Finals and the End of an Era

David R.

March 11, 2010 - 6:28 PM

By this time during dead week I have definitely begun to feel the stress that always comes along with the end of the term. Today in my J440 class I gave my third of four oral presentations of the week. Luckily though, there is no final in that class so today was our last class period. After all of the presentations had been given, our professor was kind enough to bust out a huge bag of cookies to celebrate the end of the term.

After my classes today I began writing the final paper for my sociology 345 class. After learning about the different aspects of race relations all term, our assignment is to write a six page essay about how racial relations have changed since the 1990s, incorporating multiple readings we have done throughout the term. I give my last presentation of the week on Saturday for my marketing class. This is a group presentation that we have been working on for a few weeks about the new dog product that we created. We have put in a lot of work and I am convinced that our presentation will be flawless.

Today, the Oregon men's basketball team took on the California Golden Bears in the first round of the Pacific 10 basketball tournament. The outcome was the same as it was both times these two teams met in regular season play, as the Golden Bears dominated our Ducks on both ends of the court. It was recently announced that long-time Head Coach Ernie Kent would be fired after the season. The season came to an end in a frustrating fashion, and it certainly wasn't the way Kent wanted to go out. One of Kent's biggest criticisms was that he was unable to develop the young talent that he would recruit. While he was in Eugene, it was felt by some of his critics that he was able to recruit good talent, but was unable to develop it further. Kent had his share of successes while he was here in Eugene. Kent took the Ducks to the elite eight in the march madness tournament in 2002 and 2007. 2007 was also the year that the Ducks defeated the UCLA Bruins in Eugene when they were ranked number one in the nation. As you might remember from one of my earlier blogs, this was the first Oregon basketball game I ever attended, as a senior in high school on a college visit. One notable potential option to replace Kent is PJ Carlesimo. NBA fans will remember Carlesimo for being the coach that was choked out by hot head Latrell Spreewell. On the bright side, it seems that a new start is exactly what the Ducks need right now. The Ducks have had two highly unproductive seasons back to back, making it clear that some sort of change is needed. With a new head coach and a new arena for next season, the Ducks might as well have a clean slate.

The Ducks have seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the last four years, and I am interested to see who will be named the new head coach as the Ducks enter a new era...and a new stadium.