Kent: 'Support your basketball team, or don't'
EUGENE, Ore. -- Ernie Kent answered questions from the media Monday about reports that his tenure with the University of Oregon men's basketball program would come to an end when the Duck season is over.
"I've been coaching for -- how many years now? -- 20 something years, and I've heard a lot of noise," he said.
"You just get your team ready, and this team right now, it's about getting their spirit in the right place before we get them out of town," Kent said. "You just focus on basketball right now, I've got a job to do, and I'm going to do my job, and that is to represent this University and push this team as far as we can push them."
"I'm going to coach through the Pac-10 tournament," Kent said, "and sit down with Mike" Bellotti, the University of Oregon athletic director.
"This is a team that's developing," Kent said. "If you're fans, this is your basketball team. Support your basketball team, or don't. But you can't say you're fans if you're going to support them when they are Elite 8s and they're on championship runs and suddenly they're in rebuilding -- you can't do that.
"Somebody sent their child here to the University of Oregon, and they sent them here so they can grow, not send them here so they can get beat up and not supported," he said. "Keep that in mind, because that is going to effect recruiting and everything down the road."
When asked again about reports his time at Oregon was coming to an end, Kent waived off an athletic department public information officer and tackled the question head-on.
"This is college basketball. Right now our focus is on the Pac-10 tournament," he said. "You're in a business of college basketball. In this day and age with the Internet, players are going to get beat up, coaches are going to get beat up. My job is to guide them through and show them how to handle themselves."
