John - just a quick note here - very much late - to say thanks so much for printing Bill Walton's favorite books list. I've read a few, but am planning a major assault on my public library to plow through most of them. Really appreciate sharing this, and yet another insight into a remarkable human being.
I have empathy for coach Foster, and being in front of a large group with high expectations is as scary as it gets. Being prepared is the cure. He will do better going forward, and whoever let him go out there without preparation (AD/staff) needs a long stare.
As John suggests, somebody at UCLA dropped the ball, not prepping their new coach any better. If it's any indication about how the football season is gonna go, take the UNDER! Oh, wait, we can't bet on college sports in Oregon. RIP Senator Courtney, you tried your best.
That Lincoln Riley quote is hilarious! So, he inherited a depleted USC roster? The marquis school routinely loaded with 4 and 5 star athletes competing for reps was a bare cupboard ? Good one!
You obviously don't follow USC football closely. The 5-star USC programs you mentioned describe Pete Carroll's roster, certainly not Clay Helton's. Not only was the cupboard bare for Riley, but especially so along the lines of scrimmage. Years of neglect, bad hires, and resurrecting a program gutted by sanctions took a toll.
“lingering bad feelings from a stripe of fans.”- you must be feeling charitable with your words today. That stripe goes from the Pacific Ocean to the Idaho border.
I remember hearing for years that recruiting was hard at Oregon, because Eugene only had a small airport and recruits and their families couldn’t direct fly to the university. Look at it now… and without a big airport! …..”the job is to get the job done”
Wow! Even a column featuring Dan Lanning had to include a short section about Jonathon Smith. The impact that man had on OSU, it's supporters and John's followers cannot be overstated. But good things come to an end. To paraphrase an old proverb: We should not cry because he is gone, but smile because he was here. He gave us a lot to smile about; his exit behavior was not one of those.
Lannings prowess and Oregon's success speaks for itself. Helped in a huge way by Phil Knight. Even though Oregon did what they did, I'll always root for their scuccess.
Al, terrific comment. But other than retiring is there a graceful way for a coach to leave a program?
Fisch was vilified for how he left Arizona but he was under scrutiny by AZ athletic department members to prevent poaching.
Very few of the guys Mari(o) brought in are still on the Oregon roster. I have no idea why Cam Ward thought Cristobal was the guy to coach him up. I hope he doesn't screw Cam up. The only guy who could hold down Justin Herbert was Cristobal.
While I appreciate Rick Neuheisel's comments about Coach Lanning, what will forever tarnish him, for me, is one of the most bush things I ever saw a college coach do. 1996 Cotton Bowl, his Colorado team has the game in hand, up by three TDs, third quarter winding down, UO couldn't find the end zone with "both hands and a flashlight," and Neuheisel calls for a fake punt. He "won" it, 38-6 as I recall, but lost me forever. Belotti's first year, and it seemed Neuheisel wanted to rub his nose in it. And yeah, I get the "gotta keep your foot on the gas" thing, and I hope Lanning does that this Fall. And Neuheisel was still early 30s, and maybe would make a different decision today. But it still galls me, after almost 30 years.
Agree, I was at the game, it was poor sportsmanship. I will never forget the weather that day. Freezing rain and ice storm, one day after the pep rally when the weather was 70+ degrees and we were in shorts and t shirts.
I have forgiven Neuheisel (aka Newweasel as he was known then) but when he took over at UW, CU and UCLA, all three programs were in worse shape when he left then when he was hired.
Glad you dropped Neuheisel's moniker. His Wikipedia page, especially his time at UW, makes for interesting reading. Great reminder that our bad/unwise decisions, especially in the Internet age, tend to stay with us--so it's a good idea to work at being honest, truthful and ethical...whenever possible. Part of why I respect Coach Lanning, so far. Seems to be those things with a sense of humor, and humility, thrown in.
