Tag Archives: Go Ducks

Willie Taggart’s Professor of Strength leaves UO to return to FSU

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1/1/2018:

Andrew Greif has the news here. Oderinde put 3 UO students in the hospital and kept his job for a year anyway. I’m not sure if Duck FAR Tim Gleason ever gave up the public records on his “investigation” of Oderinde. Say, I wonder if Dr. Skaggs ever got his Sports Medicine Board Certification?

3/10/2017:

More national publicity for UO, from CBS Sports: UO claims the Duck coach who put 3 students in hospital is “faculty”

The unregulated world of strength coaches and college football’s killing season

When three Oregon football players were hospitalized in January following a strenuous workout, they were being led by a strength coach certified from a track and field coaches association.

For a $245 fee, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) offers a 21-hour strength training course to become a certified NCAA strength coach in any sport. By comparison, the widely-used Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA) requires 30 times as much training — a 640-hour certification process.

According to CAHI, that track certification was all that was needed by Oregon football strength coach Irele Oderinde, who was suspended for one month due to the January workout.

… Oregon declined to provide a copy of Oderinde’s resume to CBS Sports since it is part of his faculty record. Oregon said faculty records cannot be released without an employee’s written permission, and Oderinde did not grant permission.

You can’t make this shit up.

UO’s non-tenure track faculty to take generous $45K buyout offer

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Update: Sorry, there is no such offer for real UO faculty. UO is planning to lay off ~75 non-tenured and pro-tem faculty in RL, AAD, CoE, and the SOJC with no buyout at all.

But things are a little different over in Rob Mullens’ heavily subsidized Duck athletic empire. The Oregonian’s Andrew Greif has the follow-up to the Emerald report that the $175K volleyball coach (or, in the preferred nomenclature of our General Counsel’s office, the volleyball professor) was being fired for cause, here:

… When asked about the letter and the allegations of abusive behavior, senior associate athletic director Craig Pintens said Oregon wouldn’t comment. …

And it now seems that Mullens will pay the coach a few months salary to leave quietly – let’s call it $45K – and will also find alternative work for his assistant/spouse. Emerald reporter Jonathan Hawthorne spikes it:

The [shameless PR flack Craig Pintens press release] added that Moore will work remotely to craft a transition plan to ensure the the program’s success going forward.

Meanwhile, Provost Coltrane’s academic budget is still subsidizing the Jock Box to the tune of $2.4M a year, we’re paying Mullens $500K a year for Frohnmayer’s Mac Court land scam, and don’t get me started on the overhead.

Update: The Oregonian’s Andrew Greif has made a PR request for a list of self-reported NCAA infractions involving volleyball, here. At many schools these are posted on the web, but the Duck athletic department does its best to hide them. Not always successfully. Here’s the 1981 opinion from the Oregon DOJ, written when Dave Frohnmayer was AG, ordering a partial release of the report from some long forgotten 1979 scandal. Very interesting reading which bears on many current issues, including FERPA and the claim that coaches are faculty:

This opinion was very useful back when Gottfredson was President, and UO was trying to hide information about the Willie Lyles scandal.

3/13/2014: Two more UO faculty fired, apparently “for cause.”

The Daily Emerald has the scoop here.  But they’re only UO faculty in the alternative-fact world of our General Counsel’s Office, so that they can hide their personnel records from public records requests. They’re really Duck volleyball coaches.

Duck AD Rob Mullens paid Taggart’s assistant $60K to leave after DUI

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That’s about 0.15 Gottfredsons, 0.005 Helfriches, or enough to pay a NTTF for a year and a half. Ryan Thorburn has the scoop in the RG here:

Oregon paid former football assistant coach David Reaves a total of $63,750 in compensation for his brief employment as Willie Taggart’s co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach.

Reaves, who resigned Feb. 3 after being arrested on DUII and other charges, received $3,750 for 26 hours of work, plus a payment of $60,000, according to UO documents obtained by The Register-Guard through a public records request. …

Duck’s Willie Taggart brings UO more of that national publicity money can’t buy

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2/24/2017: The Washington Post takes a break from their coverage of President Donald Trump’s decision to ban NYT reporters from his press briefings to pick up the story on Duck coach Willie Taggart’s decision to ban Oregonian reporter Andrew Greif, from UO student-journalist Kenny Jacoby:

The WaPo report is a bit sloppy though, labeling Tim Gleason as a UO journalism professor, rather than as the Duck’s well paid “Faculty” Athletics Representative.

