Oregon men’s basketball coach Dana Altman bemoaned about the lack of fans at the Ducks’ NIT quarterfinal loss at home to Wisconsin on Tuesday and said in his postgame news conference the school should fire him if he’s the issue. Here’s what you need to know:
- Altman called the attendance number of 3,300 “embarrassing.” Adding, “You see the commitment that Wisconsin makes with the cheerleaders, the band. We make a commitment, don’t get me wrong. But you can just see how important it is to them. It’s important to me. We should have more people here,” he said.
- Altman, 64, said that if the school needs its coach to be a “promoter,” then it should “make the change.” He said he would “go coach junior college ball,” which he “loves.”
- “But 3,300 people? For Wisconsin? I’m disappointed. And I appreciate the people who came,” he added. “Again, I’m not a promoter. I’m not out in public. I don’t have Twitter and all that stuff. My job is to coach.”
Dana Altman didn't pull any punches during his postgame presser. Called it "embarrassing" that Oregon had just 3,300 fans in attendance on Tuesday.
“If It’s me, then make the (coaching) change. Make the change. Somebody will hire me somewhere. I’ll go coach junior college ball." pic.twitter.com/039Wey0UMN
— Jarrid Denney (@jarrid_denney) March 22, 2023
Does Altman have a legitimate beef?
Maybe a little bit. He’s generally been pretty successful at Oregon, especially in the postseason, and you would assume the enthusiasm for a large, well-resourced program like that goes a bit deeper than 3,300 people for a postseason game. It is not uncommon for Oregon games to feel particularly dead, especially on broadcasts; you spend all Thursday night watching exciting matchups in intense environments, then switch over to the 11 p.m. ET tipoff in Eugene, and it sounds like a morgue by comparison.
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Still, blaming the fans for this is pretty bold. This is, fundamentally, on Altman. It’s not just about being a “promoter,” because no one would have confused Altman for that when he was hired (he is one of the more intentionally anodyne people in the business). It is about putting a worthwhile product on the floor. Oregon was just plain bad last year, and the Ducks weren’t much better this year. That’s two years in a row with no NCAA Tournament, and three in the past six seasons, with a style of play as formless as your typical Altman press conference. (Not this one, obviously.)
You can’t blame people if they feel like they have better things to do than watch Oregon basketball these days. — Brennan
Is this the last we hear about fans in attendance?
The bigger question is whether this means Altman’s time at Oregon has come to an end. It may be a natural stopping point. Altman doesn’t just say things; he studiously avoids ever saying anything. If he’s this frustrated, he’s very frustrated, perhaps to a strategic extent. Fans are checked out, anyway, and what worked so well in the first half of his tenure — culminating in those deep 2016 and 2017 tournament runs — is clearly no longer hitting. It might be time for Oregon to shake things up and for Altman to find a new project.
He wouldn’t need to drop down to junior college unless he really wants to; he’d have plenty of offers and sensible fits. We’ll see. — Brennan
Backstory
Altman, who just wrapped up his 13th year with Oregon, has a 321-140 record with the Ducks. He’s led the team to seven NCAA Tournament berths, with its last coming in the 2020-21 season.
The team went 21-15 this year and lost to UCLA in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament.
Prior to Oregon, Altman spent 16 years as the coach at Creighton. He is under contract with the Ducks through the 2027-28 season, per OregonLive.com.
Required reading
(Photo: Robert Edwards / USA Today)