Haywarduck

I can't blame him for wanting to follow the coach who hired him, and to a place closer to home. I have faith Lanning will be landing with both feet firmly on the ground with his staff, McClendon or not. Grateful and hopeful is my status!

Nothing we can do to change the fact that Cristobal wins on the recruiting trail. He just beat Saban, and will beat Lanning at times. The measure of a coach comes game day, not signing day, or preseason ranking day either. Lanning will put together a very good class, and develop talent. I look forward to focusing on all the elements which make a great team, not just recruiting. That is what Cristobal hangs his hat on, we don't let him wear our hats or hang them on our rack anymore! It is time to move on from the precept Cristobal sold so many, recruiting is what we should focus on. We should focus on the fierce defense Lanning sold us and get back to, what Charles has harped on, our offense scoring a load of points. The Cristoball offense is coming to an end, and the Oregon we all love is on the way back! Time to continue what started long ago!

There really should be a Dye Award, awarded annually to the most, best something. Not sure what attribute they portray the best, but you could come up with any number of things. These 3* kind of players use to be the foundation of Oregon football, and are no longer seen on the sideline or field, the end of an era.

Mario is again killing it in recruiting and their program is over the moon. I think it is time to realize we will do just fine with recruiting, portal finds, but the scheme and culture are the critical components we need right now. Let's move on from the obsession with recruiting. Frost was wrong, we can and will do very well in recruiting. I actually look forward to hearing Lanning talk about how the next 3* is going to be like Troy Dye, or Justin Herbert, now that would be exciting!

Clone this guy, we need more Dye's! The program won't be the same without a Dye in uniform!

Not sure who said Ty is getting more reps in practice, but there is another scenario too. Not to be oppositional but who recruited Ty and who recruited Anthony? If you look at the qb Cristobal recruited to Miami, he is a ringer for AB. The line on him is a great dual threat qb, who has a suspect arm. A 'unique quarterback prospects in the class of 2022 given ability to run the football, struggles at times with accuracy and tends to make some of the easiest throws the most difficult.' AB and Cristobal's new qb show exactly what Cristobal wanted and wants, a big runner, who's throwing is secondary. Saban, and Smart wanted nothing to do with the kid, out of Georgia. Ty Thompson is Moorhead's qb. Moorhead picked the kid, recruited the kid, he even recruited Ashford at his previous school, but not AB. I think Joe respects AB and appreciates what he has done for Oregon, as we should. My bet is we will see Moorhead's offense unleashed, as stated, and if AB falters he will have no problem putting in his guys. One way Moorhead's reputation has been tarnished is the lack of qb development. The last thing Joe wants to do is leave Oregon, and let the next guy get all the credit for all the hard work he has put into his guys. My bet, we see Ty sooner than later, because Ty is Joe's qb, and he wants credit for what we will see next year. How do you like that scenario?

Just sets the mood of the day for me.

Spring game, selfishly. I want data, information on what the Dan Ducks are going to look like! I'm not talking about uniforms either! Then Fall camp scrimmages, again I want data on what we will see next year. As far as games, they're all important!

They read FishDuck, obviously.

A one hit wonder band, who thinks they are legendary.

Not sure who would deserve it more, but he is definitely Oregon's College Football Player Of The Year. Thibs is as talented as any player out there, but Noah left it on the field, every game he played. I was actually shocked we were able to beat WSU without him. His impact on the team is unquestionable, and massive. Travis Dye matched his heart on the field, but the talent of Noah is exceptional.

Great idea to put a donate here button somewhere. It is the season to be both grateful and generous with our giving. We should all ask ourselves if we can give, as we all gain so much! The donate button shouldn't be dominate, like our defense will be, but we should be locate it, unfortunately, like our offense, tough to find.

Wow, just wow! Made me question my loyalty to the Ducks and love of college football.

Lastly the article today is about Loyalty. Loyalty is being shown to AB. We as fans can decide to show loyalty to players, or just the idea of winning with what we, as fans, think is best. I am not talking about staying with AB if he plays like he did against Utah. If he is off again like that, the second half should see another qb or two. I will say loyalty to the players should involve giving AB a chance to lead the team he led all year. If not we are no better than some of the things we are so critical of. What do we want our program to stand for?

Great article, as it takes many people to support such an auspicious plan. Each piece has to fit into a massive machine, and that machine has to become a microprocessor. Gone are the days where the coach is only person making critical decisions. Does anyone really think Saban could have turned the Alabama offense into what it became without delegating the offense to Jim McElwain and getting rid of Applewhite after one year? Saban has continued to make shrewd hires and management decisions. So much of coaching is delegated, and then trusting the coach, assistant or just chief of staff. Each piece has to be trusted to know their job and do it well. The coach can't be expected to micromanage, nor does a program want that. You hire great staff, keep them accountable, and let them be part of a larger web. Lanning will be judged by the play on the field and wins and losses. Those all begin at the decision level we see with the hiring of Malchow. Not many really want to understand this level, but it is incredibly important for Lanning to make the right hire or the circuits go haywire quick. Meanwhile Cristobal continues to kill it on the recruiting front, congrats!

