Just a few days after Joey Harrington was born, his father John received a letter on Athletic Department stationary from his old coach, Len Casanova. That letter was one-part congratulations, and one-part Cas’ way of expressing interest in recruiting his newborn son to come play football in Eugene.
And just like that, Joey’s Oregon story began with a heartfelt letter from a Duck legend.
Something him and Dan Lanning now have in common.
Later today, Lanning will be officially welcomed by the media as the 35th head coach in Oregon football history. But late last night, it was made known that Oregon history itself had something to say about what should be important to a prospective head coach.
Our dear friend and talking bald head, John Canzano, reported on two key pieces of information yesterday regarding the Oregon coaching search.
First, he reported that Justin Wilcox was offered the job on Friday, but he ultimately turned it down.
If that news makes you upset, then you might want to take it up with fourteen of the most influential men to ever wear green and yellow, because they were apparently part of an internal group making a big push for a guy like Wilcox to get a serious look.
And that brings us to the second piece of news Clownzano reported on yesterday:
Apparently Harrington, Mariota, Herbert, Droughns, Philyaw, and nine other Oregon football greats all signed their names to a special letter that was sent to AD Rob Mullens at the beginning of last week, shortly after Mario was officially off to Miami.
The now infamous letter was sentimental, and it expressed that continuity in leadership was a key to Oregon’s ascension, and that, “after two attempts to find a coach outside the ‘Oregon Box’, [they] believe it may be time again to look within the Oregon family.”
The letter lamented Oregon’s last few years of seemingly morphing into a “stepping stone program,” for head coaches, and it described how even though the Ducks have been known outwardly for flash and innovation, that there were three to four decades of the same core staff that guided the team from Toilet Bowls to Rose Bowls.
The players came just short of outwardly naming the exact ‘member of the Oregon family’ they would pick, instead opting to say, “we as players believe there is a candidate out there,” and that they, “…all believe in him and want him to have a realistic opportunity to be considered.”
Joey, George Wrightster, and Akili Smith went live on Twitter Spaces last night and addressed many of the things in this letter, but it’s been understood that candidate numero uno would have been Wilcox.
I will include the full letter below, but I’ll leave you with some of my thoughts.
Does this letter read as overly sentimental? Sure. That’s probably why I’m giving it such a pass. It’s a letter after my own heart.
Does it reflect the current state of College Football? It clearly concedes that the coaching tradition of Don Pellum, Gary Campbell, and Jimmy-Rad is long gone. The writers of this letter know, “that ship has sailed.”
But I read this whole thing as much more of a love letter to that group of coaches, and a love letter to a piece of the UO that can be traced all the way back to Cas’ Athletic Department. To what they achieved with an immense amount of help, resources, and belief from the fans and some insanely generous boosters.
And seeing as how this letter was never meant for the public, and because it was sent at the start of this coaching search, I think it was well-within these players’ right to send it to Mullens—to give him something to chew on from the perspective of the men that built his office.
And selfishly, I think this letter ends up becoming a bit of an endorsement and/or reminder of the entire thesis of Ditch Rich—to never forget that we are the losers, for lack of a better way of putting it.
It sucks that this letter was leaked, and it really sucks that it was released on the day Dan Lanning landed in Eugene. But I’m sure he’ll take it in stride, and I know that every one of those fourteen players has firmly and publicly endorsed Dan as the leader of this program going forward.
They’re all aboard the Dan Van.
I also don’t know why Wilcox turned down the job. I was under the impression that we were his endgame. Maybe we’ll never know.
Joey doesn’t know why he said no either, but last night he did say that he hopes the Ducks “beat the hell” out of Cal next year.
Joey wrote that letter because he loves Oregon—and because he also loves to win—and as we welcome Dan Lanning into the fold, we know those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Go Ducks.
Full letter linked below:
James, I think you are being too soft on Joey and Akili. Joey wrote the letter and apparently changed it after some of the players had agreed to sign it. I imagine all of the "signings" came by text or email, not a physical signature. But it doesn't seem right to get a player to agree to put his name to something and then change it. Clearly one of these people leaked the letter. Judging from their reactions, I believe it was Akili. And I think he and maybe Joey have been talking to Canzano for a long time. I agree that group had every right to communicate their feelings to Rob, but at best they are very naive about how these things work. Because they clearly had not talked to Wilcox or knew how he felt. It will pass - these things always do. But it's embarrassing and any kind of Duck on Duck crime is never okay. Akili is the guy that got the Civil War killed. I'm not a fan of his, so maybe my bias is showing. But if he and/or Joey have been talking to Canzano, then he/they are undermining the U of O. And that's not acceptable.