Ask Jedd Fisch if he’ll have a Big 10 capable offensive line for game 1 of this season, and when he says ‘yes’ ask him to break it down for the rest of us…
I’ll break it down like Fisch won’t. I’m a lifelong UW fan. I think UW OL will struggle, especially Left Tackle, against upper tier teams. I expect good blocking TE to regularly line up on left side to shore it up & for Jedd/Carroll to rotate in several players to that Left end position over first 5 games to find the right fit. Against low to mid tier teams, UW OL will do fine. No starter on OL will be lighter than 300 lbs. Portal entries from San Diego State (Azzopardi), Ohio State (Vimahi) and Portland State (center, Titialli) make up bulk of new OL. Azzopardi will be the best of the bunch to protect QB blindside. Also brought in OT Maximus McCree, from Maryland who is tall & experienced but needs to put on some pounds. There are stout O lineman in the program already too, like Hatchett, Memmelaar + new exciting freshman Paki Finau who arrives on Montlake even before weight room & nutrition regimen at 6’5 and 300 lbs. Another frosh OL to watch for is 6’8, 300lb East Palo Alto, CA product, Soane Faasolo.
O Line is biggest hole on this team, but maybe the offense can mask weakness with quick passes and horizontal stress on opposing defenses. Rogers can do it with his experience in the air raid.
Rick Neuheisel. The man did 'pretty well' as a walk-on QB at UCLA. How many walk-ons win Rose Bowls?
Coach Foster. That was painful but public speaking is a stressor.
I was happy to see the Pac-12 Network folks make their first B1G appearances, It's a much B1Gger and far more professional platform.
Coach Fisch. Coach, can you tell who your players are without name tags?
Division Street is as good as a Collective can be but it's not just money bringing in the players, it's a 24/7 365 dedicated recruiter who had two great mentors in Saint Nick and Kirby He So Smart.
I give great thanks to Mr. Canzano for a great column today and for being such a good supporter of our beloved Ducks. Mr. Canzano is always so positive about our Ducks and us Duck fans need to support him even more for his contributions. Some fans of the "little sister" program in Corvallis may deride him for being such a homer for our Ducks but Mr. Canzano knows where the money is! Our Ducks are poised for great success this year, hopefully we'll finally bring Mr. Knight the "natty" he so deserves. When I hear from different media outlets that he's spent over $30 million to buy the players we need I feel a sense of pride for having such a great "owner" (he basically owns our great University, without him I hate to think where we'd be!). A lot of media look down at how much money Mr. Knight has spent to buy a championship, but they should report that other universities have the same opportunity but decline to do so. But I'm concerned. I don't believe Coach Lanning is a good coach, he's mediocre at best. Him and Jonathan Smith basically get paid the same! If he was such a good coach why isn't he paid more, how come other universities didn't pursue him if he's that great? Don't get me wrong, Coach Lanning is a very nice person, good family man. But a famous coach, baseball manager Leo Durocher, once said that "Nice guys finish last". Us Ducks can't finish anywhere but in first! Mr. Knight is getting older every day. Mr. Knight deserves his natty for all he's done for our Ducks, for the great amount of money he's spent in buying the players for our team. I'm hoping Coach Lanning will be on a short leash, if we don't perform the way we should we need to get a good established coach, possibly get the great Nick Saban out of retirement. Let's bring that Natty that Mr. Knight so richly deserves!!
Buying recruits and portal kids who wouldn't commit to Oregon unless there was a large balance transfer first risks delegitimizing Oregon's success by saying "It was bought, not built." A lot of people are already saying that. Every other program in CFB history has won a NC without spending the $2B, so Phil's taken Oregon where nobody has boldly gone before. Also, I don't think you don't realize how much the UO prez and board of trustees dislike football in Eugene. This will become evident once Phil's gone. Lastly, when you assemble a team of mercenaries, it can create a combustible locker room, esp when the 3 star beats out the 5 star millionaire. This is kinda like a lab experiment. Anybody got a match?
What if some rich Saudi's hijacked CFB by hiring Nick Saban, and bought the top CFB players with huge, unprecedented NIL salaries and assembled a dream team? Similar to what happened to the PGA tour with the formation of LIV. How would you feel about that if they chose to back USC or UW? You'd scream illegitimate NC, wouldn't you?
With scholarship limits other schools would be able to compete. The highest-paid LIV golfer does not win every tournament. Consider USC post-Carroll. Best roster in the conference year after year but little to show for it.
We are no longer in the Bear Bryant days with no limits on roster size. No one 'gets them all.'
Check what Miami paid to bring in Cristobal. The largest coaching salary for a private school ever. Many Big Boy schools, Bama, UGA, Ohio State, A+M, and TX, for example, have the same resources as Oregon.
It's not just the cash. Recruits and transfer portal guys have to be convinced that they will be coached up and prepared to step up to the NFL.
