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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.