Sports Editor:
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dcdlyemerald.com
Wednesday, January 29,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
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Volleyball coach speaks to Ducks’ troubles
Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira
is confident his team can
overcome controversy and
be successful next season
Volleyball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
Oregon volleyball head coach Carl
Ferreira, amid controversy regarding
the departure of five players from his
team, spoke to the Emerald on Tues
day about the situation and the future
of the program.
Ferreira revealed that he had taken a
“couple weeks away” from the program
recently, based on a conversation he
had with Senior Associate Athletic Di
rector Renee Baumgartner.
Regarding five players’ decisions to
leave the team, Ferreira said he had no
indications during the past season of the
possibility of the moves, but did say he
discussed it with juniors Diana Blank
and Erika Widmark in December.
“I think they all wanted to be here,”
he said. “I don’t think any one of them
was tokenly going through the process.
If you do that in Pac-10 volleyball, you’ll
just get swallowed up pretty quickly.”
Ferreira, whose record is 30-61 in
three seasons at Oregon, said the Athlet
ic Department has been in full support
of both the athletes and the program.
In addition, sophomore Alisa Nelson,
who sat out the end of the season be
cause of an ACL injury, told the Emer
ald on Sunday that she was released
from the program and “wasn’t really
given a clear answer.”
“The only thing they said was that
they weren’t going to play me next
year,” she said.
Nelson said that she was told of the
decision by the two Oregon assistants
— Rhonda Rust and Keith Rubio —
and that Ferreira was not present at
the time.
Ferreira was on his leave at the time
of the decision, and could not attend,
although Nelson said it was not com
municated to her why he was not at
the meeting.
“It’s that some of these things that
transpired happened at the same
time,” Ferreira said. “We didn’t know it
was going to be as volatile as it turned
out to be. Had I to do it over again, I
definitely would have communicated
that to her. I have since apologized to
her personally.”
Nelson said she had been fully confi
dent she would be able to return to play
next season despite her injury at the
end of this year.
“I’ve been staying in volleyball
shape,” she said. “They know that.”
Ferreira was adamant that the deci
sion did not occur because of the injury.
“We’d never do that to a student-ath
lete,” he said. “It’s impossible to not po
tentially look at it from that perspective,
and maybe make that statement. I can
tell you she’s the fittest athlete we have.
She was going to make, or will make, a
100 percent recovery. That really had
nothing to do with it.”
Oregon is set to return six players
next season, from a team that finished
Turn to Volleyball, page 6
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Adam Amato Emerald
Carl Ferreira (center), with assistant coaches Keith Rubio (left) and Rhonda Rust, spent two weeks away from the team.
Jackson doubtful for road trip
He wants to play, but Luke
Jackson’s cut finger will likely
keep him on the sideline during
Oregon’s trip to Los Angeles
Men’s basketball notes
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
Though it’s unlikely he’ll be able to
play, Luke Jackson is optimistic about re
turning to action this weekend after suf
fering a severe laceration on his right in
dex finger Thursday in a win over
Washington.
“I want to play on this road trip some
time,” the Oregon forward said Tuesday.
“I can at least go in there and play some
good defense. I’m not sure how big of a
factor I will be offensively, but I can get
in there and hopefully help us get some
wins, which is all that matters.”
The Ducks, ranked No. 22 in this
week’s Associated Press poll (No. 19 by
ESPN/USA Today), face UCLA on Thurs
day and USG on Sunday in their second
Pacific-10 Conference road trip of the
season. The first road swing for Oregon
(14-4 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) turned into a
nightmare in the Bay Area, where Cal
and Stanford swept the Ducks by a com
bined 40 points.
And not having Jackson makes the Los
Angeles trip that much more difficult,
which is why the Ducks are preparing to
play without him.
“Whether or not he’ll play this week
end, I doubt that very highly,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said.
Jackson needed 13 stitches to repair
the cut, which wrapped around about
three-quarters of the base of his finger.
He wore a sling for two days to keep the
finger elevated and prevent swelling.
Jackson said the stitches would be re
moved “in a couple weeks.”
As the Ducks practiced Tuesday, Jack
son worked out on his own, running
sprints, dribbling and shooting short
jumpers, though he never used his right
(non-shooting) hand, which was
wrapped in tape.
“It doesn’t really hurt that bad,” Jack
son said. “It feels so much better day-bv
day. Every day I get up and I can bend it a
little farther and close my fist a little bit
more. The biggest problem is that my
Turn to Basketball, page 6
■
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Luke Jackson's cut ring finger will likely keep him out of action in LA
Track teams merge under Martin Smith’s coordination
With women’s coach
Tom Heinonen retiring,
Bill Moos decides to hand
both programs to Smith
Track and field
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
The Oregon men’s and women’s
track and field teams will consoli
date under Martin Smith’s direction
starting next year, Athletic Director
Bill Moos announced at a press
conference Tuesday.
Smith, currently the men’s head
coach, will assume the title of Director
of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field
and Gross Country starting with the
2003-04 season. Women’s track and
field head coach Tom Heinonen an
nounced his retirement in the fall, ef
fective after the spring season.
“It was my challenge (after
Heinonen’s announcement) to make
the decision as to whether we would
hire another women’s head coach or
merge the programs,” Moos said. “Af
ter a lot of consideration, study and re
search, we did decide to do what the
majority of the Pac-10 schools have
done before us, which is to merge the
programs under one director.”
UCLA is the only Pac-10 program
remaining with separated programs.
The Bruin women have finished sec
ond in the last two NCAA Champi
onship meets.
Moos insisted Oregon’s move was
not a cost-cutting one. He said the
teams have a combined budget of
around $1.7 million, and that the
budget will remain close to that size
after the merger.
However, there may be cuts made
in the area of coaching. Smith will
only be allowed to keep six coaches
and four volunteer coaches when the
teams merge next year.
“What I’m going to do now is take
a step back, and look at a number of
different models and different
strategic plans of how we would uti
lize our personnel and our coaching
staff,” Smith said.
Moos said he plans to hire a coach
specifically for the women’s distance
runners and the women’s cross coun
try team. Currently, Heinonen spe
cializes in coaching the women’s dis
tance runners.
Current Oregon athletes say they
are excited and apprehensive about
the possible future coaching changes.
“It’s going to leave a huge hole in the
program for sure,” sophomore javelin
thrower Roslyn Lundeen said. “I think
we’re probably going to go through a
year or two years where we really have
to rebuild what we’ve got. We’ve got a
strong contingent this year and should
have a good season. But yeah, I’d be
shaky coming in as a freshman not
knowing on what grounds I stood or
who would be there to coach me.”
But Heinonen himself doesn’t
seem worried about the transition.
He labeled Smith as a tireless worker
and a driven coach.
“Nobody likes change, but it’s
time, and it’s got to be done now,”
Heinonen said. “The way Martin
(coaches), it’s a high-quality, high-in
tensity program. Those guys are re
lentless.”
Smith has already established him
self as a master recruiter in his five
years at the helm of the men’s program.
His recruiting class in 2001 was consid
ered one of the best in the nation.
Contact the sports editor
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.