If all the reports coming out of Eugene are true, the Oregon basketball coach has already been told he’s out at the conclusion of the season.

My question is, “Why?”

No, not “Why is he out?” — he’s earned that the old fashioned way: by losing a lot of games. Home games, at that. But the more pertinent question is “Why now?” Why wouldn’t you wait until the end of the season?

There is a possibility, particularly with the parity in the talentless Pac-10, that the guy could win the conference tournament. Yes, a remote possibility — but it could happen. And if you’re going to fire him before the season ends, why not just hand him a gold watch and send him on his way immediately and let the assistant coaches guide the team the rest of the way?

I dunno. I have no idea what’s going on.

I will make a prediction here, though. Nike is going to have a hand in hiring the next coach and trust me, that company — oh, you ought to hear the stories about the wonderful off-season trips it sends its basketball coaches on — has all kinds of muscle with top coaches around the country.

I would expect the next Duck basketball coach to be a very accomplished coach, an experienced winner on the Division I level and someone whose name alone will help sell tickets and sponsorships in that new arena.

Anything less would be a disappointment.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Ernie Kent, Nike, Oregon Ducks

The best show yet, and with the likes of Paul Allen, Nate McMillan, Brandon Roy, Chip Kelly, Mike Riley, the state’s next governor Chris Dudley and Ndamukong Suh all in the house it was certainly the place to be Sunday night.

If you missed it, set an appointment to watch the show on Tuesday night at 8 o’clock on Comcast Sportsnet. The folks of who put this show together, Sports One, Nike and the Portland Tribune, are to be congratulated.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Nike, Oregon Sports Awards

If you haven’t read this story by Kerry Eggers in the Portland Tribune, it’s a must-read. Nike is talking to Oregon State about designing an entirely new look for the university’s football program, from the colors, to the uniforms, even to the mascot!

Now while I’m not in love with some of those wild uniform combinations the Ducks use, there is no question how effective Nike has been in changing the image of the University of Oregon and its athletic department.

At the very least, Oregon State needs to dump that ridiculous “OS” thing that it went to a while back. When your most-popular cheer is “Ohhhh-ESSSSSS-YOUUUUU” you probably don’t need to drop the “U” part, do you? And the “OS” thing never caught on at all.

For the Beavers, this is exciting news. Go for it. And hey, if the old guys like me don’t like it at all, just do what the Ducks do — say it’s what the kids like and it helps recruiting.

You can’t argue much with that.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Nike, Oregon State Beavers, uniforms

According to this story in the Business Journal, Phil Knight has been selling a lot of Nike stock recently:

Nike Inc. co-founder and Chairman Phil Knight sold nearly $37 million of Nike stock Monday and Tuesday, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Knight has sold $332 million, or 5.1 million shares, of Nike stock in the past two weeks.

The selling spree began on Oct. 14 when Knight acquired 5 million shares of the company’s Class B stock in exchange for 5 million shares of the company’s more powerful Class A stock.

Knight sold the shares for between $62.50 and $66.34.

He remains the company’s largest shareholder by far. He now controls 86.9 million shares of Class A stock, which elects nine of the company’s 12 directors. The stake is worth $5.57 billion, based on Tuesday’s closing price.

Knight ranked No. 24 on this year’s Forbes list of the country’s richest people. He has a net worth of roughly $9.5 billion.

Oregonians pay a 9 percent tax on capital gains, meaning the state will collect roughly $30 million from Knight’s recent stock sales.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) shares remain near a 52-week high after closing Monday up less than 1 percent. In the past year, the stock has ranged between $38.24 and $66.35.

The company declined to comment about the sales.

As you probably know, it’s pretty common for large shareholders to constantly be selling company stock. But these are some pretty large transactions.

Maybe he’s needing cash to build a ballpark in Beaverton!

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Nike, Phil Knight

Nike has certainly set the standard for advertising shoes. Nobody is even close. But here’s the thing about those ads we keep seeing featuring puppets of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant:

I don’t care if you think they’re funny, cute, entertaining, just OK, awful or totally annoying. Doesn’t matter. It all comes down to one thing — I just don’t see any way in the world those ads are selling one, single, solitary shoe.

No way. And they aren’t doing anything for the popularity of the two players, either.

So really, what’s the point?

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, NBA, Nike, puppets, shoes