Dana Altman press conference about portal, NIL, 2026/27 roster

[greenyellow]

Dana Altman gave an unexpected and rare press conference today where he talked about the current roster, NIL reductions, and what the team needs for next season. Main worry from Altman is he's trying to rebuild while also not getting as much resources like the rest of the Big Ten, which is also playing a part in them having so many transfers. Feels like Oregon is a small-market team in the MLB trying to go against the Dodgers' unlimited budget. Getting to just .500 may be a real struggle.

[UOducksTK1]

Well we can't get mad at a Shelstad and Evans for leaving. If they were gonna take a big reduction in NIL, then it makes sense.

When he talks about them missing the mark on evaluations last year (and honestly maybe the last few years), I hope he's referring not just to talent evaluation, but NIL distribution evaluation too. Because clearly we screwed up last year by spending majority of our NIL funds on three guys.

Gotta build rosters like he used to. Lots of 3/4 star guys that play close to a 5 star level. Our final four team had only one fringe 5 star guy (Tyler Dorsey). So we can win with transfers ranked in 50-150 range. Just gotta get the right guys. And I think Dana is clearly seeing this, which is very encouraging! Let's hope they're able to get the right guys this offseason.

[greenyellow]

I think expectations need to be set real low given Oregon's NIL budget. They aren't going to be spending like a Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, or Purdue so just making .500 in conference should be the real goal going forward. It's kind of like no man's land in pro sports in that you're good enough to win a few games but still not rich/good enough to compete at the highest levels unless there's a special confluence of players and events that makes them play above their perceived level.

[OregonFan4Life]

I hate to say it but until proven otherwise this has to be the move by Mullens/Knight/the boosters. No point in investing in a program that is losing money and needs to be subsidized by football and also is showing no signs of competing for a championship, even with decent NIL funding. Might as well put that money into the football program especially with the new $25M cap the NCAA is enforcing. This is a necessary business decision.

I bet the convo with Altman was something along the lines of, if you want more NIL funding then you gotta earn it and he has two years to show it or his contract will end and Oregon will move in a new direction.


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[UOducksTK1]

this video has way better audio quality

[greenyellow]

At least Altman was able to sneak in a Willie Taggart joke to lighten the mood a little.

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Also, it sounds more like they would have reduced NIL to returning players, not that the overall NIL budget was decreasing.

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[UOducksTK1]

The new approach makes sense. If you have about $8 mil, you can either do what we did this year:

3 guys with ~$2million each
10 guys with about $200k each (And most with little to no experience)

Or what they are trying to do more this year:
7 guys with $500k-$1million each (hopefully experienced)
6 guys with $200k-$400k each

The latter definitely makes more sense to potentially having success, especially if the first scenario has any injuries to your top 3 guys.

[UOducksTK1]

Also when it comes to NIL budget. I think Oregon is very realistically 10th to 14th out of the 18 teams in the Big Ten.

I think Altman coaching gives us a +4 advantage in general. So I'd expect us to finish 6th to 10th most solid years.

[greenyellow]

Just on the way Dana was speaking, it sure felt he was talking about getting more overall depth and talent rather than having it concentrated in just 2-3 players.

[UOducksTK1]

Just on the way Dana was speaking, it sure felt he was talking about getting more overall depth and talent rather than having it concentrated in just 2-3 players.

For sure, but it makes so much more sense. It does suck in this new NIl era, we probably won't get top 25 transfer portal players or very many 5 star recruits anymore. No more Bol Bol, Louis King, Kelel Ware, Kwame Evans, Troy Brown, etc. type guys.

But ironically, none of those guys were program changers for us. Again going back to what I said, the core guys in our history have seldom been the 5 star guys. So I actually think this is forcing DA and our coaching staff to kinda go back to what worked in his first 15 years.

Interesting new era.

[greenyellow]

Just on the way Dana was speaking, it sure felt he was talking about getting more overall depth and talent rather than having it concentrated in just 2-3 players.

For sure, but it makes so much more sense. It does suck in this new NIl era, we probably won't get top 25 transfer portal players or very many 5 star recruits anymore. No more Bol Bol, Louis King, Kelel Ware, Kwame Evans, Troy Brown, etc. type guys.

But ironically, none of those guys were program changers for us. Again going back to what I said, the core guys in our history have seldom been the 5 star guys. So I actually think this is forcing DA and our coaching staff to kinda go back to what worked in his first 15 years.

Interesting new era.

It really does feel like the entire program is back to the first few years of Altman's tenure. I don't know if fans should expect the team to make consistent Sweet 16 runs given the current investment level and landscape of college basketball. I'd be surprised if Oregon lands many 5* guys going forward unless they're homestate or West Coast kids that want to stay close to home. With their potential talent ceiling much lower due to budget concerns, Altman and his staff need to get better at evaluating under-the-radar guys, JUCOs, and transfers than they have been the past few seasons. It's going to be tough sledding in the Big Ten until Oregon is a full media rev share program.

[Boom]

Have they hired a general manager for the basketball program?

[OregonFan4Life]

Also when it comes to NIL budget. I think Oregon is very realistically 10th to 14th out of the 18 teams in the Big Ten.

I think Altman coaching gives us a +4 advantage in general. So I'd expect us to finish 6th to 10th most solid years.

Honestly, I’d say Oregon is 10-14th in the B1G in revenue from men’s basketball. I could be wrong but doesn’t seem like Oregon basketball is bringing in much revenue.


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[Phalanx]

I appreciate Coach Altman coming out with this info and giving us a little insight about what happened. He is nice to take the blame on himself, but the real problem is just lack of interest. Fan attendance has always been a problem, and the program is getting exposed now that they have moved to a conference where sports are like a religion. Maybe full revenue in four years will help, but with attendance near the bottom of the conference, I doubt we are going to see a lot of tournament teams going forward.

Hopefully the reset yields some better results. In a way, it's a fun challenge. There are plenty of lower-level schools that still field decent teams, so improvement at least is doable. I think we should get used to having good players getting plundered by richer schools after a year or two though.

[OregonFan4Life]

Honest question, does anyone feel like fan attendance/involvement got worth after the move from Mac Court to MKA? I know the size of MKA was a huge battle between Knight and Mullens. Mullens wanted a smaller arena that would sell out more often but Uncle Phil wanted an arena big enough to host an NCAA regional, and obviously we know who won that battle. But I wonder if Mullens got his way and if MKA was smaller and sold out more often and if there really was a crowd factor if that would help fan involvement/attendance.


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