Oregon Sports Update

David R.

April 19, 2010 - 8:14 PM

Next academic year I will be involved in a marketing and promotions internship with the athletic department. As I have mentioned before I have always been interested in the business aspect of professional and college sports. It sounds like it will be a great experience, and my first event is the spring game on May 1.

As spring football is underway everyone is still asking questions about who will be the starting quarterback come next season. Will it be Nate Costa, the senior who has had multiple knee injuries in his career? Or Daron Thomas, the man who will likely take over once Costa graduates? Thomas sat out all of last season and experienced minimal time the year before. Costa, the older of the two, has also seen minimal playing time during the last two seasons.

Due to Masoli's suspension, he will likely be thrust into the role of scout team quarterback. He will be running plays against the starting defense for that week's game. It would seem that by the time the regular season rolls around Oregon's defense will be operating like a finely-tuned machine. They will be defending a quarterback who was considered to be a Heisman trophy candidate for this season.
The Ducks were ranked sixth in the nation after bowl season came to an end. That was due in large part to the fact that Jeremiah Masoli was going to be returning as the quarterback. With an off-season that was rattled by off-the-field incidents, Masoli, along with multiple other teammates, found himself facing consequences for his actions. As was the case with Legarrette Blount, Head Coach Chip Kelly suspended Masoli for the entire season. Like that, our Heisman candidate was thrust out of contention, beaten only by himself.

As the football team is in search of a quarterback, the men's basketball team has finally found a head coach. Creighton's Dana Altman will be taking the reigns as he introduced himself to his new team last night. It will be interesting to see how Altman is able to recruit. In my opinion, there is nothing too appealing about playing basketball in Omaha, Nebraska. Now, Altman has been placed in a program that has powerful recruiting tools: Pac-10 basketball, in a brand new stadium, at a school whose athletic department is heavily supported by the founder of Nike. Altman has led the Bluejays to the NCAA Tournament seven times in 16 seasons. He clearly knows how to coach and could be the answer for Oregon basketball.

The Oregon Duck's baseball team has made its way into the top 25 polls. The Ducks are sitting right at 18 and hope to move up. A few weeks ago the Ducks took one game from Arizona State when they were ranked number one in the nation. This last weekend the Ducks took two games from UCLA, ranked number one, in Los Angeles. When George Horton said the Ducks would make it to Omaha this season, he must have meant it. Keep up the hard work fellas. People are noticing.