SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016
1B
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Helfrich out at Oregon
College Football
Ducks coach fi red
after 4-8 season
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Oregon has fi red coach Mark Helfrich
after a disappointing 4-8 season, and just
two years after getting the Ducks within
a victory of the program’s fi rst national
championship.
Helfrich was head coach of the Ducks
for four seasons, leading the team to the
fi rst College Football Playoff cham-
pionship game after the 2014 season.
But Oregon faltered this year with a
fi ve-game losing streak, and fi nished at
the bottom of the Pac-12 North with just
two conference wins.
Helfrich was 37-16 record after
taking over from Chip Kelly in 2013.
He had an $11.6 million buyout on his
contract with the Ducks.
Helfrich met with athletic director
Rob Mullens on Tuesday night and
was told was being dismissed. Helfrich
issued a statement saying he was
honored to have served at Oregon.
“Plain and simple — we didn’t win
enough games this season,” Helfrich
said.
Oregon had not fi red a head coach
since 1976, when Don Read was let go
after three seasons.
Ducks started this season ranked
See HELFRICH/3B
Oregon
head
coach
Mark Hel-
frich looks
on in the
fi rst half
an NCAA
college
football
game
against
Oregon
State, in
Corvallis,
Ore., Sat-
urday Nov.
26, 2016.
AP Photo/
Timothy J.
Gonzalez
Prep Basketball
Buckaroos, Bulldogs open season at home
Pendleton girls only
team on the road
as three new head
coaches make debuts
In this fi le
photo from
Feb. 2,
2016, Pend-
leton’s Ca-
den Smith
drives the
baseline
past a
Hermiston
defender
during a
basketball
game in
Hermiston.
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Forty-four weeks have come
and gone since the Pendleton boys
basketball team lost to Springfi eld
on its home court in the fi rst round
of the OSAA state playoffs to end
the 2015-16 season.
Buckaroos senior Caden Smith
has used every one of them to
prepare for tonight’s 7 p.m. tip-off
at Warberg Court against Baker to
open the 2016-17 season.
“I think that toward the end of
last year being that we didn’t make
the state tournament (fi nal site), he
really took that as a challenge to
himself,” said second-year Bucks
coach Kyle Tedder. “He didn’t play
baseball and he spent a lot of time
in the gym, a lot of time playing,
whether it be AAU or on his own,
and obviously that paid off.
“He’s worked hard on his game,
he’s a better fi nisher, better attacker,
he’s making decisions quicker. I
think he’s kind of taken it on himself
to take this program over and I feel
comfortable allowing him to be an
extension of this coaching staff.”
He’s the only returning starter for
the Buckaroos, who will be hoping
to follow the reigning Columbia
River Conference Player of the
Year to a third-straight league title,
a playoff victory and a return to the
fi nal bracket in Corvallis.
They aren’t the only local squad
with high aspirations, though,
and two more tip off their seasons
tonight on the other side of the
county at The Dawghouse when
Hermiston welcomes Walla Walla
(WA) for back-to-back games.
Coming off a fourth-place fi nish
and its seventh consecutive qualifi -
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
cation for the fi nal tournament site
in 2015-16, Hermiston’s girls will
take the court fi rst at 5:45 p.m.
Noticeable differences on the
court for the Bulldogs will be the
graduation of CRC Co-Players of
the Year Jansen Edmiston and Sara
Ramirez, and Juan Rodriguez will
make his debut at head coach after
four years as an assistant for former
coach Steve Hoffert.
“The transition hasn’t been as
drastic I think as people would
(expect),” Rodriguez said. “Having
coached with Steve for four years a
lot of what Steve did and what I do
are going to be the same. Steve was
so good at letting me be a big part of
the program when I was an assistant
that you won’t see many changes.”
With three returning starters
including junior post Maddy Juul
(an All-CRC fi rst-team selection
as a sophomore), the Bulldogs
certainly aren’t changing any of
their goals for the season.
“That’s the conversation that
we’ve had with the girls,” said
Rodriguez, who will also have
senior forward Kynzee Padilla and
senior guard Rileigh Andreason
back in the starting lineup. “The
expectation is always there. Playing
girls’ basketball at Hermiston the
expectation is that you win league
and that you go to the state tourna-
ment.”
The bar isn’t quite as high for
the boys which fi nished 13-13 last
season, but fi rst-year coach Casey
Arstein is hoping a strong commit-
ment from players to the program
will pay off with wins down the
road.
“Running a program at the
5A level it starts with you want
teach the kids about commitment
and becoming young men and
everything goes from there as far as
philosophy,” he said.
