Firing Ernie Kent at the end of this season would come with disastrous consequences for the Oregon Ducks.  Anyone that would consider coming to Oregon is a lateral move at best from Coach Kent.  What seems lost on most people is that Kent’s philosophy for building a winning program has been perfect for Oregon Basketball and is proven to work for a program where not much did for most of it’s history.

The thing Oregon fans need to realize first and foremost is that Oregon is not the type of place most kids will move across the country to hoop for.  Ernie Kent has been a master at getting in on one marquee guy (Rid, Aaron Brooks, Big Mike) every couple years, which is probably about the max for the Ducks and then using pieces around him who can score the ball well from inside as well as light it up from outside and hope to shoot well more nights than not.  His style of play makes for some frustrating time because the team looks unfocused on defense and out of sync on offense but more than anything those things are symptomatic of a team that lacks cohesion.  While that can be partially attributed to the coach, the reality of the situation is that the quality of players the Ducks are able to successfully recruit are the type who need a couple years to build that bond with teammates in order t0 consistently compete in the Pac-10.

If the Ducks make the choice to move on without Coach Kent, they will need to hire the kind of coach who has proven he can win consistently in the NCAA Tournament.  The only thing Duck fans can be looking for is the type of team that is the NCAAs every year and then gets out of the first weekend more often than not.  The regular season has always been a grind in the Pac-10 and the non-conference is all about building a resume; everyone knows that March is all that matters in college hoops and the bottom line is Kent has two Elite-8 showings at a school where even making the Dance would make sort of a “dream season” when he arrived.  If the coach the Ducks replace Ernie with doesn’t produce even more than he has, how will his tenure be measured and how many chances will he get?  There is certainly no doubt Kent has had time to build a more stable program, but at what point to expectations become unreasonable?

The Ducks have regular season and tournament Titles in the Pac-10 under Coach Kent

If the team at any point stops looking like they are giving Kent their best then that would put the pressure on Mike Bellotti because these are Kent’s guys. That being said they  need to realize their effort will go a long way toward determining his future.  This is dangerous territory for the Ducks and Ernie Kent because of the expectations and also because the trajectory of the program for the next five to ten years is at stake with the development of this team.  The easy answer of course is to fire Ernie at the end of the season and start fresh with a new coach and a new program, but without the perfect hire that answer also becomes an incredibly stupid one.