Nothing too ground-breaking, but I thought these numbers were interesting in a circumstantial kind of way.
From 2002 to 2007 (six recruiting cycles), the Ducks signed a whopping two players out of Texas. Both were 2-star athletes.
In the four recruiting cycles since Kelly was hired, they have signed 11 players from Texas, including:
Lache Seastrunk: 5-star/#3@his position
Anthony Wallace: 4-star/#6 at his position
Darron Thomas: 4-star/#6 @ his position
Josh Huff: 4-star/#7@ his position
Dontae Wiliams: 4-star/#12@his position
LaMichael James: 4-star/#12 @ his position
(Note: I’m not counting 2012 since it is incomplete or 2007 since Kelly was hired after LOI day).
So, the Ducks go six years and sign 2 players from Texas, and after Kelly is hired, over a four year span they sign 11 players from Texas, including six 4+ star guys. Kelly knew Lyles in 2008 when the Ducks suddenly went from being shutout in Texas to landing some of the best in-state talent. Fishy? Coincidence? I’m sure Duck fans will have a plausible explanation, such as the coaches finally decided to recruit Texas that year. Okay, fine. That’s not really how recruiting pipelines work, but okay.
One interesting observation: The Ducks were completely shutout of Texas in 2009. I wonder why?
Cal signed two 4-star recruits out of Texas that year, and it’s the same year Gabe King–who was being paraded by Otis Yelverton, another shady cat–suddenly shifted from an Oregon lean (which enraged Tedford) back to Cal. Hm.
I’d be a little worried if I were a Cal fan. But it also makes one wonder what Tedford has on Oregon.
On last thing: the bizarre recruitment of Ricky Heimuli has never been discussed. When Ducks Sports Authority calls his signing a “huge surprise” you have to do a double take. Utah was a big favorite during most of his recruitment, with UCLA a distant second. However, after an in-home with the Oregon coaches, he left strong family ties and moved to Eugene, citing vague reasons like, “something told me Eugene was where I was supposed to be.” I realize things like this happen, but “something” and “God” tell Oregon recruits where to sign much too often.
Thats a good article. According to the O timeline, on Dec 9, 2007, the phone contacts began between Campbell or Kelley, and Lyles. Darron Thomas verbally committed on the 14th. So you are correct if you include December of 2007 in the Kelley era, which is appropriate since thats when the contacts with Lyles started.
But one might assume that they were after Thomas before they started in with Lyles, unless Lyles really had control of Thomas.
As to 2009, maybe thats when Cal gave Lyles that $5k?
In November 2007 Thomas was committed to LSU. From LSU to Oregon…hm. What’s the common thread?
Divine intervention once again?
Darron Thomas committing to Oregon after decommitting from LSU I don’t think had much to do with Lyles at all. If I remember right, LSU wanted him to play defense and Oregon wanted him to be a QB and he only wanted to play QB.
LSU recruited him as a QB, but they were considering him at WR.
There are 120 DI teams, so the odds of him (independently) committing to a 2nd Lyles-associated school would be around 5%.
Possible, of course. Long odds happen all the time. But…weird.
I hope the NCAA cleans up recruiting when all is said in done. I realize that shady deals will never go away, but at least make stiffer penalties. That way teams will at least have to try a lot harder to steer recruits and what not.
In the reading the Dennis Dodd article that JackBeav linked, I was surprised to see his comments about Seastrunk being somewhat of a dud so far. I don’t think I read much if anything about that in the Oregonian. I just assumed he was red-shirted because they were stocked at RB. If he doesn’t work out, then maybe there is some justice in the world!
Even if he doesn’t do much on the field for the Ducks he’s still receiving a nice “consolation”.
Is anyone a Michigan Rivals insider? I have 500 hits coming from that site. Curious why they’re interested in this…
Ohio State I guess?
I must say I know more about the Ducks football program than I ever cared to know.
So…..let me see if I have this right…
Thomas has verbally committed to LSU, but that was thru Lyles. So, when UO picks up Lyles services for more money (I presume) on the 9th, he doesnt have much trouble getting Thomas to change his commitment.
Duck lament:
You’re cheating Duck will make you weep,
You’ll cry and cry and try to sleep.
But sleep won’t come the whole night through,
You’re cheating Duck will tell on you.
Been hearing Lache has been bragging around campus to friends and girls he hits on that he was paid to come to Oregon and has been paid consistently since being in school. He is so stupid.
I find the Black Crowes appropriate:
Welcome to the good times honey
Did you bring your own parade?
Welcome to the big time honey
Time for a sarenade
(or pretty close to that)
Angry,
Have you added advertising to the blog? Maybe I missed something.
