Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
“Having a record company and putting out my ■
own CD. There’s clothes and shoes... I’m trying to ~
be positive. I’m a big fan of the Nobel Peace Prize. ”
Indiana Pacer Ron Artest on how he’s dealing with life after his suspension
■ In my opinion
JON ROETMAN
ROUGHING THE PASSER
Expectations
too lofty
for unlucky
Willingham
Notre Dame should be ashamed of itself.
Three seasons after hiring Tyrone Will
ingham as head coach of the football pro
gram, the powers that be in South Bend,
Ind., fired the 28-year coaching veteran
Tuesday, one month prior to the Fighting
Irish’s scheduled matchup with UCLA in
the Insight Bowl.
The move comes after Willingham, the
first African-American to be named head
coach at Notre Dame in any sport, led the
Irish to a 6-5 record this season and a
21-15 overall mark during his three-year
tenure. Willingham had two years remain
ing on his five-year deal, making him the
first Notre Dame head coach who wasn’t
allowed to fulfill his first contract.
While athletic director Kevin White said
the decision to part ways with Willingham
was based on a lack of on-field success, the
truth is Notre Dame wanted nothing to do
with Willingham in the first place.
After Bob Davie was fired as head coach
of the Irish at the end of the 2001 season,
Notre Dame had a chance to come right
out and name Willingham head coach. He
was the most qualified candidate for the
job. After seven seasons and four bowl ap
pearances as the head coach of Stanford,
he had proved himself worthy of leading
one of the most storied programs in college
football history. As an added bonus, Notre
Dame had a chance to knock down racial
barriers and hire the first African-American
coach in school history.
Instead, Notre Dame approached and
hired former Georgia Tech head coach
George O’Leary. While the two-time Atlantic
Coast Conference Coach of the Year had im
pressive credentials of his own, Willingham
seemed like the better, more sensible hire.
Notre Dame paid for its decision, how
ever, as it forced O’Leary to resign just five
days after hiring him when it was found
that he lied on his application. He claimed
to have earned a master’s degree from New
York University and to have lettered three
times in football while attending New
Hampshire. Neither proved to be true.
Only after this extreme embarrassment
did the Irish offer Willingham a contract.
While it ended up with the right coach,
Notre Dame’s hiring of Willingham was a
feeble attempt to save face after lacking the
courage to take a chance on hiring its first
black head coach.
After accepting the job, Willingham imme
diately faced expectations that bordered on
unrealistic. While Notre Dame has a proud
history, it is no longer capable of landing the
caliber of athletes needed to compete for a
national championship. It plays one of the
toughest schedules in the country every sea
son and hasn’t won a bowl game since 1993.
Despite this, Willingham was expected to
step right in and return the Irish to their glori
ous past, where they captured more Associ
ated Press national championships (8) than
ROETMAN, page 14
■ Pac-10
Ducks among Pac-10's unbeatens
Oregon grabs two votes in this week's AP Top 25
poll behind the consistent play of Aaron Brooks
BY CLAYrON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
A couple of weeks into the sea
son, the Pacific-10 Conference still
has three undefeated teams —
Oregon, UCLA and No. 14 Wash
ington — remaining.
Despite being undefeated, Ore
gon received only two votes in this
week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.
New Mexico, whom the Ducks de
feated last week, received four
votes, and UCLA didn’t get a vote.
Washington made the nation’s
biggest jump in the AP poll, mov
ing up from No. 22 to No. 14. Ari
zona dropped three spots to No. 21
after losing to No. 1 Wake Forest
Friday by three points.
In key matchups this week,
Washington travels to Gonzaga to
face the Bulldogs on Thesday. Gon
zaga dropped from the AP Top 25
after falling to No. 5 Illinois 89-72 in
a game where the Bulldogs were
trailing by 31 points at halftime.
The Wooden Classic also takes
place this weekend with Arizona
taking on No. 15 Mississippi State
and UCLA playing Boston College.
Washington's Robinson
named week's top player
Washington guard Nate Robin
son was named Pac-10 Player of the
Week after he was named the Great
Alaska Shootout’s Most Valuable
Player for averaging 21.3 points, 5.0
assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals
in wins over Utah, Oklahoma and
then-No. 19 Alabama.
The 5-foot-9 junior from Seattle
hit 59 percent of his shots from the
field, including 8 of 14 from be
hind the arc.
It’s the second time Robinson
has been recognized with the
weekly honor and is Washington’s
22nd all-time honoree.
