Hill Billie

The following table shows the percentage of wins by coach against our historical rivals, Oregon State and Washington. As you can see, Dan Lanning is in last place: Coach Years PCT Kelly 4 100% Cristibal 4 86% Helfrich 4 75% Bellotti 14 63% Brooks 18 51% Taggart 1 50% Read 3 50% Enright 2 50% Frei 5 30% Casenova 16 27% Lanning 2 20% The rivalry with Oregon State is over, from this point forward it is only a cupcake game. At one time Idaho was a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). When the old PCC got reformed into the PAC-8, Idaho was left out. Oregon continued to play Idaho annually for a number of years and then occasionally thereafter. After 23 straight Oregon wins, we do not play Idaho anymore. Oregon State is the new Idaho. Oregon State is no longer on an equal footing with Oregon. They lost their conference, their coach, current starters, future revenue, and will losing their power 5 status, and future recruits. How many years will Oregon State lose to Oregon before sanity returns? What will be the new rivalry? Washington only? Does Michigan or tOSU become a rival? Regardless, Dan Lanning has not arrived when it comes to beating Oregon's rivals.

Lincoln Riley has a very narrow resume working with almost exclusively Air Raid coaches. The Mike Leach well has run dry, and Lincoln is going to have to hire someone he really doesn't know. Whoever that is must be an amazing recruiter, an amazing defensive coordinator, and someone who is willing to work for Lincoln. Sounds like mission impossible.

Early Oregon pioneers traveled the Oregon trail from Kansas City to Eugene. Dan Lanning is the modern-day pioneer. He grew up in Kansas City and went to a local Kansas City college. If he ever wanted to return to Kansas City, the only team he could coach there is the Chiefs. I think Dan has found the promised land and it is Eugene. Dan Lanning was the perfect hire to lead the Ducks for a very long time, however, he still has yet to beat either the Beavers or the Fuskies and this must change immediately.

Yes, I was a Pleasant Hill Billie (goat). When my dad graduated in ‘41, they were the Pleasant Hill Hillbillies. As a high school student, he got to watch the Oregon webfoots play basketball. That Oregon team nicknamed the Tall Firs won the inaugural NCAA basketball championship. It is time to win another. I am hoping it will be in football very soon.

Russ Francis was in my Pleasant Hill graduating class of 1971. In the fall of 1972, Russ was one of Dan Fouts receiving targets. During Dan Fouts Oregon career he threw passes to Bob Newland, Ahmed Rashad, Leland Glass, Greg Specht, and Russ Francis who all went on to play professional football. How many receivers did Justin Herbert throw to who went on to play in the pros? Coach Jerry Frei was fired after the 1971 season and Coach Enright was hired in 1972 to be his replacement. Coach Enright was the offensive line coach and was the popular choice by the players (sound familiar?). He was chosen over John Robinson and George Seifert who both went on to have amazing college and NFL success. Coach Enright tried to make Dan Fouts an option quarterback. Russ Francis played in all eleven games in 1972 and had a season total of eight receptions. I think most of us believe Justin Herbert’s talent was wasted when he played for Mari No O. There was a lot of wasted talent fifty years ago. During the 1973 season everything fell apart. This was just a little over a year after Steve Prefontaine lost his first race ever during the 1972 Olympics. The Oregon football team had one win and five losses going into the Washington game. On October 27, 1973, I watched the greatest game I ever watched as an Oregon college student. Herb Singleton (QB), Russ Francis, Bob Palm, Don Reynolds, and Rick Kane put it all together and they destroyed the Fuskies 58-0. The normally stoned college student section came alive. There was hope. Fifty years ago, the Ducks only had a couple of blue-chip players, no depth, lousy coaching, marginal facilities, and poor recruiting. The Ducks continued their decline from bad to terrible over the next decade, but there was always hope. A couple days after the 1973 Oregon win over Washington, my roommate (a member of the Oregon track team) walked into our apartment and said, “look at this”. He held up his new training shoes that had just arrived, the white Nike “Cortez” with the red swoosh. He went on to tell me they just opened a shop downtown Eugene called “Blue Ribbon” and they were selling them to the public. That afternoon, I was wearing my first pair of Nikes. Fifty years later, everything has changed. Thank you, Pre, Bill (Bowerman), and Phil. However, the only thing that has not changed is the need to beat the Fuskies.