Rueck: ‘We’re confident, we’re gritty. That’s what it takes this time of year’
Sports Kerry Eggers Sports Kerry Eggers

Rueck: ‘We’re confident, we’re gritty. That’s what it takes this time of year’

Patience, a poet once wrote, “is a companion of wisdom.”

I’ve grown to appreciate Scott Rueck’s wisdom since our paths first crossed more than a decade ago.

It has taken me until this year to understand his patience.

In late January, the Oregon State women’s basketball team was 3-5 and had lost more games to COVID-19 than it had played. Having lost three top players from the previous season to graduation (Mikayla Pivec), transfer (Destiny Slocum) and injury (Kennedy Brown) and dealing with an almost entirely new lineup, it would have been easy for a coach to write this off as a building year and starting thinking about next season.

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A fond farewell to Herb Brown, the octogenarian Oregonian who has coached the world
Sports Kerry Eggers Sports Kerry Eggers

A fond farewell to Herb Brown, the octogenarian Oregonian who has coached the world

Put Herb Brown in among the famous Oregonians who flies under the radar in the world of sports.

The older brother (by 4 1/2 years) of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Brown is an accomplished casaba coach in his own right.

Brown, who turns 85 in March, is most well-known for his time spent as head coach of the Detroit Pistons from 1975-77.

But Brown’s resume is replete with stops throughout the world. The native New Yorker has had assistant coaching jobs with eight franchises, including the Trail Blazers. He was a member of Maurice Cheeks’ Portland staff from 2001-03.

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