FD
Wow, sorry.
I didn’t realize my tinkering with Google Adsense went live…lol.
I’m testing it out. We’ll see how this goes.
I love the ads for recruiting services….is it wrong to lmao?
No, I’ve lol’d several times.
I was reading an article about Oregon’s violation in regards to recruiting JJ Aarington. They self reported the violation, but got hit with a two year probation. To my knowledge probation that big is only handed out for major violations. I’ve been hearing that LaMichael has been thrown in the mix because of his connection to Willie. If there’s a violation found there, that’s two major violations inside of five years. I believe that’s a double wammy is it not?
Perhaps bigger sanctions than expected?
Here’s a link to an Oregonian article that suggests it would not be a “double whammy”.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2011/03/oregon_ducks_previous_ncaa_pro.html
Here’s a (poorly edited) post/question I put to Canzano:
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2008/10/about_john_canzano.html
I can’t believe the only major in-state paper isn’t putting more effort into the UO story…
Of course after I post it, the site is updated:
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2011/07/canzano_willie_lyles_tells_how.html
That saddest part of that article is seeing Canzano’s been manipulated.
I called him scum when this story broke. I wished him a Happy Fourth of July four months later.
I left a caustic comment for John. He needs to wake up to the reality of what Lyles is. The only reason Lyles is admitting anything is because he was caught, and the reason he’s throwing Oregon under the bus is that they didn’t pay him a second installment of 25K for the upcoming year. Call it like it is, fellas.
Kind of fluff article if you ask me, no real meat to the story, but almost done so that the Oregonian can say that “we are reporting on this”. Canzano should know better, this guy made a living manipulating kids and receiving compensation for it. My conspiracy theory is that the Oregonian will always be a day late and a dollar short on this story because a Duck program no longer in the BCS mix will not sell very many papers after the scandal dies down. Behind closed doors they are hoping and praying this ends up being nothing.
I wonder if the Oregonian aren’t scared to really wade in for fear of losing future access to the university and team. Remember when people protested worker conditions in Nike factories, and Phil withheld money until they shut up? I could see the university being petty and denying access to the football team in the wake of some informative and responsible journalism.
If I were a sports journalist at the Oregonian, I’d be looking at this looping pop fly and screaming “Mine! Mine!” and waving everyone else off. Not to “take Oregon down,” but because its a real news story with real implications to a very popular national sport and a state institution. Also a slow time of year – would I want to write about attendance increases for the Salem-Kaizer Volcanoes? Hell no.
Opinion pieces
Also, did I just read Oregon gave Seastrunk a pair of Air Jordans, one of only two ever made??
That was the first thing that caught my eye. I was stunned more that Canzano didn’t play that line into the ground. One of two?
At least get the guy to say “one of 200” or “one of 2,000″… you know, something that doesn’t say Nikegon paid a prospect hundreds or thousands of dollars to come play for them.
Plus, who received the 2nd pair?? That would be my first question…
Uh, Michael Jordan?
Does the NCAA really even have to investigate much on this? It’s common knowledge in Eugene that the program cheats like crazy and the players are always bragging to everybody who will listen about how they were paid a ton to come to Oregon and are still being paid and brag about the gifts they received and are still receiving. Doesn’t take much investigating to bury this program.
Don’t sweat the ads. They’re pretty unintrusive.
Fould this Lyles quote interesting:
Said Lyles: “Who do you think got Oregon State on (running back) Storm Woods?… I gave him to (former Beavers assistant) Reggie Davis. I was the one dealing with Oregon State. And I gave James Rodgers to Laney College (a junior college) who gave him to (offensive coordinator) Danny Langsdorf at Oregon State.”
Lyles said he tried to get the Beavers as a client for a few years, but “they never purchased the service. That didn’t stop me from getting Reggie Davis the info on the kid.”
From this Canzano article: http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2011/07/canzano_willie_lyles_tells_how.html
Yeah, I saw that. It’s nothing assuming the “info” was just standard recruiting material.
The James Rogers quip is just his ego talking…Langsdorf had a contact at the JC completely unrelated to Lyles.
Yeah, doesn’t appear the Beavers paid him anything, he just gave the Beavers info on him and they then went after Woods hard. Doesn’t sound like they did anything wrong, but still, not too thrilled they even talked to him about any player.
Why I gotta be Mr. Pink?
Haha, luck of the draw. Learn how to rock it, WFO. Polyester was cool in the 70s, you know?