With just two returning starters
— all-CRC fi rst-team senior
Chance Flores, and sophomore
Andrew James — Arstein said he’ll
See SEASON OPENS:/2B
MLB
Mariners keep busy in trade market, acquire two pitchers from Braves
Seattle parts with
former top-10 draft
pick Alex Jackson
By CHARLES ODUM
Associated Press
ATLANTA — The Seattle
Mariners acquired right-handers
Rob Whalen and Max Povse from
the Atlanta Braves on Monday
night for outfi eld prospect Alex
Jackson and a player to be named.
The 20-year-old Jackson was
the sixth pick in the 2014 amateur
draft. He has hit .233 in three
minor league seasons, including
.243 with 11 homers and 55 RBIs
for Class A Clinton of the Midwest
League this year.
“We value upside, and we
believe Alex has a lot of it,” Braves
general manager John Coppolella
told The Associated Press. “We
believe in the potential and the
person, and we are excited for his
future with our organization.”
Whalen
Povse
Jackson was a catcher at
Rancho Bernardo High School
in San Diego. Adding depth at
catcher is an offseason priority for
Atlanta. Coppolella would not say
if Jackson might be given a look
behind the plate in 2017.
Whalen, 22, was 1-2 with a
6.57 ERA in fi ve starts for Atlanta
this season and was Double-A
Mississippi’s pitcher of the year.
Povse, 23, had a combined 3.36
ERA at Mississippi and Class A
Carolina.
Whalen was placed on the
disabled list Aug. 25 with right
shoulder fatigue. He was a
12th-round pick by the Mets in
2012 and was traded to the Braves
with right-hander John Gant on
July 24, 2015, for Kelly Johnson,
Juan Uribe and cash.
“This move gives us two
young, polished pitchers who
immediately bolster our starting
pitching depth, while adding to
our roster fl exibility,” Mariners
general manager Jerry Dipoto said
in a statement.
Right-hander Ryan Weber was
designated for assignment to clear
a spot on Seattle’s 40-man roster.
He was claimed off waivers from
Atlanta on Nov. 2.
Sports shorts
Cespedes gets 4-year deal from Mets
NEW YORK (AP) — Yoenis Cespedes is
staying with the New York Mets again.
After testing free agency for the second
straight offseason, the slugging outfi elder
agreed to a $110 million, four-year contract
with New York, a person familiar
with the deal told The Associated
Press on Tuesday.
A two-time All-Star, Cespedes
gets $22.5 million in 2017, $29
million in each of the following
two seasons and $29.5 million in
Cespedes
2020.
The 31-year-old had 31 homers
and 86 RBIs in 132 games this year, slowed
after injuring his right quadriceps on July 8. The
deal’s $27.5 million average annual value ties
former Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez
for the second-highest among position players,
trailing only Miguel Cabrera’s $29.2 million
with Detroit.
“Yeah, there’s nerves,
of course, because I
care. I care about what
I do out there.“
— Tiger Woods
14-time major golf champion
and former world No. 1 on
returning to competition follow-
ing a 15-month break to heal
from back surgeries. Woods,
40, is ranked a career-low No.
898 headed into Thursday’s
fi rst round at the Hero World
Challenge in the Bahamas.
Eastern Washington teammates
fi nalists for Payton Award
(AP) — Eastern Washington teammates
Gage Gubrud and Cooper Kupp, along with
Sam Houston State quarterback Jeremiah
Briscoe, are the fi nalists for the
Walter Payton Award, given to
the top player in the Football
Championship Subdivision.
Kupp, a record-breaking
receiver, won the Payton
award last season and will try to become the
second player to win two. Appalachian State
quarterback Armanti Edwards won the Payton
Award in 2008 and ‘09.
Gubrud is Kupp’s quarterback at EWU.
He leads the country in total offense at 412.2
yards per game and is on pace to set a Big Sky
Conference record.
Kupp, a senior, holds FCS career records
with 402 receptions, 6,061 receiving yards and
68 touchdown receptions.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1979 — Sugar Ray Leonard
wins the WBC welterweight title
with 15th-round knockout of
Wilfred Benitez in Las Vegas.
1991 — San Diego State’s
Marshall Faulk becomes the fi rst
freshman to capture the national
rushing and scoring titles after
gaining 154 yards on 27 carries
in a 39-12 loss to top-ranked
Miami. Faulk fi nishes the season
with 1,429 yards in nine games.
2012 — NBA Commissioner
David Stern fi nes the San Antonio
Spurs $250,000 for “a disservice
to the league and our fans” when
they don’t bring Tim Duncan,
Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or
Danny Green to Miami for the
fi nal game of a six-game trip.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com