ROSEMONT, In poor health. — Dana Altman introduced his retirement after 16 seasons as Oregon’s males’s basketball coach on Wednesday, precisely someday earlier than he was scheduled to look right here at Large Ten Media Day contained in the Donald E. Stephens Conference Heart.
Clearly, the timing is not supreme.
Oregon’s season begins two weeks from Monday, which is among the many causes the announcement was met with some raised eyebrows, partially as a result of this type of factor has developed into one thing of a development. That is the third straight yr a power-conference coach with a Last 4 on his resume has retired late within the calendar and effectively exterior of the conventional firing-and-hiring cycle. In 2024, it was Virginia’s Tony Bennett who walked away on Oct. 18. In 2025, it was Auburn’s Bruce Pearl who stepped down on Sept. 22. In 2026, it is Oregon’s Dana Altman calling it a profession on Oct. 7.
So why now?
On X, the place all people is free to share opinions, smart or in any other case, hypothesis ran rampant.
Was Altman doing this now simply to entice Oregon’s gamers as a result of, I imply, what number of switch choices are even obtainable in the course of October? Or was Altman doing this now simply to make sure the one choice Oregon had was to advertise his assistant, Tony Stubblefield? Or was Altman doing this now simply to maintain the direct deposits coming all through the offseason, all the time with the intent to stroll away earlier than issues tip?
Each idea was on the market someplace.
Unprompted, Altman supplied a proof throughout Wednesday’s press convention that spanned roughly an hour. To me, it sounded honest. With out getting particular, Altman cited well being considerations. In the meantime, longtime Oregon-based columnist John Canzano, endlessly as linked as anyone within the state, reported that Altman needed to lie down on the hardwood a number of instances final week simply to get via a observe.
“I am not as wholesome as I must be,” Altman acknowledged. “Or as I wish to be.”
Is it life-threatening? Altman insisted it is not. However he did inform a narrative about reaching the age the place sleeping via the evening with out having to get up to make use of the lavatory is not possible. Then he stated he has bother getting again to sleep. Then he recommended he would not have the vitality he must get via days the best way he used to glide via them.
So on and so forth.
Dana Altman was born in 1958. He’s 68 years previous.
The typical retirement age for a person in america is 65. So there’s actually nothing unusual about this when you take away the basketball part. If Altman had retired seven months in the past, and even three years in the past, no person would’ve blinked, offered it occurred in March or April.
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This occurred in October, although. Once more, the timing is not supreme. We will all agree on that, Altman included. However if you happen to listened to Altman speak Wednesday, via damaged sentences and tears, he sounded so much like a mixture of Tony Bennett and Roy Williams at their out-of-nowhere press conferences saying their retirements. Identical to Bennett, Altman defined how he realized through the offseason that he was dropping no matter it’s coaches usually seek advice from as “that fireside.” And, similar to Bennett, Altman defined he hoped, and even thought, that so-called fireplace would return — particularly after he took two weeks off in August.
“It did not,” Altman stated.
Altman additionally defined how he merely not believes he is the perfect man to do the job, which is precisely what Williams stated after saying his retirement from North Carolina in 2021. Altman has received 792 video games as a university coach. He is received seven convention regular-season championships, 10 convention match championships and has been his convention’s coach of the yr seven completely different instances.
He took Oregon to the 2017 Last 4.
He is been a nice basketball coach.
However Altman hasn’t guided Oregon to the Candy 16 since 2021. His Geese completed tied for fifteenth within the Large Ten final season and weren’t anticipated to be a lot better this season. Fact be instructed, the mix of transfer-waivers, revenue-sharing and massive NIL offers has modified faculty basketball dramatically — and never in ways in which benefitted Altman or the Oregon program he was working. That is not my opinion as a lot because it’s his.
“The primary issue [in this decision] is, I appeared within the mirror, and I am not the man to take these guys the place they will get to,” Altman stated whereas motioning towards his gamers in attendance and clearly getting emotional. “You already know, guys feed off of vitality. They feed off confidence. And if I haven’t got that vitality and that confidence for them to feed off, I am not the chief.”
What Altman stated subsequent was attention-grabbing.
“Kelvin Sampson, Rick Barnes, these guys are older than I’m — however they’re nonetheless getting it carried out, you understand?” Altman stated. “All of us have requirements. And I am not making an attempt to behave like … however I am not going to have the ability to carry out to my normal.”
In abstract, here is what I heard Wednesday.
I heard a person, over the course of about an hour, discuss how he is grateful for his profession and for the household that allowed him to have it. I heard a person say his one remorse was lacking issues together with his youngsters, and that he can be higher at that as a grandfather than he was as a father, and all of that resonated with me. I heard a person discuss how he admires the best way Houston’s coach (Sampson) and Tennessee’s coach (Barnes) have been in a position to modify and adapt and preserve a normal of success regardless of the dramatic modifications within the sport, and even if considered one of them is 71 (Sampson) and the opposite is 72 (Barnes). And I heard a person acknowledge, exhausting as it would’ve been to do, that he hasn’t adjusted and tailored fairly as effectively, and that his final season wasn’t like theirs, and that his upcoming season most likely wasn’t going to be like theirs, both.
“All of us have requirements.”
Altman did not meet his final season and, barring a shock, additionally wasn’t going to satisfy his this season. In case you watched the press convention, you might inform he feels that. In case you listened to the press convention, you understand he is additionally not feeling in addition to he’d wish to really feel — or in addition to he wants to really feel — to do the job he was employed to do the best way he did it lengthy sufficient to ascertain himself as the perfect coach in Oregon historical past.
So Dana Altman is strolling away.
In case you’re not in love with the timing, I get it. It would not trouble me as a lot because it bothers some. But when it bothers you, I get it. Both method, there are numerous completely different theories floating round, particularly contemplating that is the third consecutive yr with a late-in-the-calendar retirement. However after speaking to sources Wednesday and watching Altman converse for himself, this is not that difficult in my head.
Here is the deal: A 68-year-old man who has had an unimaginable profession, made more cash than he must get via life kind of the best way he is at the moment dwelling it, and is now coping with a few of the identical well being points many individuals his age take care of, realized within the days earlier than he was scheduled to journey right here for the unofficial launch of what would’ve been his thirty eighth season as a university coach that what he wants to do that job effectively shouldn’t be one thing he nonetheless possesses.
In case you’re questioning why Altman did not notice all of this earlier, truthfully, I imagine he most likely did. However, similar to Bennett defined when he retired at Virginia two years in the past, Altman saved hoping “that fireside” would return.
“It did not”
And it wasn’t going to, understandably so. Once more, that is not my opinion as a lot because it’s Altman’s. It wasn’t going to return. So, the person who received a nationwide coach of the yr award in 2013 walked away in 2026.
Ideally, he would’ve carried out it months in the past. We will all agree on that.
The timing is not good — however it’s comprehensible.