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Rob Mullens boots Kilkenny buddy Westhead

Last updated on 03/05/2014

AD Rob Mullens won’t renew the contract of Pat Kilkenny buddy and women’s basketball coach Paul Westhead. We’ve been paying him $650K – and his contract let him live in LA half the year:

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Will his replacement be a man or a woman? Andy Greif has some guesses in the Oregonian, here.

For an interesting story on women (and race) in college sports, try this recent NYT piece:

“But in the grand scheme of things, Caucasian girls have benefited disproportionately well, especially suburban girls and wealthy Caucasian girls.”…

An unexpected consequence of Title IX is that since the legislation was passed in 1972, the percentage of female head coaches has decreased and the percentage of men coaching women’s teams has increased, especially in basketball and soccer. According to studies by Linda Jean Carpenter and R. Vivian Acosta, the percentage of women coaching women’s teams at the intercollegiate level fell to 44 percent in 2010 from 90 percent in 1972. But even here, African-American women have lost ground.

And here’s a really interesting ESPN story on what happened to Oregon’s winningest women’s coach, Jody Runge – my recollection is that we paid her about $85K:

Says one former player, Shaquala Williams: “She’s a strong woman who didn’t take a backseat to anyone. That didn’t always sit well with the male-dominated administration.” (Moos, now the AD at Washington State, declined comment for this story, as did other key administrators from Runge’s tenure.)

Runge left Oregon believing she had a future in the game. She didn’t yet realize she’d been branded, twice over. She had not only been essentially fired, she had also developed a reputation for, as she puts it, “always wanting something.”

5 Comments

  1. Vlad 03/05/2014

    No comment specifically about west head other than he is an example of good a good ole boy network. On runge, yes, she was a pain for administrators above her, which made her vulnerable when a group of players showed up at the administrations doorstep to complain about mistreatment. Personally, I do not think she got a fair shake, but she was not blameless either. by the way, the range issue still festers with some of the UOs major donors. imagine if Kilkenny had opened a dialogue with runge to see if the head coach appointment was an opportunity to right at least a partial wrong and give the UOs most successful women’s Bbal coach and our campus a chance at redemption. Maybe she has put ball completely behind her, who wouldn’t? would have been a high risk high potential move, but would it have been worse than the wasted years and resources from the westhead appointment?

  2. Leporello 03/05/2014

    RG sports editor Austin Meek couldn’t figure out what longtime women’s basketball fans know to be true: Moos and company fired Oregon’s winningest female coach because the uppity girl wanted parity with the big boys. In his Feb. 25th article, Meek opines, “Most agree the program isn’t reaching its potential, but figuring out why is a tougher question.” Read the whole story here: (http://www.registerguard.com/rg/sports/31208055-81/oregon-women-basketball-westhead-coach.html.csp). Her teams went 160-73 at Oregon, reaching the NCAA Tournament in all eight of her seasons (1993-2001). Had a man taken the team to the big dance that many times we would have been praising his name to the sky’s and paying him out the wazoo. Can anybody say “Hey Ernie?”

  3. The Truth 03/05/2014

    Women’s Basketball is a non-revenue sport that few care about. Why was the head coach being paid more than just about any professor at the university (at least, any that’s not in an administrative position)? It’s not like the usual argument about “hurr durr free market could go to the pros” that’s used for men’s football and basketball coaches applies here.

    • Canard 03/05/2014

      You know a professor making $675,000?

      • The Truth 03/06/2014

        Gottfredson? ;)

    • Same Song 03/06/2014

      Because the days of Kilkenny and Frohnmayer were all about cronyism and golden parachutes.

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