Runge
continued from page 8B
knee.
So you promise yourself you’ll
ask about some of what you’ve
heard, when you get the chance.
They might be hard questions,
but you’ll do it... Why, Coach, are
strong, successful women so often
labeled bitches?
But when you get your chance,
you don’t do it.
And so y.ou still don’t know.
You still can’t nail down Jody
Runge. Possibly because you’re not
supposed to do so. Partly because
you haven’t been invited to do so.
But please, an author trailed
Runge for an entire season, wrote
a book and couldn’t even com*
pletely do it.
Regardless, now you have a fea
ture to write.
Runge and Litz — assistant
coach Fred Litzenberger, the man
behind the curtain who doesn’t ask
to be paid any attention but has as
much to do with the phenomenon
of Oregon women’s hoops as any
one — graciously give you a half
hour of their time.
And what do you do? Ask ques
tions that you already know an
swers to.
Which is OK, you try to tell
yourself. That stuff alone leaves
more than enough to write about.
There’s no shame in writing a
fluffy, informative feature piece on
how amazing their program is.
Because it is, undeniably, amaz
ing.
When Runge was hired seven
years ago, Oregon basically sucked.
The Ducks had lost 16 of their
last 19, and had finished their
worst Pac-10 season in last place,
3-15. They hadn’t made an NCAA
appearance in six years.
Former athletic director Rich
Brooks gave Runge a one-year con
tract for $42,000 and what was,
more or less, a laundry list of
things to accomplish.
No. 1 on Brook’s list: “We would
like to be a competitive program in
the Pac-10...”
Competitive? The Ducks have
never finished lower than fourth in
the Pac-10 during Runge’s tenure.
No. 2: “We would like to see in
terest regenerated...”
Interest? Attendance at
McArthur Court had increased by
at least 20 percent for four straight
years, before growing by 670 fans
per game this season, to a confer
ence-best 5,712.
“When I was flying out here to in
terview for this job, I was reading
that there had been 5,000 people for
a game here for the Chinese national
team,” Runge said. "So I just thought
that if you could win at this institu
tion, the crowd would come. And
that’s what’s happened.”
No. 3 on the list: “We would like
to become a team that has a chance
to win the conference champi
onship...”
Championship? Oregon now
has two of them, with more fore
seeable.
No. 4: "... and has a chance for
postseason play... ”
Postseason? Every season with
Runge at the helm, the Ducks have
made the tournament.
Brooks asked for a lot from the
first-time head coach with the one
year contract. But, he said, he did
n’t expect it to happen overnight.
It did.
“She did an amazing job,” cur
rent athletic director Bill Moos
said, “inheriting a team that had
losing records and immediately
turning it around.”
Could she have expected such a
swift turnaround?
“Well, yeah,” Runge tells you.
“ That’s what we came here to do.”
When she initially appeared on
the scene, people who knew
Runge told people who were just
meeting her in Eugene that they
should expect her to work incredi
bly hard, to be humble, to find
ways to win and never to take crap
from anybody.
True that.
Runge made it clear, that until
she succeeded, she wouldn’t con
cern herself with contractual issues.
Until she succeeded, that fact that
her salary was half that of some Pac
10 coaches didn’t matter.
Well, she succeeded.
She brought in Litz in her sec
ond year, who she had met while
they were both working — along
with men’s coach Ernie Kent — at
Colorado State in the late ’80s. Litz
as a men’s assistant. Runge as a
women’s.
“I might as well have been with
the men’s team, all the time I spent
down in Fred’s office,” Runge said.
“All the things I really liked about
coaehing I stole from him, so to be
able to hire him was just unbeliev
able.”
Litz does a lot for this team. Much
more than most people realize.
y j l hi.mi
One of the top academic teams in the nation, Runge’s teams have dominated the Pac-1Q’s academic squad three of the past four years.
“He’s a great teacher, so I let him
teach,” Runge said.
Teach, scout and schedule prac
tice, conditioning and individual
work in the spring; he does every
thing dealing with the X’s and O’s.
“He’ll put in hours and hours
that are totally under-appreciated
by someone who doesn’t know the
program well,” former point guard
Cindy Edamura said. “It’s ad
mirable.”
It also doesn’t allow much time
for sleep — “the problem, I think,”
Edamura noted with a chuckle.
Neither Litz nor Runge are play
ers’ coaches.
They’re not easy to play for and
they don’t try to be.
“The last thing I want as far as
practice is concerned, is for my
kids not to be ready,” Runge said.
“If they’re not going hard, I’m
gonna get on them. They might not
like it but at least I know they’re go
ing to be prepared.”
Look what demanding so much
from these women got them.
Runge recruited solid, confi
dent, motivated people who found
ways to handle it all.
“We’re not looking for bad kids,
trouble-makers or people who don’t
have basketball as a priority.”
Runge said. “Some kids are one
sided in relationships; they know
how to take but don’t know how to
give, don’t have team skills.”
Her traditionally blue-collar, de
fense-oriented teams continually
got better.
So Runge succeeded, and true to
her word, her financial situation
became an issue. .
Turn to Runge, page 12B
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