Don't use sarcasm if you can't pull it off. Enjoy the $255M before you officially join the G5. If you have a G5 budget and play in a G5 stadium where do you belong?
JC, maybe you're making an assumption that schools like UCLA, UW, UA all were going to offer Smith their HC position and at a salary and length that was desirable. We don't know that. Maybe the schools Smith was supposed to wait patiently for actually found their current hire to be a better fit during interviews. Coaching-wise he was correct to take the MSU offer. As for how he left, Beaver fans were going to feel betrayed so there was no way to leave that'd have been acceptable to them.
Completely agree, Bob. The man was utterly unprepared but he's asking his players and coaches to always be prepared. And this fairytale that someone on the staff dropped the ball and didn't prepare him? My, lord, he's the head football coach and a grown man. What did he expect?
Plenty of blame here. And Foster deserves a lot. Surprisingly, I never had to prepare or even write a script for a football coach at media day. Most have a grasp of their program and good communication skills to make a great presentation. Actually surprised Foster flubbed here. Oh well: be better moving forward.
Beautiful. “Lanning jumped off the pier, dove too deep, and drowned in his ambition that day.”
This is why you’re one-of-a-kind, John.
John - just a quick note here - very much late - to say thanks so much for printing Bill Walton's favorite books list. I've read a few, but am planning a major assault on my public library to plow through most of them. Really appreciate sharing this, and yet another insight into a remarkable human being.
I have empathy for coach Foster, and being in front of a large group with high expectations is as scary as it gets. Being prepared is the cure. He will do better going forward, and whoever let him go out there without preparation (AD/staff) needs a long stare.
As John suggests, somebody at UCLA dropped the ball, not prepping their new coach any better. If it's any indication about how the football season is gonna go, take the UNDER! Oh, wait, we can't bet on college sports in Oregon. RIP Senator Courtney, you tried your best.
That Lincoln Riley quote is hilarious! So, he inherited a depleted USC roster? The marquis school routinely loaded with 4 and 5 star athletes competing for reps was a bare cupboard ? Good one!
You obviously don't follow USC football closely. The 5-star USC programs you mentioned describe Pete Carroll's roster, certainly not Clay Helton's. Not only was the cupboard bare for Riley, but especially so along the lines of scrimmage. Years of neglect, bad hires, and resurrecting a program gutted by sanctions took a toll.
Hey, Scott, you took your smart pills today, eh?
“lingering bad feelings from a stripe of fans.”- you must be feeling charitable with your words today. That stripe goes from the Pacific Ocean to the Idaho border.
I remember hearing for years that recruiting was hard at Oregon, because Eugene only had a small airport and recruits and their families couldn’t direct fly to the university. Look at it now… and without a big airport! …..”the job is to get the job done”
Wow! Even a column featuring Dan Lanning had to include a short section about Jonathon Smith. The impact that man had on OSU, it's supporters and John's followers cannot be overstated. But good things come to an end. To paraphrase an old proverb: We should not cry because he is gone, but smile because he was here. He gave us a lot to smile about; his exit behavior was not one of those.
Lannings prowess and Oregon's success speaks for itself. Helped in a huge way by Phil Knight. Even though Oregon did what they did, I'll always root for their scuccess.
Al, terrific comment. But other than retiring is there a graceful way for a coach to leave a program?
Fisch was vilified for how he left Arizona but he was under scrutiny by AZ athletic department members to prevent poaching.
Very few of the guys Mari(o) brought in are still on the Oregon roster. I have no idea why Cam Ward thought Cristobal was the guy to coach him up. I hope he doesn't screw Cam up. The only guy who could hold down Justin Herbert was Cristobal.
While I appreciate Rick Neuheisel's comments about Coach Lanning, what will forever tarnish him, for me, is one of the most bush things I ever saw a college coach do. 1996 Cotton Bowl, his Colorado team has the game in hand, up by three TDs, third quarter winding down, UO couldn't find the end zone with "both hands and a flashlight," and Neuheisel calls for a fake punt. He "won" it, 38-6 as I recall, but lost me forever. Belotti's first year, and it seemed Neuheisel wanted to rub his nose in it. And yeah, I get the "gotta keep your foot on the gas" thing, and I hope Lanning does that this Fall. And Neuheisel was still early 30s, and maybe would make a different decision today. But it still galls me, after almost 30 years.