After four games, Robinson is in
the top five in the conference in
scoring (2nd), assists (4th), steals
(4th), free-throw percentage (5th),
assist-to-turnover ratio (3rd) and
minutes played (2nd).
Robinson has helped Washing
ton become the top-scoring team
in the conference this season at
85.5 points per game.
The Huskies have started the sea
son 4-0 for the first time since 1999.
“We do things as a team,” Wash
ington coach Lorenzo Romar said.
“Our guys have bought into the
team, and we talk about (how) it is
amazing what can be accomplished
when no one gets the credit. Our
guys have done a good job of that. ”
Brooks continues
shining for Ducks
Oregon’s Aaron Brooks keeps
making a name for himself around
the conference with his stellar
play. New Mexico head coach
Ritchie McKay said there was no
other guard like him in the Pac-10.
Brooks leads the conference in as
sists, averaging 7.67 per game. The
Seattle native also has limited his
turnovers as he is the conference
leader in assist-to-turnover ratio at
3.83 assists per every turnover (23
assists to she turnovers this season).
The sophomore point guard also
leads the Ducks in scoring, averag
ing 17 points per game.
As well as the Ducks have been
shooting this season, shooting
over 50 percent, their defense has
also played very well. They have
yet to allow an opponent to shoot
over 40 percent and are outscoring
opponents by a conference-high
16.7 points per game.
Stanford struggles
in Maui, drops three
Last season’s Pac-10 champion
took its lumps last week, going 1-3.
The Cardinal fell to Tennessee
69-57, No. 17 Louisville 82-67 and
a Santa Clara team that upset No.
9 North Carolina earlier in the year.
They beat BYU in the consolation
game of the Maui Invitational.
The one bright spot for Stanford
has been junior forward Dan
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon’s Aaron Brooks, seen here against New Mexico, leads the Pac-10 in assists
with 7.67 per game. He also leads the Ducks in scoring, averaging 17.0 points per game.
Grunfeld. He scored a career-high
26 points against Santa Clara and is
averaging 19.4 points (third in the
conference) and 6.8 rebounds per
game (ninth in the conference).
The tough span sets the Cardi
nal back to a 2-3 record.
claytonjones@dailyemerald.com
■ Club Sports
Running Club to compete at nationals
The coed club team wraps up its season Saturday when it goes up
against ex-collegiate and Olympic athletes at Portland Meadows
BY BEAU HASTES
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The Oregon Running Club concludes its cross
country season this Saturday at the USATF club
nationals at Portland Meadows. Oregon will be
the only university club team at the meet, as the
field will predominantly be made up of ex-colle
giate and even Olympic athletes on elite-level
club teams.
Running Club coach Tom Heinonen eagerly
awaits the chance for his harriers to run against
some of the nation’s best.
“I am thrilled,” Heinonen said. “It’s a big
challenge but a big opportunity. ”
Heinonen, in his second season leading the
Running Club after coaching the Oregon
women’s cross country and track and field
teams for the previous 28 years, realizes his
young squad might be a bit overwhelmed by the
sheer mass of the meet, but believes the bene
fits of running in such a meet are valuable.
“I want them to get the experience of running
in a meet of this magnitude,” Heinonen said.
The women’s 6K will have 24 teams and
more than 220 athletes while the men’s 10K ex
pects more than 40 teams and approximately
340 athletes.
“One, I want us to participate,” Heinonen said.
“Hvo, I want us to do as well as we can. We’re try
ing to keep things low-key and have fun with it.”
The layout of the course also has Heinonen
looking forward to Saturday’s meet.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said the two-time
NCAA Cross Country Coach of the Year. “It’s a
truly unique experience.”
The national meet will be run on the nine
hole golf course inside Portland Meadows race
track. Both the men and women will run two
laps on the European-style trail. Spectators will
be able to see the race unfold from the grand
stands, along with the help of two 23-foot
Jumbotron television screens.
According to Heinonen, this is the first time
this style of race has been run in the U.S.
“It’s really thrilling,” Heinonen said.
Leading the Club women are Sopagna Eap
and Tiffany Beechy. The men are headed by Car
los TTujillo, Mike Long and Brandon Michael.
Eap won the Pre’s Trail Cross Country Open
hosted by the Running Club in November and
has consistently posted the best times of any
female runners.
TYujillo and Long have alternated throughout
the season as the lead male harrier, with
Michael usually a close third.
“We want to have a really good race and fin
ish the season,” said Meriel Harding, Running
Club coordinator. “We’re really proud to be the
only club team. It’s the process we’re aiming at.
“We’re going to go out and run and enjoy
the setting.”