Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamj ude@dailyemerald. com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, January 31,2002
Oregon Daily Emerald
UO football fills offensive coordinator vacancy
Andy Ludwig,
Fresno State’s
offensive
coordinator for
four years,
replaces Jeff
Tedford
r
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Mike Bellotti decided that the
best coach to replace the man who
tutored Joey Harrington would be
the man who tu
tored David
Carr.
The Oregon
football team
filled its offen
sive coordinator
vacancy Wednesday with the hir
ing of Andy Ludwig, who guided
the Fresno State Bulldogs’ offense
for the last four years.
“I see Oregon right now as a
perennially top-10 team,” Lud
wig said. “The offensive system
at Oregon is respected nation
wide. I’m excited. It’s a tremen
dous opportunity for me.”
Ludwig, 37, will also be the
Ducks’ quarterbacks coach, which
is a position he held at Fresno
State. In his four years there, he
helped guide Carr to become one
of the best quarterbacks in the
country, and played a big part in
Fresno State’s 11-3 season in 2001.
Carr became just the sixth quar
terback in NCAA history to pass
for at least 4,000 yards and 40
touchdowns, and is viewed,
along with Harrington, as a high
draft choice in April’s NFL Draft.
“Dave and I had an excellent
working relationship,” Ludwig
said. “I really feel he made full
use of his potential. I’m sure he
and Joey are going to have very
successful careers.”
The Oregon offensive coordi
nator position became open
when Jeff Tedford accepted the
California head coaching job in
December. Tedford stayed to
coach in the Fiesta Bowl and Bel
lotti began his search for a
replacement soon thereafter.
“He was one of the most
impressive quarterback coaches I
have met or interviewed during
the course of my head coaching ca
reer,” Bellotti said. “He was the
Turn to Ludwig, page 10
LUDWIG
Persistence
pays off
■ After a windy path and two
different colleges, Brian Helquist
is thrilled to be playing at Oregon
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Nearly empty stands greeted Brian
Helquist for two years.
Jacksonville, Fla., doesn’t neces
sarily lack things to do, and spend
ing time to watch a junior college
basketball game wasn’t at the top of
many people’s priority list.
So, while Helquist averaged
almost 15 points and 9 rebounds for
Florida Community College-Jack
sonville, were there at least 1,000
people on hand?
“Probably not even that,” Helquist
said, laughing. “Couple hundred, like
a high school game. We never had a
big crowd, except for parents, really.”
That was then. Now he plays in
front of nearly 10,000 fans. He gets to
experience the rowdy student sec
tion fire up his team. He absorbs the
energy generated from the Oregon
Marching Band when he runs onto
the court for the pregame warm-ups.
And he’s playing his part for a
team tied for the league lead heading
into tonight’s showdown with UCLA
at McArthur Court.
“This is what you play college ball
for,” Helquist said. “I’ve never been
anywhere like this with the fans and
the atmosphere. It’s the most amaz
ing place. The amount of fan support
Turn to Helquist, page 10
Adam Amato Emerald
Center Brian Helquist, seen here against Stanford’s 7-0 center Curtis Borchardt, enjoys battling the Pac-10’s big guys.
Big support
needed for
big game
■ Coach Kent wants Mac Court
‘rocking’ as the Ducks open
a huge weekend with No. 13 UCLA
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
This game is so big, it needs its
own zip code.
This game is so big, Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent said he would
buy doughnuts
and coffee for
those fans who
camped out the
night before,
then decided to
instead buy piz
zas for those in
line early be
cause he didn’t want fans to brave
the chilly elements.
This game is No. 13 UCLA play
ing Oregon for a piece of the Pacif
ic-10 Conference lead. This game
will set the tone for both teams for
the rest of the season and on into
the NCAA Tournament. It starts
at 7 p.m. tonight, both at
McArthur Court and broadcast on
Fox Sports Net.
“This is a big game in terms of the
conference race,” Kent said. “Ore
gon has a chance to win the confer
ence for the first time in a long time,
Turn to Men’s, page 10
New-look Ducks hope to avenge loss with trip to Arizona State
■The Oregon women travel to
the desert in hopes of avenging
an early loss to the Sun Devils
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Question: What’s maroon and
gold, surrounded by cacti and tied
for second place in the Pacific-10
Conference?
Arizona State, that is.
The Sun Devils (16-6 overall, 7-4
Pac-10) host Oregon tonight at
Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.,
only three weeks after they put a
thorough hurt on the Ducks.
In that game, Arizona State domi
nated the boards en route to an 86-72
win at McArthur Court. Senior guard
Amanda Levens, despite being side
lined early after an injury, burned
Oregon (12-8, 7-4) for 22 points on
the strength of her feisty play.
“That game was all about effort,”
Oregon senior guard Edniesha Curry
said. “If you let a team as good as Ari
zona State get com
fortable, you’re go
ing to have a hard
time coming back. ”
This time
around, however,
the Sun Devils are
fighting back in
juries to key players. Levens suf
fered a high ankle sprain against
Washington State on Jan. 12 but is
expected to play.
Freshman guard Carrie Buckner
missed recent games against Stan
ford and California due to a pulled
hamstring but is also expected to
play tonight.
“Everybody has times during the
season where we’re down a player,
and we’re at that point,” Arizona
State head coach Charli Turner
Thorne said. “We’ve not been
healthy and had a lot of road
games. I think we’ve done a good
job of playing through that.”
After starting out the Pac-10 sea
son strong, the Sun Devils have lost
two of their last three games, putting
them in the four-way tie for second
place. Arizona State has stayed
afloat, but not by much, losing by 19
to USC and winning a charity game
against California before being out
played against Stanford last week.
. The Ducks, on the other hand,
are a different story. Their loss to
the Sun Devils on Jan. 6 put them
back in the pack at 4-2, and they
lost two of their next three after the
Arizona State debacle.
Oregon has fought back and
now stands shoulder-to-shoulder
with Turner Thorne’s squad.
“I think it makes us hungrier and
realize that we’re right in the thick of
things,” Oregon head coach Bev
Smith said about Oregon’s tie with
Arizona State in the standings. “They
have the same number of wins (in
Pac-10 play) as we do, regardless of
the fact that they smoked us.”
Oregon has become a different
team since their early loss in Eu
gene. The team’s rebounding has
picked up, and after their shooting
disappeared against Oregon State,
the Ducks are back on target.
Curry has sparked the Oregon de
fense to play its best, and as usual,
junior Shaquala Williams has led
the Ducks in shooting and intensity.
“I think we’re a different and bet
ter team (than our first meeting), ^
and certainly they probably are as
well,” Smith said. “I feel we’re
playing much better than we were
when they came here, now we have
to take it on the floor and prove it.
“It’s a big, big game. We just want
to get on the floor. ”
Curry said, “We’re going to have
to play well defensively and be dis
ciplined for 40 minutes.”
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in the Val
ley of the Sun.
E-mail reporter Hank Hager
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.