Adam Amato Emerald
Ernie Kent started as a freshman at the University in 1973 and is now the most successful coach in program history after four years.
All HIS
INAROW
A former Kamikaze Kid,
Ernie Kent has brought his
success to the Oregon bench
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The results tell his story, sort of.
Ernie Kent is simply the best
coach — through four years —
in the last half-century of Ore
gon men’s basketball. He has gone
to the NIT Final Four and the NCAA
Tournament. Five Oregon coaches
went their entire careers without
tasting the madness of March.
“It means a lot to me to have peo
ple come up to me on the street and
tell me this is the best basketball
team they’ve ever seen at Oregon,”
Kent said. “That tells me we’re do
ing something special, and I’ve al
ways wanted to make this program
the best it’s ever been. ”
But Kent’s success as a coach tells
only half his story. The rest runs
through his veins. The rest of the
story is rooted in green and yellow.
Kent started his Oregon career as
a scrub-faced freshman in 1973, and
played four years of varsity basket
ball under coach Dick Harter. He
was a member of the “Kamikaze
Kids”—nicknamed for their physi
cal and flashy game play — which
included All-Americans Ron Lee
and Greg Ballard.
Though he is absent from Ore
gon’s record books, Kent’s time in a
Duck uniform had several lasting ef
fects. He carries a strong desire to
keep McArthur Court small and
loud, as it was his Kamikaze Kids,
by some accounts, that first packed
“the Pit” and got it rocking. Kent
also carries a sen$p of Oregon bas
ketball history, which he tries to im
part on to his current players.
“He wants us to know about the
time he spent here, and how he
wants to get the program up to the
level it was when he was here with
the Kamikaze Kids,” sophomore
guard Luke Ridnour said.
Fast forward 20 years: Kent, after
doing time as an assistant at Col
orado State and Stanford, a head
coaching stint at St. Mary’s and with
a traveling team in Saudi Arabia, re
turned to Oregon in 1997. Two years
later, the Ducks made a run to the
semifinals of the NIT and reached
college basketball’s pinnacle, the
NCAA Tournament, in 2000.
Kent led the Ducks to that NCAA
Tournament by preaching the val
ues he learned at Oregon.
Turn to Kent, page 8B
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