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■ Bev Smith, Oregon's new women’s basketball coach, brings to
her alma mater an extensive knowledge of the game from a
successful college and professional career
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
She left Eugene in 1982 as the greatest player in Oregon women’s basket
ball history.
loday, Bev Smith returns as the Ducks’ next hope to con
tinue a winning tradition for which she laid the foundation.
Smith was named Oregon’s new head coach Thursday, re
placing the departed Jody Runge.
“It just felt right,” Smith said. “I really look forward to be
ing a Duck again. It feels like home.”
The Salmon Arm, British Columbia, native played for the
Ducks from 1978-1982 and helped lead to the team to its first
NCAA playoff berth in school history. Smith left Oregon with
a resume a mile long.
Accolades from her collegiate days include two Kodak All
American selections, four first-team All-Northwest Basket
ball League selections, the No. 2 spot on the all-time scoring
list, the single-game point, rebound and steals records, and
much more.
Even after she graduated from Oregon with a bachelor’s de
gree in human performance, honors continued to come for
Smith. The team’s most inspirational trophy was changed to
the “Bev Smith Award,” and she was inducted into Oregon’s
inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class in 1992, where she is
one of only four women’s basketball representatives.
Smith was one of former head coach Elwin Heiny’s first re
cruits and played in one of the most successful four-year
spans in program history. In her tenure at Oregon, the Ducks
lAjiupuuu d bj-iy recora. smith led the Ducks to a women’s National Invita
tional Tournament berth, two AIAW Tournament berths and the team’s first
NCAA berth in 1982.
Smith played on three Canadian Olympic teams along with former Oregon
teammate Allison Lang-Robertson in 1980, 1984 and 1996. Canada finished
fourth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
During that time, Smith also played professional basketball in Italy for 15
years. She helped lead Vivo Vicenza to the Italian National Championship and
the European Cup in 1993. Smith retired from professional basketball in 1996
after the Atlanta Olympics.
Smith s coaching career began in 1985 as a player-coach for Ferrara of the
Italian League. Three years later, Smith became a full-time head coach at the
Turn to History, page 8A
ipupi?
Courtesy of Oregon Media Services
Small photos, Emerald archives
Bev Smith was an intense player when she played for Oregon between 1978
82, and said she will have that same competitive attitude as a head coach.
Winning may not be everything, but it sure helps
OUT IN
LEFT FIELD
Let me start off by saying that Bev
Smith will be a great coach for the
Oregon women’s basketball team. In
fact, I think in time she will prove to
be one of the best coaches to ever roam the
McArthur Court sideline.
But her selection Thursday was not be
cause she has an established, successful
coaching career.
She is in her fourth year as the coach of the
Canadian National Team, which is a great
statement about her desires and motivations.
But the reason she was hired as the fifth Ore
gon coach in the program’s 28-year history is
because of what she isn’t.
She isn’t Jody Runge, by any means.
Athletic Director Bill Moos must have
known, perhaps unconsciously, that Smith
was going to be his choice when she was the
first to interview for the position three weeks
ago. The Register-Guard’s hype and unbal
anced coverage about the former Duck star
only made Moos’ decision even easier and
perhaps unavoidable.
The community loves Bev Smith because
she put Oregon women’s basketball on the
map. Now she — the new driver of a bus that
had previously run off course and found a
couple of trees smashed in the engine — has
the chance to put Oregon women’s basketball
back on the right map.
Moos saw the opportunity to change the
image of Oregon basketball and he took it.
He said, during the mess of the last three
months, that the win-loss record was not the
most important part of being successful. He
stuck to his guns.
Once Bev Smith and her soft-spoken, thick
Canadian accent walked through the doors of
the Casanova Center, Moos knew he couldn’t
pass on the storybook return, even if all Smith
had on her resume was “potential.”
Even if Pat Summitt, the Tennessee coach
who is perhaps the best in the country, had
wanted the job, Moos may not have changed
his mind.
The next best thing to Pat Summitt did
walk through the doors of the Cas Center and
declare her interest in becoming Oregon’s
head coach. Elaine Elliott could not be
reached for comment, but it’s my guess — and
this may be going a little too far — that she
would say that she did not get a fair shake at
this position.
And you’re talking about a coach who, in
18 years at Utah, has a 346-148 record (.700),
nine NCAA Tournament appearances and nu
merous “Coach of the Year” awards. And all
this in a city, like most places, that couldn’t
care less about women’s hoops.
Elliott established something great at Utah,
and maybe she just couldn’t leave Salt Lake
City. But my guess is that she likes Eugene,
and more importantly, likes the incentives
and attention the city gives to Oregon
women’s basketball.
Smith, on the other hand, has yet to prove
her abilities as a consistent coach. And now,
to her delight, she is being thrown into the col
lege ranks for the first time.
She is a people-person — a player’s coach,
if you will. She is enthusiastic. She is ener
gized. She’s going to run her own practices.
The previous coach did none of these
things.
“When she said she was going to run
practice, I was like ‘Wow,’” said
forward/center Alyssa Fredrick, who will
be a senior next year.
Smith’s enthusiasm was very apparent
at Thursday’s press conference (and she
even said she was trying to hide her emo
tions). Her love for the game of basketball
as well as for her players will be the focal
point of her tenure.
“Yes, I will run practices,” said the 41-year
old from Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
“The best part of this whole thing for me is
getting on the floor. I’d even get out there and
play myself a couple times to make my ath
letes feel good about their players’ abilities,
‘cause [my game is] pretty bad now.’”
Athletes feeling good about themselves?
What is going on here? No Oregon women’s
basketball coach, at least in the last eight
years, has ever said such a thing. Moos,
watching his new employee speak with ease
to the media, was smiling from ear to ear.
A toast is probably in order. Smith and
Moos already made their celebratory com
ments, but probably neglected to congratulate
each other on one thing: potential.
So, here’s cheers to hope.
Adam Jude is a sports reporter for the Emerald. He can
be reached at ajude34@yahoo.com.