2/23/2017: Coach Taggart’s feelings are hurt, so he won’t talk to reporter

I’d never realized that football coaches were such sensitive types. Trumpesque, even? Kenny Jacoby has the story in the Emerald:

Oregon’s new football coach is still upset over a Jan. 16 news report about an early season workout that sent three of his players to the hospital. The report resulted in the suspension of strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde for one month without pay.

Head coach Willie Taggart, whom Oregon hired to replace Mark Helfrich in December, said he is no longer speaking to The Oregonian reporter who broke the story, claiming that the reporter’s characterization of the workouts as “grueling” and “akin to military basic training” were inaccurate, unfair and directly contradicted what Taggart told the reporter before the story was written.

Andrew Greif, whose story broke the news about the players’ hospitalization, defended the piece, noting that multiple sources characterized the workouts as grueling and militaristic. He said UO spokespeople did not question those characterizations when he asked them to confirm the nature of the workouts.“When you’re not fair and honest, then to me that’s personal,” Taggart said. “When you do something that’s negative and it’s going to be personal, then I won’t have shit to do with you.” …

Uh, wait a minute, coach. The strength coach you hired put three of our students in the hospital for a week – and you’re mad at the *reporter* because he hurt your *feelings*?

Say what you will about cousin Jim, at least he’s not a crybaby. On the matter of actual harm, I wonder how much the Ducks are paying to settle with the student-athletes?

And speaking of trying to intimidate reporters, I wonder how the investigation of the Athletic Department’s threat to pull Mr. Jacoby’s press credentials is going.

Pres Schill has “great confidence” in Willie Taggart & Rob Mullens

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Update: Coaches let coaches get blotto and drive drunk, and our athletic director is cool with that. Austin Meek has the news in the RG.

From Andrew Theen in the Oregonian:

The school president, who has said previously that he hadn’t set foot on a football field until arriving in Eugene, said he has great confidence in Athletic Director Rob Mullens as well.

They do seem to be sucking up a lot of his time though. Ryan Thorburn in the RG has one of the more positive assessments:

“Even if you sugarcoat it, it’s still a disaster,” Paul Finebaum, who hosts a college football-centric national radio show, said on ESPN. “I have a hard time imaging a program getting off to a worse start.”

Other sports reporters are trickling out more details on the troubled histories of Taggart’s new assistant coaches. Paying female students to escort potential football recruits? Did no one do due diligence?

More priceless publicity for UO, courtesy of our rotting athletic “front porch”

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Rob Mullens and his new $3.6M football coach sure know how to pick ’em. The Oregonian’s Andrew Greif has the latest on where Coach Willie Taggart’s road to Duck football excellence is taking the University of Oregon, here:

Five days after his hiring was officially announced by the Oregon Ducks, co-offensive coordinator David Reaves is in the process of being fired after his arrest early Sunday on charges of DUII, reckless driving and reckless endangerment.

“Reaves has been placed on administrative leave and the process to terminate his employment with cause has commenced,” UO athletic director Rob Mullens said in a statement. “The University has high standards for the conduct of employees and is addressing this matter with the utmost of seriousness.”

The 38-year-old Reaves, who also was set to coach tight ends for the Ducks and carried the title of passing game coordinator under new coach Willie Taggart, was stopped at 2:12 a.m. Sunday with a passenger in downtown Eugene after “multiple traffic violations,” according to Eugene police.

… Reaves, who was on a two-year contract worth $300,000 annually, was to share offensive coordinator duties with offensive line coach Mario Cristobal. …. His arrest and expected firing follows a tumultuous week for Oregon, which suspended new football strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde on Tuesday for a month without pay, while also including a formal apology on behalf of Taggart, after three UO players were injured during offseason workouts last week and hospitalized for several days. All three have since been released.

I wonder if Mullens gives his coaches the same advice the players get for dealing with the cops: Call the fixer Tom Hart on his personal cell phone, quick.

