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WR Jeff Thomas...

I don't know about this one. He says last night around 5pm that he will be announcing soon.

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Then an hour later he goes on to basically ask fans to blow up his twitter feed.

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I loved his playmaking at the Army game this year but not sure I loved all the above. I think the chances of him quacking are low.

DSA odds: 11.9393%

Return of the Red Guard

We are not supposed to be political on this board so I will try to focus my comments. I do not want a newspaper or a police dept. that ignore or excuse wrong behavior by athletes.

The R-G (and in my opinion the U of O admin) has an agenda which is disdainful of UO athletes civil and legal rights. It assumes guilt and wrong motives. They aren't talented enough as writers to hide this fact in their articles (if they are even trying to be objective). Steve Mims in his twitter feed responded to a couple of folks who said the UO had to do something (about training incident) with something to the effect that they would have been glad to report they found no wrongdoing. In today's culture and based on the UO's actions in every incident involving AD personnel and athletes over the last 5+ plus years he is either stupid or naïve. Meek is a Schroeder in sheep's clothing.

Could we institute a reporter swap with Tuscaloosa World Journal (don't know their papers real name) and see how they would be received there?

Flock Talk: Closing time - some tidbits

From the end of the article there is this tidbit:

FINAL TAKE
: There has been some worry about the rhabdomyolysis case involving three Oregon players and how it could affect recruiting. Based on early reports – it likely will have little to no impact. A reporter in Virginia, Mitch Carr, asked both Mekhi Becton and Ellis Brooks about the case and it’s impact as he reported “it didn't bother them. They figured it was players trying to impress new staff. Neither blamed the hospitalizations on the new staff. The story would not stop either from committing to Oregon.”

Check out the rest of the article with a closer look at some of the visitors this weekend and some non-visitor news as well

Flock Talk: Closing Time

Wednesday Whispers: 1/18

Okay, let's get back to football and recruiting! Here is today's edition of Wednesday Whispers

From inside, there is one other hire which has already been made. I have been given the information, but was asked to not 'break' the news. I learned of the name more than a week ago. It should be public at any time, just waiting on the go-ahead to release the information!

Wednesday Whispers 1/18/2017

Ray Woodie - the rest of the story

So, Ray Woodie knew from the moment Taggart left USF that he would be joining him in some capacity at Oregon. But he also felt a certain sense of loyalty and stayed at USF though the bowl game.

From the moment Charlie Strong was announced, it was decided that he was not going to let Woodie out of his contract very easily. He met with the remaining coaches and performed 'interviews.' I use that word because an interview would imply that Strong had the intention of retaining the interviewee. With Woodie that was never an option. Woodie was set to make (as defensive coordinator) $350,000 at USF.

The university was not going to spend that much on Woodie and Strong knew it - but he kept bringing Woodie in for 'panel style' interviews for 90 minutes or more 2 or 3 times a week. Over time it became clear that he was not going to let Woodie go easily, but he was also using the time he had to get as much information as he could from Woodie before he left.

Once he made the decision, then it had to go through legal at USF. I got the information on the hire in the middle of last week. At the time, there was the thought that it might happen as early as Friday, but the weather around Oregon affected the ability of HR and legal at Oregon from completing the contract and background stuff necessary to formally announce the hire.

With the holiday Monday, it was then supposed to come out Tuesday - until the report on the three players being hospitalized came out put it on hold again. One insider told me "It's crazy now with this little scandal going on. Hopefully bringing Ray on staff will bring stability too!"

At 1:10 this afternoon I got a message telling me to watch the Oregon twitter account; at 1:14 McNamara tweeted about the news coming at 1:20. My promise was to allow the university to announce before I did - but I had a full story ready to post the moment the university made the announcement.

What I found fascinating, though, was how hard Charlie Strong made Woodie work to do what he knew was going to happen anyway; it was almost petty on Strong's part to play it like he did. I mean, we can complain that Taggart did not interview any Oregon coaches (according to Greatwood, he never even contacted any of the prior coaches), but at least he did not play games with their ability to find a new job and make the move.

I have also heard that part of it might be related to USF still paying Woodie as a part of his contract. But if you want to know what took so long to hire Woodie, blame Charlie Strong!
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