Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1982)
emerald sports Oregon crew buys new boat Ducks ‘own’ racing shell By Brenda Thornton Oftfw EmtraU Oregon’s crew squad recently picked up a brand new member And boy, is she pretty But a race isn't won on looks alone At a light 145 pounds, she runs through the water with an easy grace that s the mark of a winner She s a Pocock ’ C-series", fiberglass four-man racing shell, and the team calls her the D B McCarty ' And she’s all theirs. Never before has Oregon crew owned a racing shell Since the birth of Oregon crew in 1969, the team has practiced in rented boats, which couid not be transported to races The team was forced to borrow boats from competing teams at every regatta Often the team raced boats that they had never rowed in before which hurt their performance Although they will still have to borrow eight-man shells, the crew looks forward to racing the D B McCarty in their upcoming season. Lori Huseth, 1982 crew coordinator, says the shell represents a positive happening’’ for Oregon crew "A lot of hard work and enthusiasm has gone into reaching our goals this year," Huseth says And they set their sights high Before purchasing the $4000 shell, the crew ordered eight new Dreissv gacker fiber-graphite oars for $189 a piece According to Huseth. the team paid for the sorely needed equip ment with money earned from cleaning MacArthur Court after concerts and sporting events, and by pledges from the 100 mile Row-A-Thon Huseth stresses that "no club sport money went towards the purchases ” And no allocated money will fund the crew s spring training in Southern California The team plans to spend spring break rowing daily doubles with the University of Southern California crew Huseth sees the California training as a chance to improve rowing techniques and “develop as a team ” The crew has only three rowers returning from last year s crew, and Huseth says that “the trip to California will give the novices (first year rowers) a chance to gain experience rowing against another crew .” With only about ten women and twenty men (plus two coxswains), Huseth says that working out with large teams will be "valuable experience" for Oregon's Photo by Brian Bubak Oregon crew members test the D.B. McCarty on a recent workout at Dexter Resevoir. relatively small crew For Tim Meier, crew commodore, the trip will provide him with the chance to "scope out the Califor nia competition ” Meier expects an optimistic season, adding that the crew has exhibited "tremendous potential ” Meier, along with return rower Scott Chesnut, hopes to see that potential peak in early May at the 1982 Region al Regatta in Seattle for the Annual LaFromboise Race Only teams that operate independently from their school's varsity sports programs participate in the race, competing for the prestigious first-place silver trophy Meier foresees a "good chance to place in the La Fromboise " The crew has a long way to row before Regionals. however Their first regatta is April 3 against the major Northwest universities and rowing clubs in the Husky Invitational in Seattle Five more regattas round out their season, includ ing one that will oe another Oregon crew first In April, the crew hopes to invite several Oregon schools to the First Annual Oregon Regatta at Dexter Resevoir Huseth predicts an optimistic season, even with all the re-building we've had to do "I'm really proud of our crew's enthusiasm and dedication,” she says "We have rowers who love the sport and have given their all. even through the rough winter workouts " Oregon crew kicks off its racing season this Satur day with an intrasquad-alumni regatta Races begin at 9:00 a m and will conclude with the christening of the D B McCarty, named for Don McCarty, founder of Oregon crew Huseth extends an invitation to anyone who wishes to come out and watch the races on Saturday She smiles and adds, We'd love to race for a crowd." 1 jeff dickerson sportcuts The high cost of winning... and losing Fred Cofieid dribbled the ball on a fast break early in the second half of Oregon's 88-66 loss to UCLA Satur day. As the sophomore point guard crossed the half court stripe and John Greig cruised beneath the basket, one man stood between Cofield and the 6-8 senior forward Suddenly, Cofield pulled up at the top of the key and let one fly toward the basket. A groan arose from the Mac Court ‘■faithful” just before Cofield s shot swished the net for two points, and the crowd reversed and roared with ap proval A wire service writer sitting next to me observed how fickle the average sports fan is. If Cofield misses the shot, its a stupid shot. But he makes it and he’s a hero, he said Oregon basketball coach Jim Haney has gambled on several "shots” this year and come out on the other end Instead of the crowd slapping hands in victorious celebration, they've been left to second-guess the decisions of the coach. More recently, they've second guessed the decision by the athletic department to retain Haney for one more year Letters have appeared in both of Eugene s daily newspapers criticizing Haney and Oregon athletic director Rick Bay Placards calling for Haney's firing and childish songs of dissent were directed toward the coach in Mac Court last weekend As a couple of people walked the length of the basketball court Saturday displaying a poster which read: “Our pride isn’t showing. Fire Jim Haney,” I wondered if the real sentiment of the majority of people, reflected this atti tude, or if all the noise, being made by a few, was amplified by the silence of the rest of us. I thought back to last year when the football team was in the thick of its scandal and how I’d wondered the same thing about those who were calling for football coach Rich Brooks to be fired Brooks allowed too much cheating, they said “All he wants to do is win " Whether Brooks really was running a program that sacrificed everything in tangible for the tangible fruits of victory is beside the point There seemed to be a great number of people, especially in the student population, ready to con vict Brooks on the spot and have him thrown out of Oregon football “I think the image of our program is a sound one,” Haney says, “I think each year we are getting closer to players coming to a comprehension that they better get their academic act in order and they better accept responsibility academically “The general attitude of our kids — just them growing as human beings and becoming more responsible adults — I think is happening as well ” So here is a coach, in the form of Jim Haney, who definitely does have more compassion for the individual and more interest in preserving a player s integri ty than he has concerns with how many wins he has under his belt — there's more to life than winning basketball games he would say Never mind that, his critics say, Han ey hasn’t won the required number of games. Haney has been backed into a corner by a slow-to-succeed program, and I don't see anyone from the student community jumping to his defense Where now are all the defenders of the so-called "scrupulous'' way of run-1 ning an athletic program? Where are ail the people who wanted a coach who would stop short of win ning at all costs? Was their tirade against possible moral infractions by the football team a noble cause, or do they really believe that the success of a program in any one season can only be measured by looking at the low number in the loss column? The wire service writer sitting next to me watched and listened to the crowd at the UCLA game and wondered at the rude comments coming from the peo ple in it. "Jim Haney may be a good coach, and he may be a bad coach," he said, "but I wonder how many in this crowd know why — either way.” I, too, wonder how many people know what they are talking about when they criticize either Haney or Brooks for the way they run their programs
