My first reaction: women’s basketball is nearly unwatchable, so no one cares. Of course, that’s a poor excuse, and an unacceptable position for the athletic department.

Whatever pass Smith may have received in the past, the end must surely be near. It’s the Pac-10 – a very prestigious opportunity for an up-and-coming women’s coach – and there’s the allure of a new arena. If the job opens up, I would imagine PK would receive a large stack of high-quality resumes from around the country.

My crystal ball thinks we’ll be discussing the qualities of a new women’s basketball coach before school’s out in June.

Maybe we could hire Mark Few and move Ernie to the women’s program.

At the end of last season, the requirements were given to Bev Smith that the team makes the tournament as a minimum requirement. Unless a miracle happens, she will be ousted if the powers that be hold true to those standards. Ernie hasn’t had the same requirements placed on him BUT Kilkenny alluded to “additional requirements” once the new arena has been built

…is the No. 19 team in the nation right now, ahead of Tennessee and Arizona State. I don’t have much of a problem with this post but come on. Do a little research.

Bev knows her job is as good as gone and it seems to be wearing on her with each passing day.

…who would you prefer to bring in as coach if/when Bev does get shown the door? It definitely helped Bev’s case that she’s one of the greatest Oregon women’s players of all time, but it’s highly unlikely we’ll tap into the historical vein. The WNBA is probably my best guess; remember LSU hiring Van Chancellor? IIRC that worked out all right.

/knows more about women’s basketball than he probably should

While not presuming to put words in Dave’s mouth, I think his basic premise is that the "free pass" that he argues Smith has had has resulted in her remaining head coach for almost eight mediocre seasons. I should state that I do not follow women’s basketball very closely, but the facts are that Smith took over a program that consistently competed for a conference championship and has turned it into a program that finishes almost exclusively in the bottom half. Here are the Ducks conference finishes since Smith took over:

    * 2001-02: 6th (10-8)
    * 2002-03: 7th (8-10)
    * 2003-04: 8th (6-12)
    * 2004-05: 3rc (12-6)
    * 2005-06: 8th (5-13)
    * 2006-07: 6th (8-10)
    * 2007-08: 7th (7-11)
    * 2008-09: 7th (5-10) — in progress

Dave’s contention is that this sort of record (particularly given where the program was at) would not have been acceptable even for other non-revenue generating sports (e.g., volleyball, softball, etc.). Whether or not she has had minimum requirements placed on her for this season has little to do with the question of why she has remained head coach for so long.

Again, just my interpretation of Dave’s post. Apologies to Dave if I have it all wrong.

He would not be fired, just moved. Then we can bring in your flavor of the week for a mens coach and everyone is happy.
We dont need to you loose weight, just tighten.
Although we need even for of a set offense in the women’s game sooo, maybe thats a bad idea, among other reasons.

Up here at UAA (University of Alaska Anchorage) we have a pretty good women’s div. 2 coach in Tim Muller his combined record over three seasons is 79-13, with a current record of 23-3 ranked 6th in div 2 (they were number one earlier, but dropped a couple recently). He has led his team to the ncaa tourney his previous two seasons including a final four appearance last season. A couple years ago Oregon took a chance on an unknown guy from New Hampshire named Chip Kelley. This guy took a bad team from Alaska and made it a winner. Let me say that again ALASKA. If he can get recruits and win in Alaska I’ve got to believe he can do it at the next level.

girls basketball is lame