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Saw that for Pac-12 media day on July 26th Oregon is taking David Paulson. They have one player to bring, and they bring David Paulson, TE. You can’t help but think that they are trying to dodge any issues with their Texas recruits. Will the media lay into Chip Kelley on media day? How happy do you think Larry Scott is right now, wanting to tout out his new lineup with Utah and Colorado, and have this Oregon mess overshadow it.
Sounds like Willie Lyles will be a guest for Canzano on 750 The Game at 4:00p.m. today.
Can listen here:
http://www.750thegame.com/pages/8435695.php
p.s. I love that the ducks flagship station got bumped to AM for a HORRIBLE fm radio station. I laughed and laughed when that happened.
I’m not entirely sure they bumped it as I’m more sure that they switched it as necessity to widen coverage. 95.5fm used to fade out before we could even get to Eugene on Game Day. While business traveling, I can get 750am all the way down past Roseburg. They are sacrificing clarity for coverage area. Now, it can actually be the “flagship station”.
Chip takes a deserving senior every year: Walter Thurmond two years ago and Brandon Bair last year I believe. Besides, David Paulson was a Pac 10 First team player at TE last year. Why does this choice need any defending?
S-I tries to help out the UO “Dummies – check out the graphic.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/?eref=sinav&sct=nfl_nv_a
Point of emphasis – always pay cash….
UO administrators and Phil Knight have to be loving this sort of press for the “product” they worked so hard on. Oregon in a SI article side by side with top tier teams…for cheating.
re: Phil Knight – someone, somewhere has to find a way to tune in to what he’s saying – surely he’s talking to Kelly and company. What is UO officialdom saying? Why isn’t the media hounding them?
Followup: I don’t suppose the Daily Emerald publishes in the summertime – what fun/a challenge for a student journalist.
I hope you’re all listening to Lyles on 750/The Game…fascinating haha.
missed the interview. same story? any impressions?
He said the shoes mentioned above were just shown to Lache. He wasn’t given any.
He just put the spotlight on LSU, too. He mentioned Cal, though not in as bad a light.
Regarding Oregon: the biggest problem is he said he was due a second 25k, but he said this was for the new documents he provided (which were given to the NCAA as part as last year’s package). Big problem if I interpreted that correctly, and I think I did. Canzano didn’t pick up on it. Hopefully there will be an archive. I want to re-listen.
Yeah, something seemed off in the Canzano story, before you explained I was going to say that Lyles was exaggerating about the shoes for effect.
The shoes were one of only two pair, and in a display case. Still, Lache, a nikehead, was impressed, I guess.
Someone on O-live commented that this display of a product was a violation unless they had NCAA permission.
I suspect its true that the O is walking carefully on this whole issue. The UO uberfans are up in arms. I am surprised to see no comment by UO. Knight could at least hold a press conference.
Unrelated to football, the Beavers basketball program was selected as a host for the legends classic and the championship rounds would be played in East Rutherford, NJ. OSU finally is playing in a preseason tournament. Will be interesting to see how they do. Don’t know their possible opponents yet though. Other hosts are Vanderbilt, NC State and Texas.
How the hell did we get selected to host?
Gazelle Group runs the tournament and they have connections to Craig Robinson so that’s why the Beavers were selected to host IMO. I’ll take it.
CR had gotten a lot mileage out of the Gazelle Group so far in his OSU career, but he needs to do more then incur their favor again in this post season. In other words, NIT or go home!.
They’ll make it to the NIT or better, I’m sure of that. It’s nice that Craig was able to take advantage of his relationship with these guys and get into the Legends Classic. Vanderbilt and Texas will be NCAA Tourney teams and a Beavers win would definitely help with the resume. I think they will be good so those games will matter.
It could be a special year because all of those seniors are finally gone. The roster is talented, it’s now CR’s turn to do some coaching.
His coaching hasn’t been worth a shit so far, and don’t forget it was those” horrible” seniors that played a big part in Craig’s 18-18 season when they were sophs. As long as Craig continues to pull guys out after only 2 or 3 minutes on the floor we will have no flow to our offense. Plus, he can’t coach basic fundamentals worth a damn, starting with free throws for example. We were also the worst passing team in the league, so many telegraphed passes that were easily intercepted. I could go on…
I agree to a certain extent.
Make or break year for CR in my opinion. i really look forward to finding out if he really is major D-1 coaching material.
Now, now… Calvin played a role in that 2009 team, but it was REALLY obvious in 2010 that Ricky Claitt was the heart and soul of that 2009 team.
The Tarvers and Roe? Excellent work ethics and great guys. Not the greatest talent, but good role players themselves.
Omari? Never realized his potential, but he did work his way into a different, hard-nosed role his senior year. He impressed me not by doing the things he could do well greatly, but by doing different things he recently learned very well. He was not recruited for Coach Rob’s offense or defense, but he adapted.
