Oregon tallies two straight wins
■ TENNIS: The Ducks beat
Idaho and Cal Poly, play at
Arizona State next
By Joel Hood
Freelance Sports Reporter
A three-match home stand over
the weekend proved to be just
what the struggling Oregon men’s
tennis team needed to regain mid
season form. With wins over Ida
ho and Cal Poly on Saturday and
Sunday, the Ducks upped their
season mark to 2-1.
Playing in the No. 1 spot on
Sunday, Carlos Navarro beat the
Mustang’s Chris Magyary 7-5,6-3,
earning the Ducks’ only straight
set victory of the afternoon.
Oregon pounded out three more
victories in singles competition,
but all of them were hard-fought
three setters.
In the No. 2 spot Oregon new
comer Joaquin Hamdan defeated
Tony Piccuta6-7, 7-5,6-1. Co-cap
tain John Devorss outlasted Cal
Poly’s Sevan Zonopian 3-6,6-4,6
4 and Miguel Arriaga clinched the
team win for the Ducks with a 4-6,
6- 1, 7-5 victory over Nadar Izadi.
Sunday’s victory over Cal Poly
was especially gratifying for
coaches Chris Russell and Greg
Smith because Oregon had lost to
virtually the same Mustang squad
7- 0 last season.
"This is the kind of team we
would have lost to last year,”
Smith said. “We’re looking at this
as a breakthrough match.”
Saturday’s win over a tough Ida
ho team was just as impressive for
the Ducks. Oregon streaked, win
ning two of the afternoon’s three
doubles matches. Navarro and
Hamdan won easily at the No. 2
spot, 8-4, while Christian
Fylkesnes and Henry Oldham
held on for an 8-6 victory in the
No. 3 position.
Oregon’s lone loss of the week
end came Friday at the hands of
the Washington Huskies. The
Ducks’ only win of the day came
at the No. 1 doubles spot where
DeVorss and Mike Goldstein de
feated Washington’s Nick
Williams and Mark Wooley 8-5.
Despite the 6-1 loss, Oregon
held its own in singles competi
tion taking three of the six matches
to three sets.
“1 liked the progress we made
against the Huskies,” Russell said.
"We set a good tone at the start and
showed we were here to play. We
weren’t able to pull any [wins] out
in the singles, but the matches we
went to three sets in were ones we
were in position to win.”
Oregon will take its 2-1 record
to Tempe, Ariz. on Feb. 7 to face
Arizona State. The Sun Devils are
one of the toughest teams in the
conference this season and will
come into the match with a na
tional ranking.
That match is the first of two in
Arizona with the Wildcats sched
uled for Feb. 8.
St. Louis set to hire new head coach
■ NFL: Dick Vermeil has worked as a college
Jooiball analyst for ABC-TV in recent years
but will reportedly take the job with the Rams
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Rams, not long after
indicating that Jim Mora was their man, have set a
news conference for Tuesday to announce they’ve
hired Dick Vermeil instead.
Broadcast reports in St. Louis and from ESPN said
Monday night that Vermeil, who has been out of
coaching since 1982, would be given total control of
the team. If the Rams fail to come to terms with Ver
meil, the fallback choice would be Jim Mora.
Vermeil’s wife, Carol Vermeil, confirmed that a
news conference would be Tuesday. But she
wouldn’t confirm that her husband was about to be
hired by the Rams.
Asked whether her husband was excited about the
prospect of returning to coaching, she said: "Every
thing new is always exciting.”
Vermeil is the only coach to take the Philadelphia
Eagles to the Super Bowl, losing 27-10 to the Oak
land Raiders in 1981. He had a 57-51 record from
1976-82 with the Eagles before resigning, complain
ing of burnout. He since has turned to broadcasting,
working as a college football analyst for ABC-TV.
Vermeil tried to return to coaching in 1995 with
the Eagles before contract talks fell through. Owner
Jeff Lurie broke off negotiations, saying too many
problems remained unresolved.
Earlier in the day, Rams president John Shaw said
he expected to hire Mora, the fifth man interviewed
for the job, by the middle of the week. Shaw is leav
ing for the Super Bowl on Thursday in New Orleans
and wants to get the situation settled before then.
But he also said he’d explore some “remote possi
bilities” that included one last stab at ex-San Fran
cisco 49ers coach George Seifert in the next few days.
Seifert turned down a reported five-year, $10 million
offer from the Rams last week.
‘Td like to get this done,” Shaw said. ‘‘But there
are no guarantees.”
Last week the Rams finished second in the bidding
for Bobby Ross (Lions) and Kevin Gilbride (Charg
ers).
Mora, 61, said Monday in a telephone interview
that he hadn’t heard from the Rams since Saturday
when he had a telephone conversation with Shaw.
He interviewed for three hours on Friday in St. Louis.
Mora didn’t seem to mind that the Rams were still
chasing Seifert, who won two Super Bowls in eight
seasons with the 49ers and built the best winning
percentage in NFL history. Seifert, who was 108-35
in San Francisco, resigned last Wednesday.
“(Shaw) told me what his plans were,” Mora said.
“I’m anxious to get back in coaching, but if I don’t,
I’ll do something else.
“I believe the Rams could be a good situation.”
Mora was 93-78 with the Saints, leading them to
their only four-playoff berths in franchise history, but
slumped after a 12-4 season in 1992. In his last 3 1-2
seasons, the Saints were 24-32.
Mora resigned in October, a day after a profane
tirade following a loss to Charlotte that dropped New
Orleans’ record to 2-6, and the Saints finished 3-13
under interim coach Rick Venturi. Shaw said he
talked about the outburst with Mora.
“It’s something we spent a lot of time on in the in
terview,” Shaw said. “It was, of course, of great con
cern to us. I feel confident that won’t happen again.
“One never knows 100 percent, but I’m comfort
able.”
The Rams have been looking for a coach since fir
ing Rich Brooks following a 6-10 season. Brooks was
13-19 in two seasons.
Freshman Interest Groups
LOOKING FOR A WAY TO GET
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• Earn 2 upper-division credits and a cash award
• Spring and Fall term commitment
APPLY NOW TO BE A FRESHMAN INTEREST GROUP LEADER
Applications are available in 164 Oregon Hall. Application deadline February 3,1997.
For more information call 346-1079 or 346-3211.
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For more details, call the SHC Pharmacy: Idb-ddid
Joe Goode Performance
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Creating a personal history - taking your
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Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m.
EMU Ben Linder Room
Preregister at the LGBA Office, Suite
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