Kissing the swoosh (Jack Bog's Blog)

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 19, 2010 4:11 PM. The previous post in this blog was Big chance for Portland police. The next post in this blog is The pennies project: an interim report. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Monday, April 19, 2010

Kissing the swoosh

Nobody good really wants the Ducks men's basketball head coaching job, but a lot of big names have gone through the meaningless ritual of being considered. So thinks this writer in St. Louis, who has a theory about why the candidates allow their names to be thrown in the hopper for that gig:

The most popular theory in college basketball circles is that when the Nike chairman beckons — particularly if you are working at a Nike school — you are obliged to listen.
So it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that even if Anderson wasn't truly interested in the Oregon gig, he had to at least go through the motions in deference to Knight.

Makes sense.

Posted at 4:11 PM | Permalink

Comments (4)

Not to mention all the people approached about the job who have used it as powerful leverage to sign new contracts in their current jobs with hefty pay raises and extensions.

Posted by none | April 19, 2010 4:51 PM

If the Duckies go any farther down their list, they might end up re-hiring Ernie Kent.

Posted by rural resident | April 19, 2010 8:10 PM

The UC-Nike prez:

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/04/university_of_oregon_president.html

Knight had nothing to do with the buyout, Lariviere said. But the president said he called Knight to inform him of the decision.
Lariviere speaks highly of Knight and his contributions, but downplays the donor's control. "The notion there is sort of a red telephone on my desk and that whenever it blinks, I have to pick it up, and Phil Knight tells me what the marching orders are -- it is an entertaining fantasy, but it is a fantasy."

Well, with that level of detail, you've convinced me that it's not red, but that's all.

Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | April 19, 2010 10:59 PM

Well, if Phil had nothing to do with the buyout, I'm actually a lot more concerned about where the money came from than I was before. I'm used to him squandering money on this kind of thing.

Posted by Roger | April 20, 2010 9:44 AM