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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2001)
Best Bet NBA: Sacramento at Utah 5 p.m., TBS SPORTSEDITOR:JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Oregon plucks assistant coach from the NFL The Ducks take care of another assistant coach opening by hiring a former Oregon coach By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon football team filled another coaching vacancy Mon day, and it went to the NFL to do so. Robin Ross, who spent the past two years as the linebackers coach with the Oakland Raiders, was hired as Oregon’s special teams and tight ends coach, according to head coach Mike Bellotti. Ross returns to Oregon, where he served as the Ducks’ lineback ers coach in 1997 and as their de fensive linemen coach in 1998. “The chance to return to work with the development of college players was something I discov ered I really missed,” said Ross, whose annual salary of $90,000 will last until June 30, 2002. “I've enjoyed the last two years working in the NFL with some of the best football players in the world, but welcome the opportunity to return to one of the best collegiate pro grams in the country.” Ross will take over for the de parted Tom Osborne, who left to become the assistant head coach and special teams coach at Ari zona State. Ross, 46, helped lead the Raiders to the AFC Championship game, where they lost to the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. He played an integral role in guiding a tough Raiders defense that finished the 2000 season ranked ninth in the AFC in total defense at 328 yards per game, and fourth in rushing defense at 97 yards per game. “We’re very excited to have Robin rejoin the Oregon football family,” Bellotti said. “He did a great job in his previous stint two years ago in a variety of positions, and I know he is very excited to take on the challenges of special teams and tight ends.” Ross has had numerous stops on the college coaching trail in his 24 years of coaching. He began coaching the defensive line at Long Beach State from 1977-83 and then moved up to the defen sive coordinator position at Cincinnati in 1984-85. After that, he was the defensive line coach for Washington State in 1986 and the defensive coordina tor for Iowa State during the years of 1987-93. Ross was then the de fensive coordinator at Western Washington (1994-95) and Fresno State (1996) before landing with the Ducks in 1997. “He possesses the traits as an excellent technician and recruiter, with a tremendous work ethic,” Bellotti said. “It’s a positive step for our program to have a coach of his caliber, experience and talents want to return.” ROSS Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emeralc Oregon sophomore heavyweight Eric Webb (right) is one of the most improved wrestlers in the nation this season. Little Big Man ■Sophomore heavyweight Eric Webb uses speed and technique against heavier opponents By Robbie McCailum Oregon Daily Emerald Quickness, agility, dexterity, en durance. These are not your usual words for describing heavyweight wrestlers. But for Oregon sophomore Eric Webb, they have become his keys to success. Although weighing in at around 230 to 240 pounds, Webb is one of the most nimble wrestlers on the mat. He has to be when going head-to-head with heavyweights who weigh thirty pounds more than he does. “My conditioning is better than 90 percent of the guys out there,” Webb said. “That has to do with wrestling the smaller guys in practice. I don’t really have any heavier guys to work out with. I have to attack and stay on my toes.” “Eric is strong, well positioned, and he’s able to wear opponents down, ex ploiting their conditioning,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said. “Big, strong guys have the tendency to not be able to go at a pace Eric’s able to go for seven minutes.” This season, Webb has outworked, outhustled and outwrestled 27 oppo nents, while dropping only four match es. What is more impressive is that he is one of the lighter athletes in what some call the toughest weight class in the na tion. Webb has faced eight of the top-15 heavyweight wrestlers in the nation this season, and has beaten five of them. Of the four matches he has lost, one was be cause of injury and the other three were by less than six points. “When you look at [Webb] and his op ponents both physically and experi ence-wise, you think, ‘He shouldn’t be beating these guys,’” sophomore Tony Overstake said. “But he just goes out and gets the job done.” Webb wasn’t always this good, though. Last season, Webb went through some growing pains in compil ing a 23-15 record. “Last year, it was just me losing a close match because I wasn’t confident in my shots,” Webb said. “I was just thinking about winning or losing and not what I need to do to win. It was very hard for me at first. ” “[Eric] was looking at too broad of a picture, not looking at, focusing at, the target,” Kearney said. “When he started doing that we started to see results. “He completely takes himself into that area where he has control over everything.” One of the biggest differences from this season to last season is weight. Webb came into the 1999-00 season weighing 214 pounds. A year of exten sive weight training later, Webb is stronger and heavier than he has ever been. “By seeing Eric in the practice room every day in the spring and summer and just looking at him physically, gaining Turn to Wrestling, page 10 Husky women sweep Arizona schools, aim for UO next ■ In a three-way tie at the top, the Huskies have surprised and outplayed Pac-10 contenders By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald With a sweep of ranked foes Arizona and Arizona State last weekend, Washington (15-6 overall, 8-3 Pacific 10 Conference) has moved into a three way tie for first place and is nation ally ranked for the first time in head coach June Daugher ty’s five years. The 79-60 victory against Arizona State placed the Huskies in a tie with the Sun Devils (16-7, 8-3) and Stanford (14-7, 8-3). It’s also the first time under Daugherty that Washington has been at the top of the conference standings this late in the season. “It’s a great feeling to be up there in first place,” Daugherty told The Seattle Times. “The players respond to positiv ity. They are about having fun and working hard. “No doubt about it, this is the best team I’ve had.” As the best rebounding team in the conference, the Huskies have won four straight after snapping the Sun Devils’ seven-game winning streak. “I think we’ve known, especially af ter the first round of the Pac-10, that we can play with all of these teams,” said Husky guard Megan Franza, the Pac-10 Player of the Week. “We definitely needed a sweep.” In the 98-88 win over Arizona last Thursday, the Huskies set a Pac-10 record with 16 three-pointers. “This is an amazing team to play for,” senior center Carli Halpenny said. “There are no chemistry problems. The group is so close-knit. After last season, we all just decided ‘we can’t have any of that anymore.’ This group has been totally unselfish.” Washington comes to Eugene Satur day for a 1 p.m. matchup at McArthur Court. Failin’Cats After beginning conference play 4-0 and winning 13 of 14, Arizona (16-7, 6 5) has dropped five of seven and has fallen from first to fourth in the stand ings. Sound familiar? “A lot of it is mental with us right Turn to Women’s, page 10 Emerald LeAnn Sheets and the Huskies will bring their conference-leading 8-3 record into McArthur Court Saturday to face the Oregon Ducks.
