With a month before the season? I am as surprised as you are....

Oregon's Dana Altman Retires Less Than 1 Month Before Sta...

Less than a month before the start of the 2026-27 college basketball season, Oregon is already dealing with a tumultuous situation after longtime head coach Dana Altman announced his retirement on Wed

What?!?

Whoa... Can't wait to hear more about this!

Reading between the lines of this On3 article, it sounds like he is retiring because he doesn't have the budget to compete at the top of today's CBB NIL world.

He wasn't happy about not having the resources to retain top players or create a championship roster.

Most of the revenue-sharing money has to go to football. Oregon basketball boosters don't have the money, or there aren't enough boosters interested in basketball.

The same thing happened to the baseball team. By Big Ten standards, Oregon has a small number of living alumni.

Today's CBB is a different world from when the Tall Firs won the first NCAA championship in 1937 with a win over Ohio State. I expect the Buckeyes combined CFB and CBB budgets dwarf Oregon's combined budgets.

And getting a half-share of B1G revenue does not help the cause.

Success in today's college sports: follow the $$$.

On3

Oregon coach Dana Altman to retire after 16 seasons with...

Oregon coach Dana Altman has decided to retire ahead of the 2026-27 season, according to a report from On3's Joe Tipton. Altman, 68, has been the Ducks

While a change has been inevitable, the timing is weird to say the least.

18 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

And getting a half-share of B1G revenue does not help the cause.

Although it is a heck of a lot more than a full share of the PAC.

19 minutes ago, John Charles said:

the timing is weird to say the least.

AMEN

17 minutes ago, John Charles said:

While a change has been inevitable, the timing is weird to say the least.

JC, see the On3 article post above.

I think Dana is retiring because he doesn't have the budget to compete at the top level of today's NIL-driven CBB.

He'll end up at a mid-major bb school.

Hopefully, it isn't a health issue regarding him or a close family member. Otherwise, though, the timing is very strange. Maybe he woke up and just decided he didn't want to go through a season with talent in the lower half of the conference?

Shocking news for this time of year. I thought for sure Altman would had had enough by the end of last season.

Maybe he'd seen enough practices to know he couldn't take another year of this.

From John Canzano....

"Altman approached AD Rob Mullens this week and told him he needed to retire due to health issues. To Mullens’ credit, he tried to talk Altman out of it, offering that even if the coach could give 70 percent, they’d figure out how to make it work this season.

“Dana was very emotional,” the source told me. “It’s just not in his nature to quit.”

Altman’s abrupt departure, just eight victories shy of 800, is curious. I expected he’d start the season as coach and get to 800. But a source told me that Altman was in so much pain at practice last week that he had to lie down on the court twice.

“Not life-threatening,” the source said. “But he’s having a rough time sleeping.”

Tony Stubblefield was 28-54 at DePaul before being fired...

Dan talks about Dana.

Dan Lanning: "He's as good as they come."

Wow. They don’t come anymore genuine than Dana. Going to miss him. Hope his health issues resolve soon.

"...getting a half-share of B1G revenue does not help..."

Oregon currently receives about two-thirds of a full-share of all distributions. While UW and UO did start out at half-shares of the media portion of revenue they both receive full shares of other revenue such as CFP, NCAA Tournament, sponsorships, etc.

The half-share of media portion goes through 2030, though it is also increasing modestly each year until the full jump in 2031. Though, 2031 will be under a new media contract. Most believe 2031 will at least equal the last year of the old media deal in 2030, but many B1G schools may be subject to the Big Ten re-evaluating distributions - such as providing Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State higher shares than Purdue, Minnesota.... Thus, a full share in 2031 may not be 100% of what OSU receives.

How an individual school prioritizes that revenue with-in their programs will vary.

My understanding is that by leaving now the current roster will remain intact, because players can't transfer to a new school right now and expect to play this season, or to maintain or improve their current NIL deals. This gives Stubblefield a chance to be competitive this season, and gives the Ducks a nice long window to find a replacement. Hopefully the can find someone like Lanning, an up and coming coach with great character who can embrace the new dynamics of college basketball. We were lucky to have Dana, he represented the UO well, and I hope his health issues are solved quickly.

Five potential long-term head coach candidates for Oregon MBB

While Stubblefield has head coaching experience, leading DePaul for three seasons, his interim tag is a sign that the Ducks may look elsewhere in their head coaching search.

With an entire season still upcoming, it's likely that Oregon's head coaching search will be an extended one as they search for a long-term solution. Though it's very early in the process, these five coaches should receive a call from Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens and be considered viable candidates as he conducts the head coaching search.

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/mens-basketball/2026/10/07/oregon-mens-basketball-long-term-head-coach-candidates/92137465007/

End of an era. Thank you so much, Coach. You put your heart and soul into the program, and your presence will be felt for years to come.

Go Ducks 🦆