I was there, agree 100%
Agree, I was at the game, it was poor sportsmanship. I will never forget the weather that day. Freezing rain and ice storm, one day after the pep rally when the weather was 70+ degrees and we were in shorts and t shirts.
I have forgiven Neuheisel (aka Newweasel as he was known then) but when he took over at UW, CU and UCLA, all three programs were in worse shape when he left then when he was hired.
Glad you dropped Neuheisel's moniker. His Wikipedia page, especially his time at UW, makes for interesting reading. Great reminder that our bad/unwise decisions, especially in the Internet age, tend to stay with us--so it's a good idea to work at being honest, truthful and ethical...whenever possible. Part of why I respect Coach Lanning, so far. Seems to be those things with a sense of humor, and humility, thrown in.
I like your style. Lots of what Washington has done over the years "still galls me". Never trust Washington ever...ever.
While his behavior often was rarely confused with a Boy Scout's, Slick Rick pulled that stunt while coaching at Colorado (Not Washington).
I'm thinking that the Dogs are about to experience some serious Karma in the Big 10. Sports mags seem to agree.
Ask Jedd Fisch if he’ll have a Big 10 capable offensive line for game 1 of this season, and when he says ‘yes’ ask him to break it down for the rest of us…
I’ll break it down like Fisch won’t. I’m a lifelong UW fan. I think UW OL will struggle, especially Left Tackle, against upper tier teams. I expect good blocking TE to regularly line up on left side to shore it up & for Jedd/Carroll to rotate in several players to that Left end position over first 5 games to find the right fit. Against low to mid tier teams, UW OL will do fine. No starter on OL will be lighter than 300 lbs. Portal entries from San Diego State (Azzopardi), Ohio State (Vimahi) and Portland State (center, Titialli) make up bulk of new OL. Azzopardi will be the best of the bunch to protect QB blindside. Also brought in OT Maximus McCree, from Maryland who is tall & experienced but needs to put on some pounds. There are stout O lineman in the program already too, like Hatchett, Memmelaar + new exciting freshman Paki Finau who arrives on Montlake even before weight room & nutrition regimen at 6’5 and 300 lbs. Another frosh OL to watch for is 6’8, 300lb East Palo Alto, CA product, Soane Faasolo.
You're right - that's more than we'll get out of Fisch. Good breakdown.
O Line is biggest hole on this team, but maybe the offense can mask weakness with quick passes and horizontal stress on opposing defenses. Rogers can do it with his experience in the air raid.
I agree, I think the offense is going to be very balanced. Also, the LB and Secondary will be good as well w/ some big Safeties playing downhill.
John, you are much better than …”the recruiting tools Phil Knight has gifted Oregon”….. How about: MONEY TO SIGN PLAYERS. Be better.
I wonder if USC being over rated for 20 seasons plays into their consistent poor performance. The Big 12 will not be so kind.
Big -12, How about the Big-10!!!
Hahaha big Finger problem!!!
Rick Neuheisel. The man did 'pretty well' as a walk-on QB at UCLA. How many walk-ons win Rose Bowls?
Coach Foster. That was painful but public speaking is a stressor.
I was happy to see the Pac-12 Network folks make their first B1G appearances, It's a much B1Gger and far more professional platform.
Coach Fisch. Coach, can you tell who your players are without name tags?
Division Street is as good as a Collective can be but it's not just money bringing in the players, it's a 24/7 365 dedicated recruiter who had two great mentors in Saint Nick and Kirby He So Smart.
Thank you for the great Media Days coverage.
I give great thanks to Mr. Canzano for a great column today and for being such a good supporter of our beloved Ducks. Mr. Canzano is always so positive about our Ducks and us Duck fans need to support him even more for his contributions. Some fans of the "little sister" program in Corvallis may deride him for being such a homer for our Ducks but Mr. Canzano knows where the money is! Our Ducks are poised for great success this year, hopefully we'll finally bring Mr. Knight the "natty" he so deserves. When I hear from different media outlets that he's spent over $30 million to buy the players we need I feel a sense of pride for having such a great "owner" (he basically owns our great University, without him I hate to think where we'd be!). A lot of media look down at how much money Mr. Knight has spent to buy a championship, but they should report that other universities have the same opportunity but decline to do so. But I'm concerned. I don't believe Coach Lanning is a good coach, he's mediocre at best. Him and Jonathan Smith basically get paid the same! If he was such a good coach why isn't he paid more, how come other universities didn't pursue him if he's that great? Don't get me wrong, Coach Lanning is a very nice person, good family man. But a famous coach, baseball manager Leo Durocher, once said that "Nice guys finish last". Us Ducks can't finish anywhere but in first! Mr. Knight is getting older every day. Mr. Knight deserves his natty for all he's done for our Ducks, for the great amount of money he's spent in buying the players for our team. I'm hoping Coach Lanning will be on a short leash, if we don't perform the way we should we need to get a good established coach, possibly get the great Nick Saban out of retirement. Let's bring that Natty that Mr. Knight so richly deserves!!
