■ Ernie Kent was in
uniform for the Ducks
during the craziness of the
1970s; now he’s led them
to the NCAA Tournament
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The exact moment that Darius
Wright’s desperate buzzer-beating
three-pointer swished through
the net, the coach was no longer
coaching.
When Wright’s rainbow-like
heave capped an unbelievable six
points in five seconds giving Ore
gon the 76-74 victory over Arizona
State on March 2, the coach trans
formed back into a player.
For the briefest of moments, as
the McArthur Court crazies
rushed the court in exhilaration,
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
couldn’t hide his emotion. He
jumped around with glee before
realizing who he was, composing
himself and going over to shake
Sun Devil coach Rob Evans’ hand.
But really, who could blame
Kent for wanting to go crazy?
The win gave Oregon its first
20-win regular season since 1945
and ensured the Ducks of only
their second NCAA Tournament
appearance since 1961. It also was
the result of Kent and his diligent
coaching staff that turned the Ore
gon program around in only their
third year on the job.
Kent knew exactly how his
players were feeling at that precise
moment. He knew what it was
like to be a player at Mac Court
and to hear the deafening roar of
its faithful contingent.
This 1999-00 Duck team has re
juvenated memories of Kent’s
days as a member of Oregon’s
“Kamikaze Kids” of the mid
1970s. That Dick Harter-coached
team was an astonishing bunch
who won games with its outra
geous aggressiveness and deep
hearted passion.
Often after home wins this sea
son, Kent has referred to the bois
terous crowd as the “Mac Court of
old.”
“When I say that, it’s certainly
wrhat we experienced here as
players,” Kent said, “where that
roar you may see after an Alex
Scales dunk was there the entire
game. It gave you such an energy
boost. And as of late, we’ve got
that back.
“When you see it like that, you
know that’s why you wanted to
come back.”
Kent graduated from Oregon in
1977 and came back to his alma
mater as head coach 20 years later.
He guided the Ducks to a 13-14
season in 1997-98, and then took a
19-13 team to the NIT Final Four a
year ago. Kent led the Ducks to
more wins in his first two seasons
than any other basketball coach in
more than six decades.
His commitment to the program
was rewarded in October with a
four-year contract that could pay
him in excess of $420,000 annually.
“I’ve been impressed with Ernie
Kent since I’ve hired him,” Oregon,
athletic director Bill Moos said. “To
say we’re making steady progress is
an understatement. We have one of
the premier basketball programs in
the conference right now. ”
And although Kent has restored
the unbridled enthusiasm syn
onymous with Duck hoops in the
70s, he never will forget the road
he traveled to get back to Eugene.
After two years as an Oregon as
sistant in 1977 and ‘79, Kent boldly
decided to move to Saudi Arabia
with his wife to test his fate as a
head coach.
“My plan was to go over there for
two years, and hopefully some
doors would open for me in the
states,” Kent said. “Little did I
know that two years would turn
into seven. But it was a very re
warding time to be over there. ”
Rewarding? Yes.
Difficult? You betcha.
He lived in a Muslim village for
two years. Three quarters of his al
Khaleej Club team didn’t even
speak English. Kent says, “A nor
mal two-hour practice would take
four hours because we used transla
tors.”
His team played in front of
10,000 fans — all male, except for
his wife Dianna. The games were
always scheduled so halftime
would fall at prayer time. Fans and
players would leave the arena to
pray, leaving the Kents waiting for
their return.
Such a lifestyle that Kent en
dured from 1980 to 1987 has ob
viously left a tremendous influ
ence.
“Those years taught me how to
have patience,” said Kent, whose
three kids were all bom in Saudi
Arabia. “Little did I know at the
time how much that situation
would strengthen me as a
coach. It taught you to
teach, teach and reteach.”
Kent was given his
break to get back to Ameri
ca as an assistant at Col
orado State in 1989. He
then latched on under
Mike Montgomery at Stan
ford in 1990-91, before tak
ing over as head coach at
Saint Mary’s from 1991
to lyyz.
He was there when
Colorado State went to
the NIT and then the
NCAA Tournament. He
helped guide the Cardi
nal to back-to-back NIT
appearances. And in
1997, he gave St. Mary’s
its first Big Dance ap
pearance since 1989.
So when Kent be
came the first African
American coach in Ore
gon athletic history, he
knew expectations
would be high. Patience
may have been some
thing he learned in Sau
di Arabia, but he wasn’t
about to wait for good
things to happen.
“For us to get to post
season play, we felt we
had to bridge the talent
gap in the conference
right away,” Kent said.
“With our recruiting
class, I felt we were
headed in the right di
rection.”
Of course, that class
included junior college transfers
Wright and Scales, and high
school standout Freddie Jones. A
year later, he went out and ac
quired four more JC players, in
cluding forwards Bryan Bracey
and Julius Hicks.
There was a reason so many tal
ented players chose Oregon. That
reason for many was Kent and the
family atmosphere he provides.
“He really cares for everyone on
this team as more of a person than
a player,” Wright said. “And
everyone cares about him more as
a person than as a coach.. ”
Senior forward A.D. Smith is
the lone Duck who was here in the
Jerry Green era. He has experi
enced the transition of coaches
and knows that the future of Ore
gon basketball is in great hands.
“He’s brought in guys that are
not just good players but great
people,” Smith said. “He seems
like he’s going to be here for a
while, and I have ho
doubt he’ll do well in
the future.”
Yes, the future
is very important to Kent. But he
does not forget the past — as his
black-and-white “Dr. J” poster on
his office wall clearly indicates.
“A lot of what we do in our pro
gram is derived from what we
learned as players,” Kent said. “We
were a close-knit group, we saw the
power of closeness and what we
were able to accomplish with it. ”
Not only has Kent developed
team unity within his program,
but he also has struck a tremen
dous chord with the community.
“I think it’s great that people
here are so involved with March
Madness,” said Kent, while grip
ping a basketball in his Mac
Court office. “It’s really a
great reward for play
ers who have worked
hard and for a com
munity that’s hung
in therewith you.”
And also for a
coach. A coach
who every now and
then deserves to cut
loose and revel in
his program’s suc
cess
Emerald
Ernie Kent has used positivity to direct his players to Oregon’s first 20-win season since 1945.
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