always will.  And truthfully it was the beginning of the end for Ernie Kent.  Rising expectations that he could not meet on a consistent basis.  But Luke Both Ways and Freddie Jones will go down as my favorite Oregon Ducks basketball team.

So thank you for the 13 years Big Ern, you raised expectations and did so with quality kids that you, the university and the community as whole could be proud of.  And while it’s a shame you won’t get a chance to coach a Ducks team in the new arena, maybe one day when the dust settles they’ll name part of it after you.  EK Court at Matthew Knight Arena has a nice ring to it.

Tags: Ernie Kent