I would add the best case scenario is he has such a good game he can hand it off in the 3rd quarter to one of the young guns. AB deserves to start, and the offense has been built around his skills. He has also been a warrior within this system, we should be grateful. I get, am in that camp, we want our offensive output again. The problem is this is what has been built and we need to let it play out. We can wish for what we will see next year. We need to show the patience Ty and others have shown, it will come!

I also think it reflects on how our society is today. It use to be you went down to 'Kim's' bookstore, after going to 'Bob's' coffee shop. We now drive through 'Dutch Bro's' to get our coffee, and feel good about the relationship with the drive through person. We then wait for Amazon to deliver our book or other item. Nothing wrong with society now, I suppose that is a whole different conversation, but it is different. Loyalty is based on convenience, and performance. If it isn't convenient to wait in line at Dutch you will go to the next best. If the coffee isn't good you might choose some place else. You won't just ask Bob at the coffee shop what is up with the coffee today. You will just get online and give the coffee shop 1*, rant, and feel better, temporarily. So we may want Kim's bookstore and Bob's coffee shop, but we don't live in that world anymore. If you really want that again, go down and watch Linfield Football, great stuff. What we have is Starbucks Football, and we better like the new brew, because it is what is available until our massive gift card is used up.

Lanning is taking over a winning program, like Helfrich did. Great question about loyalty in both situations. I think it can be defined, better, by saying there is a commitment on both parts to 'winning' and growing the program. Saying there is loyalty on either part, is disingenuous, at best. There is only loyalty to money, it drives everything. Cristobal's weakest element was the fanbase beginning to tire of Cristoball. If the fanbase decided not to attend games, pay for their seats, donate, and Cristobal faltered in wins, he would have been gone too. If the money stopped, the loyalty, commitment to Cristobal would have crumbled. Lanning and Oregon have made a commitment to grow the program from where Cristobal had it. Failure on the student athlete part, recruiting part and the winning part will begin to erode that commitment on Oregon's part. It will erode because the money, revenue will dry up. Revenue and money spent are tied together, but not completely. Revenue is critical for the Athletic Department, and its budgets. Revenue is tied to the fanbase, and it's support. The money to build and support the coach won't waver for a long time. That money is tied to the big donor(s). As I stated before Oregon's commitment can't really be questioned. The money Oregon is putting into football is staggering. With this commitment, loyalty, isn't a question on our part. The only question is will Lanning fulfill his commitment. If not, the money will still poor into the program and it will move on.

We don't know much for sure, other than Canzano had no clue. My bet the PK's were extremely involved in who would be the next coach, and Mullens knew the rules and how to be an AD.

The Pac-12 shutting out tosu for the season would bring me great joy. The Pac-12 gong 2-0 against the nuts, do it Utes! What a way to bring in the New Year.

Love this guys act.

The RB always being the team leader in rushes. A 1,000 yd. receiver and other guys getting regular catches. The qb being, at least, in the conversation for the Heisman on somebody's board. The defense having no, or few injuries, and it will take care of itself. A pundit states 'Oregon's offense is back!' which would pretty much mean all of the above is done. Lastly we never have to hear about how good the dawgs were in the past.

The back up plan is making the position as attractive as possible. Coaches undoubtedly look at positions and the support they get. They also look at where the previous coach ends up. When the new indoor facility gets done, and it isn't just a rich alumni's pie in the sky promise, the Oregon program will look even more attractive. The academic facilities being built on campus are also impressive, along with Hayward Field. Oregon looks like an elite athletic department with many mens and women's NCAA titles, and an academic powerhouse. The job of coaching may have become a stepping stone, but it is an upward stepping stone. Coaches haven't been asked to walk on water, and they haven't sunk after coaching at Oregon. We may not like the directions our coaches have gone, but to most coaches this is an attractive attribute. Not just the head coaches, but the OC's have taken head coaching positions. I actually wouldn't call our plan a back up plan, more of a moving ahead plan. Our coaches and the program keeps moving ahead, and coaches want to be part of that kind of program. We are like the cool kid who always lands on his feet, and people just are attracted too. We aren't just the rich kid, who often has to impress new friends with just money and power, because they have alienated all their old friends.

And I would argue some give him too much credit. How would Mullens do hiring coaches at UW? Would Cristobal have been able to leverage their storied past? Hiring an assistant, or somebody with a losing history hasn't worked out with the dawgs. My take is he does his job well. I highly doubt he was behind contacting Lanning or pushing that pick. I can agree to disagree on this one, and agree it is time to move on.