Hey Rick, maybe wait till noon before micro-dosing whatever you’re ingesting each day….
Buying recruits and portal kids who wouldn't commit to Oregon unless there was a large balance transfer first risks delegitimizing Oregon's success by saying "It was bought, not built." A lot of people are already saying that. Every other program in CFB history has won a NC without spending the $2B, so Phil's taken Oregon where nobody has boldly gone before. Also, I don't think you don't realize how much the UO prez and board of trustees dislike football in Eugene. This will become evident once Phil's gone. Lastly, when you assemble a team of mercenaries, it can create a combustible locker room, esp when the 3 star beats out the 5 star millionaire. This is kinda like a lab experiment. Anybody got a match?
No team without a Blue Chip Roster won a BCS championship or a Playoff championship.
Dan is using the tools at hand to build a roster that can go toe to toe with Ohio State.
It's not just the money; it's the salesperson and his support staff.
What if some rich Saudi's hijacked CFB by hiring Nick Saban, and bought the top CFB players with huge, unprecedented NIL salaries and assembled a dream team? Similar to what happened to the PGA tour with the formation of LIV. How would you feel about that if they chose to back USC or UW? You'd scream illegitimate NC, wouldn't you?
LOL! Great comment.
With scholarship limits other schools would be able to compete. The highest-paid LIV golfer does not win every tournament. Consider USC post-Carroll. Best roster in the conference year after year but little to show for it.
We are no longer in the Bear Bryant days with no limits on roster size. No one 'gets them all.'
Check what Miami paid to bring in Cristobal. The largest coaching salary for a private school ever. Many Big Boy schools, Bama, UGA, Ohio State, A+M, and TX, for example, have the same resources as Oregon.
It's not just the cash. Recruits and transfer portal guys have to be convinced that they will be coached up and prepared to step up to the NFL.
Again, I enjoyed the comment.
His comment, as usual, was a display of envy over Oregon that he emanates permanently. I liked yours, however.
Match? You need a light for that bong pipe?
Don't use sarcasm if you can't pull it off. Enjoy the $255M before you officially join the G5. If you have a G5 budget and play in a G5 stadium where do you belong?
Idiotic Rick
lol, intelligent comment?
Dude, well done. You got the thin-skinned Duck fans whining at you already.
Hey, Rick...suggest you consider upgrading your hemp...give it a thought.
Go everyone else in the Big 10 except Oregon
Concise, yet brilliant
Brilliant? You have a low threshold.
Rhino...your Huskies are going to suck sewer water this season...a large dose of it. Get the meth ready...
JC, maybe you're making an assumption that schools like UCLA, UW, UA all were going to offer Smith their HC position and at a salary and length that was desirable. We don't know that. Maybe the schools Smith was supposed to wait patiently for actually found their current hire to be a better fit during interviews. Coaching-wise he was correct to take the MSU offer. As for how he left, Beaver fans were going to feel betrayed so there was no way to leave that'd have been acceptable to them.
The time to shoot an elk is when you see one.
As someone who worked in athletic communications for 20+ years, I’m embarrassed at Deshaun Foster’s speech. What a disaster. Dude needs to do better.
Probably comms team at ucla that failed to prep him
Completely agree, Bob. The man was utterly unprepared but he's asking his players and coaches to always be prepared. And this fairytale that someone on the staff dropped the ball and didn't prepare him? My, lord, he's the head football coach and a grown man. What did he expect?
Plenty of blame here. And Foster deserves a lot. Surprisingly, I never had to prepare or even write a script for a football coach at media day. Most have a grasp of their program and good communication skills to make a great presentation. Actually surprised Foster flubbed here. Oh well: be better moving forward.