Calvin and Lathen? Bright spots here and there, but they just never got it. They were horrible on-ball defenders, and their offensive styles were way too slow for Coach Rob’s offense. I think they were Coach Rob’s only mistake last year. I think he believed in his coaching abilities. He believed in Calvin and Lathen because he had seen the same bright spots we all had seen. And he wanted desperately for those two to believe in themselves as well.
We knew when Pac 10 play started that Calvin was playing saboteur with the team chemistry (only to be confirmed at the end of the season). And we now know Lathen has other issues which apparently nobody knew about.
Deane? Always had other issues.
Good people all, but none of them is a star in the making. And none of them save maybe Roe could take over a game on talent alone. And that’s given Roe would show up on any given night.
You can now look up and down the roster, and those kids are geared for greatness. Of course they won’t all get there. But they are all better at their positions than just about anyone we’ve had over the past 20 years… with probably the exception of Corey Benjamin (a guy who really could have used another year IMO).
For the first time in a long time we have a team with a bunch of hoopsters on it. Say what you want about any of their individual games, but any one of them can take over a game with a good night. And any two can tear the heart out of an opponent if they play together.
I’m not saying we win everything because of that. But I am saying that we are playing the game to win now. You can’t sleep on us anymore, and you can’t have a bad night. You’re going to have to have a good to great night to beat us now. And I’m hoping as these kids mature it wil take a great effort from a great team to beat them.
But I’m a little ahead of myself.
They’re good and getting better. The pieces coming in are role players to begin with, and they will be leaders when they leave. That’s the way a good program is run.
I am also disappointed in CR not doing better than he has done, after his first year. I was impressed at his run thru the CBI tourney, but not much improvement since then.
I guess we will see this year.
JackBeav pretty much said what I didn’t feel like writing. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say the Beavers will be in the NCAA Tournament next season. That prediction is subject to change though lol
I will take that bet. I think we would be lucky to make the NIT. I have no faith in CR. I honestly hate his coaching style. I have no clue why you yank a guy after a single mistake. Of course, I favor the Phil Jackson style of letting guys play through their mistakes.
Also, anyone hearing as much dissension among the team about CR as I am. I have heard from least 2 different sources.
@ osbeavs:
I talked with the dad of one of the current players, and a CR recruit, at the end of the season. Since he had done some coaching in the past I asked what his thoughts were on CR. His reponse, “no comment.”
That could be taken a number of ways but my impression was not positive.
Dissension among the team was a result of no leadership ON the team last year. Without naming names (because it’s pointless at this late date), there was one player who was a total ass toward players he thought would be taking playing time away from him. Instead of rising to the challenge of leadership and skill progression, he decided he would ride the frosh who were going to take away his star power. It got so bad that some frosh felt obliged not to eat with the team or hang out with them. That individual lost his starting role as a result, and he replaced the chip on one shoulder aimed at the frosh with a chip on the other shoulder aimed at Coach Rob.
Time and time again this person was given the tools to lead his team. Time and time again he acted and played like a petulant child. But Coach Rob kept trying. He would yank a frosh for making a frosh mistake thinking the “experience” would come on the floor and rise to the challenge. But the “experience” only came out and made the same lazy mistakes that his attitude cemented within his game.
Finally, Coach Rob was forced to see the light when this individual led a mutiny at the end of the season. That player would only see two minutes on the floor for the rest of his career.
In the mean time, Cunningham, Starks, Collier, Burton, Brandt and (finally) Nelson all showed either extreme periods of brilliance or sustained good to great play. I was livid after the UCLA away game because I thought Coach Rob was being too soft on the seniors. I thought from the beginning of the year that the youth would get a fair shake, and that would translate to a fun season.
I was wrong by 28 games.
But I’m willing to forgive now that the poison has been removed.
Maybe poison is a little harsh, but caustic or toxic certainly aren’t. We should all now know why players leave when a new coach comes on. That relationship is contrived from the beginning. Kids are less likely to mature, and coaches can be either unfairly strict or generous (depending on their policies).
I expect them to roll out of the gate without a thing to lose. i expect loose play and hard-nosed man defense switching to zone at opportune times. I expect more full court pressure than I do 1-3-1 sets. And I expect Cunningham and McShane to be the vocal leaders of this team without dissension.
I won’t say we won’t lose any dumb games early… this year. But I will say that we will be a lot happier once Pac 12 begins than we were last year at the same time.
Calvin Haynes was one of the worst all-time Beavers.