Coach Taggart: 0 tolerance policy for players, 11/12 tolerance for coaches

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Kenny Jacoby has the story on Taggart’s rules for players in the Daily Emerald here:

Three Oregon football players who had off-the-field issues are “no longer with the team,” UO athletics spokesman Craig Pintens confirmed Monday afternoon. Redshirt junior defensive lineman Eddie Heard, freshman wide receiver Tristen Wallace and freshman linebacker Darrian Franklin are done playing for the Ducks. …

But if you’re one of Taggart’s assistant coaches, the rules are a little more relaxed:

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Andy McNamara — Assistant Athletic Director, Communications                         

Football Contact: David Williford (O: 541-346-2251; C: 541-729-6801; email: [email protected])                                                                                                                                

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                Jan. 17, 2016 

UPDATED DEVELOPMENTS IN REGARDS TO OREGON CONDITIONING SCENARIO

EUGENE – University of Oregon head football coach Willie Taggart today issued an apology on behalf of the coaching staff and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics following incidents reported over the weekend related to off-season conditioning training that began last week.

“I have visited with the three young men involved in the incidents in the past few days and I have been in constant contact with their families, offering my sincere apologies,” Taggart said. “As the head football coach, I hold myself responsible for all of our football-related activities and the safety of our students must come first. I have addressed the issue with our strength and conditioning staff, and I fully support the actions taken today by the university. I want to thank our medical staff and doctors for caring for all of our young men, and I want to apologize to the university, our students, alumni and fans.”  

“The university holds the health, safety and well-being of all of our students in high regard,” said Rob Mullens, UO director of athletics. “We are confident that these athletes will soon return to full health, and we will continue to support them and their families in their recoveries.”

After a review of events surrounding the training last week, the following has been determined:

Last Tuesday, football student-athletes began their off-season conditioning program after being away from football-related activities for six weeks. The workouts were supervised by the training staff and led by football strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde.

On Thursday, after three days of workouts, one student-athlete complained of muscle soreness and displayed other symptoms of potential exercise-related injury. The medical staff examined the student-athlete, and took appropriate action pursuant to team’s medical protocols.

The medical staff informed coaches and staff of the diagnosis. Two additional student-athletes were then identified with similar symptoms and staff responded to them, as well. 

No other student-athletes have demonstrated negative effects at this time or have been admitted to the hospital. 

As a result, Oderinde has been suspended without pay for one month, with Jim Radcliffe assuming the position on an interim basis. In addition, the head football strength and conditioning coach will no longer report to the head football coach but rather to Andrew Murray, the director of performance and sports science. All workouts moving forward have been modified.

— www.GoDucks.com —

Will Helfrich break with Altman, allow #blacklivesmatter at UC-Davis game?

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NBC reports that Colin Kaepernick’s NFL movement is spreading. Will any Duck players take a knee at today’s UC-Davis game, for “O’er the land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave”?

Image: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick

 

Two years ago two of Dana Altman’s Duck basketball players  tried a Black Lives Matter protest during his national anthem. Altman chewed out his players and wouldn’t let them talk to the press afterwards. They never tried *that* again.

At UO a Duck coach can suspend a player for just about anything, by making up a “team rule” against it. The players have no freedom. So what will Helfrich do?

UO Trustees “Go Ducks” free, so far

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8/9/2014: One of the big worries about UO Independence was that the Board of Trustees would end up dominated by athletics boosters, as has happened with the UO Foundation, now run by Steve Holwerda, whose life dream is to become Duck Athletic Director. So far, it’s been quite the opposite with the Trustees. Chair Chuck Lillis and the board have been focused on academic excellence.

Here’s the current count of occurrences of “Go Ducks”, a now notorious phrase which many on the academic side would like to ban from official use (except of course as allowed by our new hard won Academic Freedom Policy and Lariviere’s Free Speech Policy, which notes: “The belief that an opinion is pernicious, false, and in any other way despicable, detestable, offensive or “just plain wrong” cannot be grounds for its suppression.”) Out of respect for Trustee Connie Ballmer, I’m mixing in a little Bing:

UO Board of Trustees: Go Ducks count = 0:

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UO Foundation: Go Ducks count = 23:

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