http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/ ... .0319.html
Emotions mixed over departure
By Bob ClarkÂÂ
The Register-Guard
What could they say?
Eric Mitchum, Oregon's all-American hurdler, didn't know his head coach had resigned until he was asked to discuss it with reporters Friday afternoon.
"We heard rumors, but rumors are rumors," Mitchum said. "Sometimes they're true and sometimes not."
Similarly, basketball player and track athlete Jordan Kent was left wondering who he should meet with about his plans for his spring sport now that Martin Smith is no longer the head coach for track and field.
"This was pretty shocking, I didn't know this was coming at all," Kent said. "I'll just have to find out who's in charge and make sure all the coaches know I am coming out."
In the remake of the track and field coaching staff for this season, all of the assistant coaches will continue to supervise their individual areas, and the male distance runners, who had been coached by Smith, will be parceled out among the assistants. In overall charge of track and field will be Gary Gray, an associate director of the department who had been the administrator responsible for track and field, while also supervising compliance and academics.
Gray will now spend part of each day in the track and field offices, in what he said would be "a more prevalent role as an administrator," with his primary duties being "to make sure things move as smoothly as they can and make sure this is a positive and quality experience for the athletes."
Both Kent and Mitchum said the lack of a head coach shouldn't drastically alter the way the men's portion of the team is run, nor impact its goals of contending for the Pac-10 title and placing high at the NCAA outdoor meet. Mitchum said hurdlers and sprinters met with Smith only "once a week," an example of track and field being unlike most sports in its method of the individual athlete working with his particular coach.
"If people focus on what they can do and their individual accomplishments, then together it's going to make the team that much better," Kent said. "You don't want to lose your coach - and it's going to be a lot harder now without him, without having a person in charge - (but) we've all been through it long enough that we should be able to figure out what needs to be done."
The topic of the coaching change probably won't be discussed with the entire team until spring term begins, after this week's break from classes, Gray said. Though the Ducks have the Oregon Preview meet today at Hayward Field, several of Oregon's top athletes won't compete or be in attendance.
"They're pretty scattered right now, and I'll try to get with them as quickly as I can," Gray said.
He will be at the meet today, "to answer any questions I can," Gray said. "I would guess there will be some questions, (but) I'd really like to get everybody together and take their questions and concerns."
Most of the assistant coaches were informed of Smith's departure during a Friday afternoon meeting with Bill Moos, the UO director of athletics.
"They were all aware there have been some issues," Gray said. Asked about their reaction, Gray said "they were very quiet actually. I'm sure there was a range of emotions ... anger to concern about `where's this put us?' "
Marnie Mason, who coaches women's distance runners, termed Smith's departure "a positive change to allow us to move forward. I can't speak for the other coaches, all I can tell you is the feeling" among women athletes and herself.
She declined to go into specifics about problems in her relationship with Smith as her supervisor other than to say, "I just know the experience of coming to coach at the University of Oregon has been a lifelong dream. It has (turned out) nothing of the sort."
Asked to explain the comment, Mason said "in order to move a program forward, you want the support and direction and feedback from others, and I don't feel that was there."
Mason said she might be interested in becoming head coach for the women's program if it was again split off. On the other hand, she said, "I don't know that I'll be back, honestly," for another season.
Bill Lawson, the assistant coach who has been with Smith the longest and would seem the most likely candidate to move up to overall head coach of the program, declined comment on Smith's resignation. Attempts to reach other assistant coaches at the meeting with Moos were unsuccessful Friday night.
Lance Deal, who coaches men and women throwers, and Mark Vanderville, the volunteer coach for pole vaulters who works for the city of Eugene, weren't at the meeting. While Vanderville asked questions of a reporter about the news conference in which Smith's resignation was announced, he didn't seem surprised.
"It's not the first that I heard, but as for what it all meant, I was out of it," Vanderville said.
Both Kent and Mitchum seemed to recognize there was some dissatisfaction with Smith, though both spoke in support of their departed head coach.
Kent, the son of UO men's basketball coach Ernie Kent, said "I'm pretty aware of the pressures that go on with coaching and all that. It's a very high-pressure job and it's very fickle. Sometimes even coaches who are doing great jobs ... are still on the hot seat.
"I hope for the best for (Smith). He's obviously been a great coach. Look at the success this team's had."
Mitchum declined comment on a question about whether he was concerned that one of the reasons for Smith's departure was related to a push among boosters for more of an emphasis on distance runners, possibly at the expense of other areas of the team.
Asked, however, about people complaining about the team even though it has done well in recent NCAA and Pac-10 competitions, Mitchum said "it's disappointing. It's like they don't appreciate" the other athletes on the team.
Mitchum pointed to the team being either first or second in the past three Pac-10 meets as an example of Smith's success.
"He made a team," Mitchum said, "but I suppose some people didn't like it for some reason or another."