I don’t recall the last CR interview link on this site, but it was the usual stuff about growing up in Chicago, working-class parents, blah, blah and then onto basketball. Nowhere in the written interview did he accept any responsibility for last year’s showing. I can only hope he reads angrybeavs and takes care of the play-2-minutes and substitute or pull someone out after the slightest mistake. I think that will go a long way to improving his coaching.
I’ve asked this question a couple of times and not gotten a reply. Do any of you know if CR attends coaching clinics (or maybe college coaches don’t do that?) or who he goes to for mentoring and advice?
Does anyone know if Molesi will surface again? JC for another year? Mission?
He probably has one more year at Arizona Western JC.
1) All of this attention will result in a minor wrist-slap to Oregon. Stop getting so excited- it’s pathetic. Even if Oregon “cheated” to get these players, the fact of the matter is that OSU lost three Civil Wars in a row due to pathetic recruiting and poor coaching, especially by Banker and Langsdorf- so masturbating over a possible set of sanctions isn’t going to take away from the fact that Chip Kelly will continue to destroy us until said practices change and coaches are fired.
2) Craig Robinson is a shit coach. My opinion will only change IF (huge if) he gets us to the NCAA tournament. At that point please please please cook me up some crows. He has the same no-presence coaching as Jay John. Anyone that allows that ass-hat Haynes to play for a whole season is awful. We don’t play fundamental basketball and our offense is rat-ball.
Dude, stop.
While the argument is based in pathos, why would should you ask him to stop? I tend to agree with his statements that CR is just not that good of a coach. It is okay for us to disagree here.
Disagreeing is fine. Time will tell.
I think GB is just complaining about having to wipe the bile off his screen. Some people have sensitive stomachs and just can’t handle when people barf in their vicinity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S7kg1IhZ7M&feature=related
Ahhhh…. Made In Oregon!
Also, in response to Jack’s comments above about the dissension on the team. I probably shouldn’t have used the word dissension because it implies that it was limited to last year’s team. My statement should have been more blunt, the players by and large don’t like him (both current and old). I don’t think we win much next year for that very reason. Our team will not want to play their hardest for their coach and thus will lack chemistry. We have the talent, but its not enough because we NEED a coach.
Who said you have to like your coach? Winning cures all ailments, and if they win but don’t respect him then it would be weird.
The Beavers don’t need a new coach. Wait till the season plays out. If he takes the Beavers to the NCAA Tournament everybody will love him then.
Wanna place a bet on the NCAA tournament thing? Twenty bucks says that the Beavs don’t make the Big Dance. I would be more than happy to lose but I don’t think I will.
I will place $20,000 on that same bet if anyone wants to set up an escrow account.
My sources basically said that they didn’t like him as a person. Winning wasn’t the problem, they just really hated the guy. Not sure if winning will make them like CR, it doesn’t make me change my feelings about a person (in regards to their actual personality).
For instance, I really don’t like Keith Pankey and have been very verbal about it. Even if he had been a good player, I wouldn’t have liked him because he was a dick. In the same vane, despite how Austin Hall played (and the crap he sometimes got) I really liked him. Dude was a genuine person. Can’t hate a guy like that.
Why stop? Could it be, as Jack Nicholson once said: “you can’t handle the truth?”
meant for gobeavs.
Here…
http://twitter.com/#!/OSBeav_CoachRob
Ask and ye shall receive. Gawkers can gleen love or hate from his new Twitter feed.
I still don’t understand the need to like a coach. Is he supposed to be their friend, or is he supposed to be their coach?
Don’t have to like the guy but it means something when players hate their coach. athletes who hate their coach stop trying. Or they sneak out of a hotel room the night before a game because they don’t respect him or the rules.
Mutiny needs a leader.
Unified dislike of a coach is a legitimate team building technique. I’m not saying it’s a technique I like or agree with, but I’ve lived it, and I’ve seen it a lot.
If hate for your coach leads you to be lazy instead of proud, then it’s possible you don’t really hate your coach, but you hate yourself and your teammates instead.
Ever the eternal optimist jack. My thought is this, most teams that hate their coach lack success.
Congratulations to Angus Brandt per the CR twitter. Which brings me to say re: love/hate/competence as a coach that all the players have experienced various standards of coaching – some good, some (AAU, perhaps) bad. Those kids have been on the floor for a long, long time. If they dare, do they challenge some of CR’s methods and instructions?
I am always said that I would prefer CR to be less “philosophical” and discuss more stragtegy and tactics as a coach. I think he has much to prove in year four. Bottom line…no matter who is players are….he has yet to produce a winning ball club and that is ultimately what he has been hired to do. He might have five years to achieve that goal, if he can’t, you can throw him on the “post-Ralph” slag heap and Bobby D. can start over again.